Tuesday 8 November 2016

SERVANT LEADERS; is it but a wish in Africa?

                         
The difference between knowledge and wisdom is as sunlight and moonlight, one is only a pale reflection of the other,on its own merit it dwells in darkest ignorance. For in the sun lit day we see every thing as it really is and even the dreaded phantoms of our imagination hold no sway over us,but in the moonlight we see only dimly and at times our imagination has to compensate for clarity of vision to either good or evil outcome.
Now it would be easy to be misunderstood taking such a stance but what other alternative can there possibly be when those who have read or memorised other peoples understanding of certain phenomenon decide unequivocally that it gives them a right to dictate to others what is acceptable or otherwise in response to their situation.
I see a lot of this notion that if someone who is considered successful says something then it should be accepted without scrutiny, and that's why we can have someone who plays pretend for a living(an actor) arrogantly think because they are known it makes their perspectives rational.
The first basis of any society is self interest and you can only coerce someone with words when the gains outweigh the loss. Our leaders complain that the youth are unambitious,lazy and disrespectful yet they see no irony in the fact that each of these traits can in one way or the other be attributed to their inability to lay the foundation for our future.
I have often heard people speak about how a leader should be a servant leader but think of our culture and you see this is a ridiculous expectation. In our culture per example in a bank an elderly person is given prerogative to bye pass the line others have been standing on for hours simply because he is older which would be commendable if it wasn't deemed as rude to object when you yourself did not feel the desire to be altruistic. The notion in our culture is that the superior is at liberty to disregard the needs or even rights of one who is considered inferior and we wonder why our politicians trample on the citizens who elected them? They are only reflecting the society that produced them.
As a society we complain about our large number of miscreants like militants, Boko harametc and yet we do nothing to fix the underlying cause of these phenomenon. The root of democracy is the notion that a community's interests are best served being part of a larger entity than otherwise but the goal of the government is to interfere as minimally as possible in the activities of these communities except as a final arbitrator of dispute or benefactor. The best any gany government can do is make the best of the situation it faces. Until we can create a communal structure that integrates all diverse societies in the nigerian geographic space, the recurrent problem of rebellion against the governments authority will remain insoluble.
Until our leaders show by example they are willing to create a society they can be part of, then will they convince others to get on board.
Another issue is the prevalent grovelling for western approval by our so called elite .I get that they have moral codes that put us to shame but that is no reason to embrace their decadence as our society is too fragile to survive such. Recently I hear that the U.S president has demanded that primary schools create provision for children who do not identify their gender with their sexual organ but with whatever fantasy suits them presently.
It has always been uncomfortable coming to terms with ones sexuality in the presence of peers but this muddles the issue more. I think enough has been said on this matter or do we emulate them here too?
Finally, we seem to all want our society to be magically transformed into a paradise but not one person is willing to lift a finger rather they assume some nebulous "others" will take on the task. Its one thing to be in denial of reality however its quite another to wish upon a genie like an aladin, until we see that there is no one coming from the skies or anywhere else to save us we will continue to delude ourselves that Nigeria will get better on its own but the unvarnished truth is only we can save ourselves. Yet I see we are hellbent on proving reality wrong...

No comments:

Post a Comment