From colonial time, Nigeria has been called an under-developed nation. National management was in the hands of expatriate. With independence, Nigerians took over the mantle of leadership and management of the nation resources.
How Nigerians did managed their own affairs since independence is something that must have shaped the nature of our development or under-development.
Management in an organisation is the function that coordinates the efforts of the people to accomplish goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively. Most people say, instead of the Nigerian government managing the nation’s resources, they are after their interest. If people feel that they are not appreciated enough to be governed, then the government is not useful to them, which is ‘poor management’.
What are the factors of poor management: lack of communication between the government and the people: Here the government can hardly tell what the people’s problems or predicament are. This shows that the government hardly listens to the people and if they do, they hardly respond to their needs or provide the necessary social amenities. Rather, the people are left to do things themselves; and the only way people know how to care for themselves is by breaking laws, and encouraging miscreants and waifs in the society. In the long run the government will then say it is the people’s fault that the country is underdeveloped. If people do not have a clear understanding of what success looks like, how will they know what is right or wrong? When people understand what is expected of them and how they can meet those expectations they tend to have a greater degree of confidence in their ability. But if they are left to do whatever pleases them, the masses will end up adapting to what is called survival of the fittest (jungle law), thus breaking laws and standards.
Nigeria is so rich, that she should be lending money to other countries instead of borrowing from them but her leaders have lost grip of management and are going down the drain. If Nigeria is to be a great nation, we need to recheck our management (governance) and remove unscrupulous leaders to replace them with patriotic and truthful leaders by democratically approved channels. The case of the removal of Adamawa Governor, Murtala Nyako of allegation of corruption and mismanagement of states’ resources is a laudable case of the removal of untruthful and unpatriotic leader.
In a scenario whereby a policeman that should be protecting the people turns out to be a commercial motorcycle rider (Okada), and a soldier who should be defending our unity drives a commercial bus while on duty, or the senior officers, who instead of mapping out strategies and planning to stop insurgency, ends up investing in crude-oil or other viable businesses for financial gains, who then will deny the fact that money cannot buy our armed forces and make them go against each other in times of crisis– poor management.
Our military men should know their code of conduct and obligation not to be puppets in the hands of unscrupulous politicians or to be controlled by wealth or to envy civilians for what they possess. It was preposterous in those days for soldiers to interact with civilians.
Our military forces forget that as a federal defence unit, their yardstick should not be money because they are trained to follow orders and commands not emotion, but poor management has changed their orientation. It is like an unorganised five hundred thousand soldiers going to war against an organised two hundred thousand soldiers. Definitely, the unorganised five hundred thousand soldiers will be defeated. A house divided against itself cannot stand like the fight against Boko-Haram by Nigerian soldiers: poor management! If our management is effective, Boko-Haram and Ebola virus would not be a problem to Nigeria in the first place.
The story is not different from our National football teams. The players are fit and skilful enough to defeat any team in the world. But the Super Eagles and Falconets teams to the World Cup competitions in Brazil and Canada lacked patriotic coaches to motivate, inspire and inculcate the zeal for team spirit to win. Rather, the coaches left them to play their individual skills. Poor management led to employment of unserious coaches, which brought lose in the tournament.
The masses need governance (management) that will encourage and give them reasons to believe in, fight for and even die for their country if need be. If the nation is all we have, we should be given every reason to protect her. I am marvelled to hear a fellow Nigerian proudly announce that his children are schooling in Ghana. Why Ghana? The truth is why not. So long as our school management system can hardly control the frequent strikes in the schools and they still use antique laboratory apparatus for training, people are free to send their children to Ghana.
Our famous Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) late Gani Fawehinmi, who fought gallantly and bravely tooth and nail to make Nigeria exercise fundamental Human Rights and stop the molestation of her citizens, provided the course for Nigerians to constitutionally pursue their aspiration. He was jailed countless times, his properties were destroyed, and he was deprived of his own comfort in order to stop his crusade. They tried to break him, but he was unbroken; in the face of dictatorship he flew the flag of democracy high until his death.
A great nationalist: Late Mallam Aminu Kano, who worked vigorously in support of democratisation, women’s empowerment and freedom of speech, was oppressed by the British. He did not stop his crusade for independence but was adamant as he exercised democracy even in the Northern part of Nigeria, till his death. These people are not Angels in heaven, they are humans just like you and I. What can they be remembered for? Is it poor management, or insurgency, or the nations debt? It will take you and I to make them proud wherever they are now by re-orientating ourselves to higher national standards. May their dearest souls rest in peace.
Another transition is on the way, and you have a country to protect. Do not let unpatriotic ones to buy your conscience; do not let them put you in that long lasting suffering. They can only pay for your votes today if you allow them, but they will deprive you of your privilege tomorrow – don’t sell your votes, do the right thing. Let us send them a message - this time, we will vote only a true patriotic Nigerian for Nigerians in the 2015 election to manage, direct and distribute our National resources evenly for all.
Long live Nigeria, long live our mother land. Remain blessed, One Love!
By Oche Michael Odeh
If you feel me – commend, Sms, WhatsApp ‘One Love’ to 08038644573! Ping ‘One Love’ to this BBM pin: 29BE98C2.
1 comments:
We need to change our orientation and correct some things in this country for the benefit of incoming generation .
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