Nigerian Leaders Hark!
What is the Value of a Man?
by
D. D Xavier
Airplane crashes are joltingly painful, especially to friends and
relatives of the crash victims, yet, they are poignant reminders of
the ephemeral nature of life. Without warning, in a fleeting moment
all the substance and stature of the human being is brought to an
abrupt and screeching eternal halt. We carp and squabble over money,
power, politics, ideologies and things that are of meaningless
consequence on the scale of the eternity of time and the infinity of
space that makeup life and existence.
For those who died in the September 17, 2006 Army plane crash in
Kwande, Benue State, it is the end of all these meaningless carping,
squabbling and jostling. All their families and everyone with whom
they interacted in the course of their lives have left are memories.
The years and efforts put into their jobs and relationships reduced to
mere electrical impulses transmitted across the tiny spaces (synapses)
between the networks of connections (dendrites) and cells (neurons)
that make up the brain and nervous system.
The worth of a man is often dictated by the type of memories we hold
of him after he dies. We hold on to these memories cherishing the fond
and good ones and trying to forget the not so good. Sometimes, there
are those memories that are too grim to forget. Often, these are borne
out of the actions or inactions of a man or woman in a given
situation. In men who by fate find themselves in positions of
authority and leadership, these actions or inactions often have
far-reaching and compelling impacts on large sections of the society.
Good leaders often are remembered fondly with feelings of euphoric
nostalgia and yearning. Bad leaders are remembered with loathsome
bitterness and regret. Often, it is not that the good leader was
pristine and perfect through and through, and did not falter or do any
bad deeds, or that the bad leader is outrightly evil and did not do
any good deed. It is the degree of these deeds and the level and type
of impact (negative or positive) the deeds have on the society that
determines a good or bad leader. On this scale, Hitler was most
certainly an evil and bad leader. There is no question also that
Abacha, Mobutu and Idi-Amin likewise were bad leaders who left
indelible negative memories in societies which they led. In the same
vein, Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Ghandi are undoubtedly two of the
greatest leaders of the 20th century.
Understandably, most leaders fall between the two extreme types of
leaders given that one would expect a stochastic distribution of types
of leaders. For some reason, Nigeria seems to have a more than
disproportionate share of leaders of the Mobutu and Abacha ilk,
perhaps because years of despotic and dehumanizing reign of military
dictatorship has inured Nigerians from the anguish of bad leadership.
Being on the left tail of the normal distribution for so long has
warped the reasoning of the average Nigerian to the extent that he
justifies acts that are flat out wrong and deplorable by flimsy
self-serving strange, if not moronic logic.
Nigerian leaders would do well to strive to leave more positive
impacting memories on the citizenry that they lead by doing good deeds
and staying within the ambits of the law as they dispatch their
responsibilities. Take the case of the late Finance director of INEC,
who led a lie as a pastor while looting the government coffers to the
tune of 7 billion Naira. Surely that individual has left an indelible
negativity in the collective memories of Nigeria, likewise has Tafa
Balogun, ex IG of Police and many other leaders in Nigeria. It would
not be inaccurate to say that such Nigerians have led worthless and
destructive lives. And for those who believe in life after death, the
damnation is double barreled. Not only are the memories they leave
behind forever seen as profane and despicable, these individuals are
equally self-condemned to eternal damnation as defined by any of the
major creeds in Nigeria that they are likely to belong. In the end,
the true value of a man is measured by how many lives one has impacted
positively and not how much wealth he amassed.
It is worthless to acquire wealth without impacting peoples’ lives
positively with it, and even worse to acquire wealth illegally as many
Nigerian leaders do. The world’s two richest people Bill Gates and
Warren Buffet realize this and are giving back to the world almost all
their wealth through philanthropy. These indeed are two great men and
big men.
The writer of this article pays his respect to the 13 people who lost
their lives in the Military aircraft crash last Sunday and pray that
their families find the strength to bear the loss. Were Nigeria a well
run society perhaps this might not have happened. Perhaps the army
would have had newer aircrafts with better trained pilots and air
traffic control staff. Perhaps there would have been a well structured
emergency response procedure in place and rescue teams to rendered
adequate and prompt help immediately after the crash. But that is if
only governors, presidents, directors, vice presidents, legislators,
civil servants and private and corporate executives would stop looting
millions of dollars and pounds to acquire homes in Europe and America
and fund profligate life styles. Until all the brigandage stops,
Nigerians unfortunately would be bereft of the true value of life.
