Ladipo Johnson
In 2002, Malcolm Gladwell introduced the leadership and change principle or law, as many would regard it, called Tipping Point. This law operates whether we like it or not in life, organizations and societies. Tipping point is “that point at which a series of small changes or incidents becomes significant enough to cause a large, more important change”. Some years ago, a popular musician sang a song with the title “which way Nigeria?” Series of events and incidents in our country today caused by its present leadership has brought Nigeria to a dangerous threshold at which many would agree that the road ahead is very fuzzy. From the housewife to the woman leading large corporates, to youths both in school and out of school, to the ordinary man and woman on the street, life is becoming more difficult by the day. Everyone seems to feel he or she is the most pained.
For instance with our youths, the supposed leaders of tomorrow, unemployment and lack of empowerment has driven a sizeable number of them to crime. In a recent chat with some youths across the country, 90% of them agreed that the high rate of unemployment has become so unbearable. The problem of unemployment or empowerment is not only plaguing our youths, but a keen observation also shows that many of our middle-aged men and women are so broke with absolutely no empowerment or enabling environment for self-enterprise. Those who have served their country in the civil service are struggling with a terrible and corrupted pension payment scheme that at times evaporates billions of funds!
Our educational systems are in shambles; Nigeria now has one of the world’s highest levels of illiteracy with the national illiteracy level in Nigeria currently at about a whopping 62%. It is on record that educational sector has suffered greater distress under President Buhari as the federal government has continually failed to provide the needed funding priory and policy consistency that would ensure a stable growth progression in the sector. The prolonged strikes of 2013 to 2014 and periodic strikes in 2017, 2018, 2020, and 2022 to date, have brought to light the cancerous status of poor funding of Nigeria’s education sector. In 2013, government’s allocation went down to about 8.7% where the global benchmark for budget allocation to education is 20%. In 2022 that allocation fell to 7.9% of the budget. Apart from this, even the funds allocated were not utilized as budget performance was at best disappointing. What is the result? Underachievement by our students. Many believe that a national “state of emergency” should be declared for the sector!
The Boko Haram scourge, incessant kidnappings etc. have shown beyond doubt that the present government lacks the capacity and political will to solve important national issues. Today, Nigeria is at war with a vicious enemy and the government has been spending billions of dollars with little results to show for it. All these and many more issues have written an unpalatable story about Nigeria that seems to have stuck with us. The perception and reality of things in our dear country Nigeria are so awful both in the eyes of other nations and our citizens. Our country is perceived as a financial fraud haven and emerging ground for terrorism due largely to the fact that our youths lack gainful employment. The painful part of all these is that our government seems not to care or lacks the ability to do the needful to address the numerous challenges facing us. Today, Nigeria is at Tipping Point and we have to act fast before the time-bombs begin to explode. I am not suggesting that the present government has not done anything to address any of the challenges we face, far from that, what I firmly believe is that Nigeria needs a leader with different and appropriate sets of skills and the passion to take us to where we ought to be.
The urgent question we need to answer now is where we want to be as a nation? To be brief, we want a united and equitable Nigeria. A Nigeria where people from all regions, ethnic groups and religions live in harmony and peace. We want an urgent overhaul of our education sector; we want our students to stand tall among their peers and achieve great results because they learn in a conducive environment with modern infrastructure and motivated teachers who are well remunerated. We want a secure Nigeria where security of lives and property are guaranteed by a reformed, strong and professional Police and Military institutions as this will drive significant economic growth. We want a system that empowers senior citizens in retirement and not abandon them. We want a healthcare system that can care for the ill here in Nigeria and reduce medical tourism and the attendant drain on the economy to zero. We want a Nigeria that makes business enterprise attractive; we want entrepreneurs and small business owners to thrive like never before.
In short, to borrow Malcolm Gladwell’s book title, we want and need a leader who is an OUTLIER. An OUTLIER is a person or a phenomenon that lies outside the normal experience or achievement. Malcolm describes men who have achieved greatest successes such as Bill Gates and Barack Obama as outliers. Nigeria needs such at this time in our history or else, things might fall apart. We need someone who can calm the storm in our country today and unite our people. We need someone with the political Will Power a record of OUTSTANDING success. We need someone to write a new story of a great Nigeria.
From a widespread study of individuals with these qualities, one person stands tall among the rest. That person is a former two-time Governor of Kano state, a former Minister for Defense, a former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, a former Senator, and a former Diplomatic Envoy to Darfur and Sudan, just to name a few positions in which he has served Nigeria. That person is none other than Engr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso (RMK). He is a man of great courage, with the will to do great things. He is a POSITIVE CHANGE AGENT who doesn’t believe in impossibilities.
Take for instance; in Kano state where many fear Boko Haram and their hate for western education, RMK championed one of Nigeria’s greatest and most courageous movements in educational empowerment, especially that of the girl child.
An analysis of the 2014 budget of Kano State shows that the gentleman set education as a key driver of his government spending: this stride was the first of its kind in Nigeria. In the 2014 budget of Kano State, education got the second biggest vote of N20.85 billion of the entire public spending. It is on note that Kano State under RMK was one of the few states in Nigeria that implemented, in practical terms, FREE Compulsory education for all, and as stated in the words of Kwankwaso himself “in our collective resolve to drive a knowledge-based economy, government has already concluded arrangement to adopt a free education for all indigenes at all levels: primary, secondary and tertiary institutions in the state.” In one state alone, RMK established two (2) state universities, forty-four (44) technical colleges across all the 44 Local Governments of the state, twenty-three (23) new vocational training institutions were established and about 2000 students received scholarships for advanced training overseas. As Nigeria sets its focus on tipping toward strong economic relevance in the committee of Nations and preparing its citizens for effective competition in the African Continental Free Trade Area, education and empowerment of our youths hold the greatest key. This is one of the reasons we know RMK will lead Nigeria to its economic promised land. In 2010, a British Council study reported that Nigeria stood, and still stands, on the threshold of what could be the greatest transformation in its history. By 2030, it will be one of the few countries in the world that has young workers in plentiful supply. Youth, not oil, will be the country’s most valuable resource in the twenty-first century. If RMK could do what he did in one state without throwing the state into debt, we can imagine what he could do in the entire country of Nigeria, with its resources.
Experts know that after education, infrastructural development holds the key to economic growth, as good transportation and road networks aid economic activities. In this area, Kwankwaso is an outstanding success. To restore Kano state’s economic fortunes, RMK constructed dual carriage roads, with modern streetlights and drainages in each of the 44 local governments of the state. The Governor lifted the face and conduciveness of the state as a well-planned city with good infrastructure and facilities. He increased and improved the quality of life, reduced crime, and increased attractiveness to domestic and foreign investors. RMK transformed Kano State into a haven for both citizens and investors alike. Just at the city Centre, a super imposing flyover which is first of its kind in northern Nigeria was built by Governor Kwankwaso. This was not all as a second flyer covering over one kilometer was built at the same time by the Governor. Those who live in the state or have been to Kano state testify that the state underwent massive physical infrastructural transformation as RMK transformed major residential areas in the state into districts with modern facilities as it obtains in advanced countries of the world. Pedestrians in Kano now walk on neatly-laid interlocking tiles that adorn the sidewalks of major roads. High traffic areas now have pedestrian bridges and high-rise medians.
RMK is visionary as he is courageous. In agreement with Nelson Mandela’s beliefs that every human being deserves a house, Kwankwaso invested massively and aggressively in building three (3) new CITIES within the state with the aim of decongesting the metropolis and bringing development to remote villages. The CITIES have also provided affordable housing to thousands of households. The former Governor is a firm believer in social and mass housing as he embarked on mass housing projects with over 100,000 site and service plots in different areas of the state such as at the western by-pass corridor of Danbare, and Kuyan Ta’inna among other areas.
Drawing from the latest book from Mr. Gladwell, “David and Goliath”, I make bold to state that even though Nigeria’s problems are as many and gigantic as Goliath, RMK is the “DAVID with a sling and keystones” as evidenced by his achievements in Kano State, to help rescue Nigeria!
I humbly invite Nigerians to eschew religious and ethnic bigotry and objectively investigate Kwankwaso’s tenure and service as governor in Kano State and as Minister of Defense under the Obasanjo administration and I am certain that many will thus rally round to support RMK for a new Nigeria story; one of peace, unity, and prosperity!
*Ladipo Johnson (@ladipojohnson), a Legal Practitioner, is member of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP).
