Our reporter/ The Senior Pastor of Daystar Christian Centre, Sam Adeyemi, on Wednesday identified lack of sacrifice by Nigerian leaders as one of the major reasons for slow development in the country.
Adeyemi, who is also a strategic leadership consultant, made the assertion while speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme noted that what drives people in leadership positions today is money and not sacrifice.
“What drives people in leadership now is money,” he said, adding that rather than making sacrifices for the country, leaders look for how to make money and thereby stunt the nation’s development.
“Nigerians are not foolish, the instinct for survival is the strongest, the people you are asking to collaborate, the only collaboration that makes sense to them is how they make more money. All the contracts going out of the MDAs (Ministries, Departments and Agencies), even the oversight functions for the National Assembly, it is money driving it.
“That is why vision is very important as a leader. You got to sell that idea, transfer that idea to people’s heart about where we are going and how we will get there and it’s that where we are going to that will give motivation to people to sacrifice.
“The people in leadership need to make sacrifices now for that collaboration to happen but I promise you most people in leadership now are not thinking sacrifice, they are thinking survival,” Adeyemi explained.
He harped on the need for leaders to map out a long term plan for development which would be embraced by their followers, even as he emphasised that nobody can change Nigeria in four or eight years.
According to him, most Nigerians wants development and that is why the people and the leaders need to develop the country to be like those nations Nigerians are migrating to.
The leadership consultant said that there must be a discussion among Nigerians about where they want Nigeria to be, adding that it must start with dusting the report of the 2014 National Conference and carrying out some of the recommendations in it.
Revisit 2014 conference report
Adeyemi also suggested that the 2014 National Conference Report should be revisited to chart a path forward for Nigeria’s development.
According to him, Nigerians need to discuss the future of the country now.
“Nigerians need to take control now,” he said during a live appearance on the programme. “I know this is challenging but we actually don’t even have an option. Nigerians need to discuss the future of Nigeria now.
“Interestingly when I speak to a northerner, the person in the South-West, all of us want the same thing; we want a developed Nigeria. Why are Nigerians shipping out, especially the younger generation? They are moving to countries where they can realise their potential. Let’s make Nigeria that country.”
The thought leader lamented that billions of naira was spent on the 2014 National Conference but the recommendations of the dialogue were buried somewhere.
“The discussion needs to start with Nigerians; what kind of Nigeria do we want? We need to discuss it, ask people in leadership, in government to let us start from there. You don’t build a house from the roof, let’s discuss it.
“I remember in 2014, we spend billions of naira having that discussion. The report is buried somewhere, we’ve not had the courage to discuss again. That’s where to start from. If you don’t agree on where you are going, any road will take you to where you are going and you should not complain when you find yourself in a jungle,” Adeyemi said.
Adeyemi’s comments comes about a decade after then President Goodluck Jonathan and other leaders organised the conference to proffer workable suggestions on how to move the country forward.
The national dialogue began on March 17, 2014 with the late respected Jurist, Justice Idris Kutigi (retd.), as its chairman.
494 Nigerians from all walks of life attended the conference for about five months. About N10bn was spent on the confab which produced over 600 recommendations including suggestions for the restructuring of Nigeria’s political, economic, social and security systems so as to quell agitations from difference geopolitical sections and achieve long-lasting peace.
However, the recommendations of the confab have not been implemented by successive administrations.
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