“The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it,” Albert Einstein once noted. According to an African proverb, “Performance has no tribe; a hungry stomach does not ask for the ethnicity of the bread maker.” These observations highlight the tragic dissonance between a people’s desire for progress and the choices they make when empowered to shape their own destiny. Today, let’s reflect on the profound dilemma of the Nigerian citizen who frequently finds himself wanting what he does not want.
Do you know that the average Nigerian faces a staggering internal conflict by seeking excellence in his private life while settling for mediocrity in his public governance? For instance, when he is sick, he searches for the most skilled doctor available without asking about the physician’s faith; when he flies, he prays for a pilot with the highest technical capacity rather than one who speaks his mother tongue. He would never entrust his child’s education to an incompetent teacher or hire a lazy worker for his personal business simply because they share a political party or a village of origin. Yet, when it comes to selecting leaders for his Local Government Area, State, or the Federation, he strangely abandons the criteria of competence and character to prioritize tribalism, religious sentiment, political bias and even “stomach infrastructure.” He defends the failures of a leader from his ethnic group as “brotherly love” and campaigns for a “turn-by-turn” system of power, only to turn around and lament the lack of security, the decay of healthcare, and the stagnation of the economy. This gambling with the future of his own children suggests a depraved understanding of reality, where one expects a harvest of development from a seed of parochialism, forgetting that if leadership were tied to tribal dominance, the regions that have produced the most heads of state would today be the most developed and secure parts of the country, but are they?
So, enhance your capacity to align your political choices with the same standard of excellence you demand in your personal health, travel, and business. It is time we realized that societal development does not recognize religious affiliation, nor does effective governance bow to ethnic seniority; rather, it responds only to the touch of competence and the weight of selfless capacity. You must rise above the allure of temporary handouts and recognize that when we select leaders based on their track record of discipline and anti-corruption, we lay a foundation for an economy where every citizen can thrive irrespective of their background. We must stop being the instruments for choosing the very “bad” we claim to detest and start seeking the “good” with a sincerity that rejects the divisive rhetoric of those who profit from our fragmentation. If we truly desire security, we must support the leader whose strategic ability is proven; if we want a functioning health system, we must vote for the visionary whose history reflects a commitment to the public good. By insisting on meritocracy in the polling booth just as we do in the marketplace, we break the cycle of wanting progress while acting in ways that are fundamentally anti-good governance.
As you step out each day, carry the firm conviction that the quality of your life is inextricably linked to the quality of your leadership selection. Refuse to be a part of the dilemma that trades a nation’s prosperity for a tribesman’s ego or a few hours of political favour. May your commitment to choosing capacity over sentiment be the catalyst that finally gives Nigeria the future we all truly desire.
__
Esang Esitikot, a chemical engineer, is a professor of occupational health and safety. He is a public affairs analyst, UN Ambassador for Peace, and a pro bono lecturer at the Institute of Health, Safety, Security and Environment, University of Uyo. He can be contacted via 08035103559 (Whatsapp only) or email (esitikot@gmail.com).
