Travelling recently on the Kaduna-Kano not so expressway proved to me once more that while good leadership is important, it would seem we are not ready for it. The notorious stretch of the motorway at Kawo just north of Kaduna was even trickier to navigate because the Northbound side was closed for resurfacing.
Enter into this impatience, indiscipline, selfishness, dangerous driving and you end up in a spaghetti logjam. There was a complete head on deadlock for two hours.
Enter into this a military convoy. They beat and rammed their way through. A poor bus driver who lamented that there was nowhere for him to move to had his windscreen smashed.
When he protested, three soldiers dragged him out of his cabin and took turns in beating him with sticks until I intervened. Military brutality in Nigeria does not surprise me having grown up under their rule but I was surprised at the passive nature in which onlookers observed.
The behaviour that led to the logjam and the impunity shown by the soldiers exemplifies what is wrong with Nigeria. For many, the end justifies the means and if a problem does not affect you directly you look the other way.
The list is endless but these are a few:
- people collecting and giving bribes but expecting politicians not to
- disobeying the law and expect the lawmakers to follow it
- we are the most outwardly religious people in the world but our behaviour is in stark contrast with the teachings of the faiths we profess
- some are willing to cheat in exams, forge documents to get jobs yet are critical of politicians when they do the same.
As we look to find new leaders to take us forward in 2023, we must examine and challenge ourselves. Ultimately, leaders are a mirror image of the society they emerge from.
