Person of the Year 2012

I didn’t have too much difficulty selecting this column’s 2012 person of the year. I’ve been thinking a lot about the leadership deficit in Nigeria and in fact globally. The world used to have great leaders of courage and vision. These were not perfect individuals, but they were ready to fight for big ideals; willing to challenge their peoples; willing to pursue their vision for their nations; willing to lead even when their political careers might be endangered thereby…great men and women like Nelson Mandela, John F Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, Winston Churchill. Today political leaders across the world have no deeply-held views, with public opinion polls telling leaders what to believe! If the polls say same-sex marriage will tip an election in your favour, then your views evolve in that direction! The “big” debates in the West now are over homosexual marriages, abortion, debts and deficits and marijuana! No leader is challenging his nation to go anywhere, like Kennedy audaciously did; no leader will consider staying in prison for 2 years, not to talk of 27 based on some conviction. Now leadership is all about the next election and projecting personal charisma lacking a backbone in vision and values. Nigeria has of course fared worse than the West in terms of leadership. At independence we got as national leader a second-in-command Balewa who became not Prime Minister, but arbitrator-in-chief followed by a succession of weak leaders with poor vision and low understanding of policy and power going right through Aguiyi-Ironsi (who could only lead a military battalion!), Gowon (who wondered what to do with all the resources at his disposal), Murtala Mohammed (bold, but also brash, reckless and often unthinking), Obasanjo 1 (who didn’t want to die!), Shagari (who should really have been a Senator!), Buhari (extremely limited in policy and administration as well as ethnic, religious and democratic tolerance), Babangida (politically sagacious but deficient in values and character), and Abacha (oh how low we sunk!). Shonekan, Abdulsalam (and even Yar’adua) were defacto and/or de jure interim administrations in the same mold as Balewa, Gowon and Shagari. Obasanjo 2 was the only instance of some leadership, but even that was blighted by his other political weaknesses! And there’s no point saying anything about Goodluck Jonathan’s leadership skills! If you look across the political and governance spectrum, it wouldn’t take you long to conclude that Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) of Lagos has offered a refreshing differentiation from our dismal record of visionless leadership, weak policy understanding and poor governance that has characterized the history of our nation and its sub-national constituents! He is this column’s Person of the Year 2012! In just five and a half years, he has changed the face of Lagos State in terms of roads and infrastructure, social investments in education, healthcare, sports and social welfare, culture and tourism etc. There is no sector in Lagos that has not experienced transformation. And contrary to some notions, development has been taken across the nooks and crannies of Lagos-in Alimosho, Ojuelegba, Mushin, Badagry, Ikorodu, Lekki, Obalende, Ifako-Ijaiye, Ilasamaja…everywhere there are new roads and bridges, new skills acquisition centres, new classrooms and courtrooms, sports centres, health centres and general hospitals and other infrastructure establishing the functionality of government and its impact on the people. The consequence in the context of overall national failure of governance is a continuous wave of migration into Lagos! He is an intellectual and an executor in government and has remained so, constantly reminding himself that he has a job to do, (not just an office to occupy) and he has limited time to do it. When you listen to him, you get the sense of something who has thought long and hard about the issues he speaks about. His government obviously seeks to govern on the basis of research and constant and intensive policy reviews, probably one of the few national or sub-national governments in Nigeria so to do. He has also proved willing to take unpopular decisions, once he’s convinced he’s acting in the public interest. His Okada ban is probably the best example of this attribute. Unlike many so-called leaders across the world, he’s willing to lead rather than be led by polls where appropriate! Those are the reasons I selected Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), Governor of Lagos State as this column’s Person of the Year. I considered other possibilities of course-federal agriculture minister, Dr Akinwunmi Adesina being his closest rival. He is transforming the agriculture sector based on sound knowledge and sensible policy and if he stays long enough on the job, our country will be the better for it. I also considered Professor Barth Nnaji who as Power Minister pushed power sector privatization and the regime’s Power Sector Road Map a considerable distance before Abuja got rid of him. Others included Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka who continues even as he advances in age, to be one of the strongest positive influences of our nation; Governor Chibuike Amaechi who has taken major developmental strides in Rivers State, but appears increasingly distracted by his role in the so-called Nigerian Governors Forum and his party’s unending power plays; Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger State, Aliko Dangote, Aig Aig-Imoukhuede, Tony Elumelu, re-elected Governors Adams Oshiomhole and Olusegun Mimiko and Ms Bola Onagoruwa, the departed Head of the Bureau of Public Enterprises. I didn’t consider President Goodluck Jonathan.