Warns that June 12 can recur
IT took a six-month chase to get Dr Christopher Kolade, 86, to speak on burning national issues. The veteran broadcaster, former Nigerian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and chairman of Cadbury Nigeria Plc, prefers to work silently to get things working again in his beloved country.
However, after persistent pressure, Dr Kolade, who is one of the Burdened Elders seeking ways to silence the drums of war in Nigeria, spoke on the state of the nation and how to save the country. He also spoke on the Nigerian civil war, how soldiers made dialogue unworkable, the falling standard of education in Nigeria, how we can halt brain drain, and deepen our democracy among others.


There are two major issues about the state of the country we have to focus our attention. The first is that we have tried a certain system of politics and we have allowed politics to become so prominent in our behaviour. Politics is not an end in itself. Politics is to help us get to good governance. We are to use it as a good platform to arrive at good governance. We have seen that the politics we practice now has not brought us consistent good governance. We had flashes here and there but we cannot claim we are a country that has achieved good governance.

One of the things that would help us is to set quality standards for the emergence of good candidates for elections. In choosing those to contest, it should not the amount of money you have or the influence or power that you wield. It should be what we know you for, what you have done, what you have achieved, and how you have related to the joint interest of Nigerians. If you had taken the joint interest of Nigeria seriously, then we know you are the person we can trust. This should apply to every public office. For any public office, we must remember that the person is offering service to the nation not to rule or govern the nation. That is where we are to start. Since our present system of politics is not based on that principle I don’t see how it is going to give us what we want.


Has our politics ever been based on that principle?

Yes. If you go back to the original team of Nigerians that brought us out of colonial government into independence, you ask yourself what was their motivation? Some of them were sent to jail because they were agitating, and some of them lost positions. They were people who made sacrifices that did not lead to their personal wealth or anything; it was a sacrifice so that the nation could become independent. That is one system of politics. That is the basis upon which you can achieve anything that is respectable and has sustainability. If you don’t make the personal sacrifice you will not be able to build something that will sustain you for a long time.

At what point did we miss the mark?

It was at the point we changed the party politics to that, that lost focus on the quality of individual and focused on their ability to throw money around.

Was it in 1979 or the 60s? Some said it started with military intervention

Whatever time we did that was when that culture changed. People were no longer entering the place because they wanted to serve but because they wanted to rule or get rich. When we changed that culture we lost it.

So, it is okay to say that is where we changed. What are we going to do going forward?

By the grace of the Almighty God, we are here today and have the opportunity to make the change we desire.

How are we going to do it?

We cannot call on the people who are benefiting from today’s system and ask them to come and make the change.

So, when you talk about restructuring, reprogramming, etc, remember that the people who have an interest in restructuring are not the ones benefiting from it.

If we are to restructure, reprogramme and change things here, let us look at our young people whose life is not based on party politics; people who have done something respectable; technocrats who have made impact in their professions and have shown that they can achieve something through their efforts, and have shown also that they can stand anywhere in the world and display what they have done so that people see it and respect it. That is the kind of people we are looking for to lead the nation.

Most people who qualify for that are probably in their 50s and below. They are the ones who have had to tackle the problems, and issues of the modern world. Find those people. They are also the ones who still have a stake in Nigeria’s future. Many of the people who are running politics today, in 10 years, if God is kind to them, would find themselves unable to run around any more. So, let the younger generation redefine what really leads to corporate success and do it.

One of the things I find funny about the Nigerian situation is you see business organizations that are succeeding, they are making a profit and they are creating a market place that is winning global respect. If we have that in business, what are the principles on which they do this?

The first principle is looking at corporate interest rather than personal interest. Because they are looking at the corporate interest that is where they put their effort and that is where they achieve their success.

So, we need younger people who have proved themselves in some professional or technocratic way and are willing to make sacrifices. If somebody is already running a business and his income every month is in millions, what are you going to offer him to say come and be a governor or this or that?

He will not come unless he has a spirit that says I want to go and serve and I am ready to lose some of the benefits I have today in other to serve. That is the kind of sacrifice I am talking about, people who are not looking for influence or trying to throw money about for people to give them adulation.

Our national anthem says we should be ready to serve the country. The constitution talks about serving the country but most people, because of the way they get to power, don’t. Have you ever heard of a party that won the election say ‘we are the party in office?’ They tell you, ‘we are the party in power.’ If you approach it like that you will get it wrong.

On the difficulty of getting the electorate to support credible young people at the polls

In the demographics of Nigeria, the ones who are 40 years and under constitute 65 per cent of our population. That is where anybody who wants to get into offices should concentrate his energy. What is it that will appeal to young people and make them give you that support? You will find out that these days money is important but it is not the main focus of some of these young people unless they are listening to bad advice. Show them how they can make headway in future, exercise their productivity, how they can by merit get to the place where they earn respect. That is the thing that should be moving the young people now, so concentrate on that. This business of going around, sharing money is so sad and that is where we are.

Many of these young people don’t think like this because of the system. Merit has been sacrificed…

You are saying exactly what I am saying, that we have a system which needs to be changed. The people benefiting from this system today are not the ones to change it, they have no motivation to change it. We need young people to get together under their own leadership. I know a number of young people in their 50s,40s, 30s that are beginning to see the light. They can see that the future cannot be based on what we are doing now and they are willing to come out and say so. Let us give those people the voice, let us rally around them because they cannot do it on their own.

Is it right that we should abandon merit and go for patronage? Analyse-it for them, that merit is actually the thing that makes you achieve something, patronage weakens your ability to achieve anything.

Somebody needs to be telling people these things so that they will understand. Fortunately for us, the younger generation is not made up of nonsensical people. It is made up of people who are studying hard. Go abroad, go to the UK, America and look at what our young people are doing; they are holding their own in competition with even the natives of the place. We have talents, ability and merit. The reason many of our young are looking for opportunities abroad is that they think they can hold their own there; they don’t have the opportunity here. If we start challenging them here and they see that it is not who you know that is going to get them to where they want to go, it is what they can offer, they will stay and offer it. Many of them are still here doing that.

On credible people shunning elections and voters apathy due to violence, snatching of ballot boxes, killings…

You have just described the situation that is very difficult to handle. Things happen that should not happen in any decent society. When you see on television people snatching ballot boxes and engaging in indecent behaviour, is that what we want to be known for as a country? If we don’t want to be known for that we should take some effective actions as a people to stop it. Those who were snatching ballot boxes were doing it in broad daylight where were other people who do not like what they were doing?

To challenge them unarmed?

There are situations in which somebody who is armed will back off when he sees the magnitude of the opposition. Unless we are willing to do something that is not easy because the objective is worth it, there will be no solution.

The 2019 polls are some of the most challenged in the history of elections in Nigeria with 809 petitions at the tribunals. Do you see justice being done at the tribunals?

Do you know what that means? When the next one comes, unless we have done something drastically effective, people are going to expect that this what is going to happen again and they will take action to prevent themselves from losing out.

So, it is going to be worse. Now is the time. Some people contested the last election and lost. Maybe they have the right ideas but did not win. What are they doing now? Now is the time for them to show people that we can change if we do the right things the right way.

The boys who snatched ballot boxes did it on behalf of somebody. What are we doing with them now that the elections are over? What are we offering them now? If we leave them the way they are it is going to be worse next time.

When we talk about leadership, we look at the president, governors, etc. No, leadership exists at every level of life. Even in school, you have class monitors, prefects, that is where leadership begins. Let us begin to educate people that leadership means responsibility and service.

On insecurity, kidnapping, banditry, herdsmen menace Boko Haram insurgency, and way out

When people do something wrong, get away with it, nothing happens in consequence of what they have done, and there seems to be silent acquiescence, you are promoting or strengthening bad behaviour. We should be conscientious in dealing with bad behaviour. We have a constitution that tells us how to behave and contribute to nation-building. If people are violating these things, there must be some way of showing that if you violate these things you will suffer for it.

The moment you have situations in which you are losing the standards, and abandoning principles you must expect things to deteriorate.

For instance, if I want to become Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, what should be the expectation? For me to become CJN I am going to be heading the entire judicial system. Should there not be some description of the kind of person you want in that job? This should apply for all public office-President, governors, etc. We should agree that a country so rich in human resources, a country where many people are making waves internationally, earning respect abroad, shouldn’t we utilize that at home and say in order for you to lead this team of people you should be able to earn their respect? You earn respect by doing the right things.

https://www.vanguardngr.com/2019/08/state-of-the-nation-2023-pollsll-be-worse-unless-kolade/amp/

Nigeria is in the hands of locusts, Only God can deliver us from them all.

Make you people try and wish your country well..

Not just doom talks

helinues:
Make you people try and wish your country well..

Not just doom talks

Its not about doom talk my friend, it's the reality on ground unless one is playing to the gallery...wish and pretence never solve any problem

beejaay:

Its not about doom talk my friend, it's the reality on ground unless one is playing to the gallery...wish and pretence never solve any problem

Op can relate to the message.. 70% of his posts are something negative about Nigeria.. Archives are there to verify..

helinues:
Make you people try and wish your country well..

Not just doom talks

Truth set free sir. I see most of your comments too, in the full glare of truth, you still find occasion to say otherwise, just to defend your Principality.
God bless Nigeria.

Omooba77:


Truth set free sir. I see most of your comments too, in the full glare of truth, you still find occasion to say otherwise, just to defend your Principality.
God bless Nigeria.

Afi principality noh.. So you have also not been seen the ones I condemned this government?

helinues:


Afi principality noh.. So you have also not been seen the ones I condemned this government?

And you have not seen the one positive ones I have made.

Omooba77:


And you have not seen the one positive ones I have made.

By what % Sir?

helinues:


By what % Sir?

Because people love darkness rather than light....A camelon does not change character

Omooba77:


Because people love darkness rather than light....A camelon does not change character

My people are religious yet evil

Baba Kolade, you threw out an appointment by a government that reposed so much confidence and had high regard for you only to team up with others to bring the same government down and helped install 'change'.

You had an opportunity to assist in fixing the subsidy scam through the reinvestment programmes of an agency you were appointed to coordinate, but you resigned unceremoniously.Too bad, sir.

All these things you are saying now, how do you want them implemented without political parties. After witnessing "change" and the current "next level" sir, how does the Nigerian younger generation that you mentioned come out to confront armed election riggers with bare hands? How, sir?

It is also not true that people who have built structures and performed excellently outside Nigerian government would necessarily perform when they get into government. Many of them are there currently and performing very woefully. It is first, a serious fundamental error to assume that public and private sectors work the same way. They don't, and you know sir.

The private sector is motivated by profit margins and bottom lines and all manners of consideration to the stakeholders - chief of which is maximization of returns. This is a motivation that is propelled by the amount of "greed" that the board can allow.

The public sector is however not motivated by same. It is almost altruistic where profit is replaced with the push for the good of the people who are not always economically buoyant to afford to contribute to the bottom lines.

For instance, consider the fiscal objective of FULL EMPLOYMENT of the public servants and compare with corporate retructuring tendencies - downsizing, right-sizing, layoffs and so on - in the private sector. How does a person with the mindset of layoffs of workers fair in the public sector.

There are many corporate titans who have been tested in the public sector and found wanting. Many! Orji Uzor Kalu, Yahaya Bello, Nasir El Rufai, Rashidi Ladoja, etc. have relatively built something for themselves in the private sectors but couldn't do much as governors.

El Rufai woke up one day and sacked 23,000 teachers because he said they failed exams. Needless to say that the world is still awaiting the "extraordinary performance" of the pupils (of the schools where he replaced teachers) in national exams after 2 years of the exercise.

Yahaya Bello cannot even pay regular salary to Kogi State government workers despite being reputed to have built Fairplus Transport Company.

Oga did you campaigned or voted for this govt?





If yes.



Keeeep kwayet