Writing in his back page column of Daily Trust on Thursday February 6, 2025, titled: Rebuilding the North East: Leadership, vision and the road to recovery, Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, revisited Nigeria’s leadership question with a particular focus on the North East region.
Although the nation’s leadership question since gaining political independence has been a common one, the focus on the North as in Ibrahim’s write up is rather instructive. In the last decade the region, with its vast natural and human resources, has suffered monumental setbacks as a result of the unspeakable consequences of the Boko Haram insurgency.
This is in addition to the fact that the region has some of the highest poverty rates in the country, with many communities lacking access to basic amenities such as electricity, clean water and healthcare facilities.
Despite being blessed with diverse cultures, talents, and resources, Nigeria, as a country, has struggled to realise its full potential due to ineffective leadership.
Apart from Boko Haram insurgency, other security challenges like banditry and kidnappings have created a climate of fear and uncertainty in the region. Elsewhere in the North Central, the herder-farmer crisis as well as militia killings have been enduring symptopns of instability. As aptly captured in the write up by Abubakar, “Post conflict reconstruction is a huge political, social and economic endeavour. Nigeria as a whole has needed one for a while , since we have been bleeding our own nosses…”
Indeed, no part of the country than the North is in need of visionay leaders at this point in time to not only tackle the challenges of post-conflict reconstruction but also motivate and inspire the citizery in the region towards common development goals. The need for leaders that can develop and implement creative solutions to the region’s problems; drive meaningful change and improvement in the lives of citizens, cannot be overemphasised.
Apparently piqued by these vices vis-vis the leadership question in the North generally, Tahir Ibrahim Tahir, the Talban Bauchi, sometime last year, sounded ‘Arewa’s final warning’, in an inspiring write up.
In the rather controversial, albeit thoughtprovoking article which graced several Nigerian media publications in the wake of the EndBadGovernanceProtests, the respected traditional leader presented the worst of Arewa in full public glare.
“The arewa landscape is littered with thousands of ex-this and ex-that. Presidents, Ministers, Governors, Defence Chiefs, Permanent Secretaries, Directors, Heads of MDAs, and ofcourse, business moguls.
“But these are only litters as they have not nourished the landscape altogether, to build the much needed prosperity for the arewa citizen. Northern elite have watched the decay and rot in arewa forment into the present day astronomical proportion. The North has had its fair share of power, including in the last 8 years, yet the landscape has become more impoverished…” he lamented.
Among the questions posed by Tahir in the write up one stood out: “Do we still have leaders from within us, that can rally round, round up our human and capital resources, and harness them for the betterment of arewa in general?
To address the leadership question in the region as posed by Abubakar and Tahir, therefore, the the focus must be on identifying hidden talents and some of the key characteristics effective visionary leaders in the region should possess in the leadership recruitment process.
These should include the ability to understand and empathize with the needs and concerns of the people; the capacity to develop and implement long-term plans and strategies, as well as the willingness to work with diverse stakeholders, including community leaders, civil society organizations, and the private sector.
Of course, some leaders from the zone have made remarkable efforts in addressing the challenges. The late Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, who hailed from Katsina State, is remembered as one of the notable leaders from the region who made giant strides when he held sway as the country’s president. During the Second Republi, the late President Shehu Shagaria, was also an outstanding leader.
Under the current dispensation Kashim Shettima, the Vice President, as the Governor of Borno, the epicentre of the Boko Haram insurgency, made remarkable efforts at putting in place development infrastructures despite the security situation. His successor, Professor Babagana Zulum, appropriately stepped into Kashim’s shoes with his demostrable capacity in managing hummanitariann crisis and rebuilding confidence in the traumatized cutizenry.
I am particularly pleased that Abubakar, in his piece, underscored the need for more hands in addressing the leadership question in the North. His mention of figures like the eminent business tycoon Kyari Bukar, a consummate entrepreneur, banker and financier who was instrumental in bringing Visa Card to Nigeria is instructive.
Also mentioned in this category is Kashim Musa Tumsah, a consummate diplomat, lawyer and winner of national merit awards in both Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea for crisis negotiations. A retired diplomat, this relatively unsung hero. served during his career as a member/secretaryfor the Nigerian Technical Committee on Inrernational Boundary Negotiations, leading to the demercation / delineation of Nigeria’s international land and maritime boundaaries.
He was also the pioner Legal Adviser of the Nigeria -Sao Tome and Principe Joint Development Authority (JDA) who later served as the Executive Director, Finance aand Administration and Secretary of the Board and Joint Ministerial Council of the JDA.
As Nigeria looks forward to the next stage of recruiting its leaders in 2027, the need for potential leaders with innovative thinking like Tumsa and others to step into the arena and occupy leadership positions at the national, state and local government levels; particularly in the country’s northern region.
- Abaagu, a Public Affairs Commentator, writes from Judges Qusrters, Makurdi Benue State and can be reaced on: [email protected]
