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Leadership without a Moral Purpose
A Critical Analysis
of Nigerian Politics and Administration
(with emphasis on the
Obasanjo Administration, 2003-2007)
By Victor E. Dike
Paperback: 510 pages, BookSurge Publishing, October 14,
2009
Foreword
By
Professor Christian Nwachukwu Okeke
Nigerians have endured
untold economic hardship and misery over the years
because of ‘leadership without a moral purpose.’ And the
nightmare appears endless because the politicians, who
have been preaching good governance, economic prosperity
and democracy since the coming back of civilian rule in
May 1999, are not effective “change agents.” They are
not working for common good, but prefer the status quo,
which enables them to amass wealth through deceit and
intimidation. The direction of change in any society
depends on how well national resources are mobilized by
the leaders to improve the people’s living conditions
and the people’s attitude and behavior toward change.
With an in-depth study and analysis of the challenges
facing contemporary Nigerian politics and administration
in 14 Chapters, this 557-page book offers a solution to
the problems. Each chapter presents both sides of the
debate and allows readers to make their own judgments.
It is hoped that this summary will give readers some
sense of how the pieces fit together.
Chapter 1,
“Leadership without a Moral Purpose,” kicks off the
discussion by reviewing the main issues that are
recurring decimals in the challenges of leadership in
Nigeria. This book is built on a simple premise: That
Nigeria’s political leaders are not concerned with how
to strengthen the institutions and infrastructure and
provide the necessary social amenities to improve the
lives of the people, but on how to enrich themselves.
Broadly, the goal is to understand historically the
economic and philosophical aspects of democracy and to
underscore the ramification of social conflicts on the
political economy.
Chapter 2,
“Political Parties and Elections in Nigeria: A Brief
Overview,” discusses political parties without ideology
and fraudulent elections that are the fundamental causes
of the nation’s electoral nightmare, and how they affect
the concept of democracy in Nigeria. Chapter 3,
“Nigeria and the Politics of Unreason: Political
Assassination and Decampment,” argues that political
assassination and decampment that strewn the political
landscape has retarded the development of true democracy
in Nigeria. Chapter 4, “Political Godfatherism in
Contemporary Nigerian Politics,” concentrates on the
godfather phenomenon that assumed a dangerous dimension
during the Obasanjo administration, Chapter 5,
“Political Impeachment and the Obasanjo Administration,”
deals with political impeachment and the uncertain
environment, while Chapter 6, “National Political
Reform Conference and the Third-Term Plot,” focuses on
the national political reform conference that failed to
build a new Nigeria, and the third-term plot that nearly
derailed the nation’s democratic expedition. Taken
together, the chapters argue that Nigeria’s defective
electoral system produces leaders whose allegiance is
for their godfathers, instead of the electorate on which
democracy depends. That shows that leadership remains
the enemy of the society.
Every chapter tackles a
part of the problems facing Nigeria. Chapter 7,
“Dimensions of Corruption and the Obasanjo
Administration,” and Chapter 8, “Tackling the
Root of Corruption in Nigeria: Alternative Strategies,”
examine pandemic corruption (with particular reference
to the Obasanjo Administration), its impact on the
political economy and strategies to effectively tackle
the menace. Despite the deafening trumpets on the war
against corruption, bribery and high-profile corruption
remain a daunting challenge for Nigeria. It is needless
to repeat here the importance of visionary leadership
and good governance. Chapter 9, “Governance and
the Nigerian Economy,” extends the discussion and
analysis to governance and illustrates how poor
governance has combined with corruption to create a weak
economy, high unemployment and inflation, poverty and
rising crime, and a sham democracy.
Chapter 10,
“Poverty and Daily Life in Contemporary Nigeria,” is
another important section, which argues that the
inability of the political leaders to grow the economy
and empower the burgeoning population leads to harsh
living condition and breeds vagrants that threaten lives
and properties and scare away investors from the
economy. Chapter 11, “Education and Nigeria’s
Global Competitiveness,” discusses the dismal state of
education and contends that good quality education is
the foundation for every other development. It notes
that competitiveness depends on productivity, which
hinges on good quality education and proper skills. And
good schools will produce good quality graduates,
increase individual and national productivity and
quality of goods and services; this leads to higher
earnings and reduction in poverty, economic growth and
development, and in turn, sharpens the nation’s global
competitiveness. If a nation neglects its education
sector, as Nigeria is doing now, the economy becomes
unproductive with associated social crisis.
Chapter 12,
“Political Economy of the Niger Delta Crisis,” continues
the discussion on political economy. Lack of true
federalism has contributed to the injustice in Nigeria,
which has denied the people of Niger Delta the right to
control and develop their God-given resources to finance
community development projects. Thus, the inequity in
resources allocation and systemic injustice that have
subjected the people to economic hardship and misery
prompted the agitation for resource control and youth
militancy (it appears force is the only option to
correct social injustice in Nigeria) in the region that
could degenerate into a greater political and national
security problem and cripple the economy if the root
causes of the agitation are not amicably resolved. As
the crisis deepens and as the key economic indicators
look southwards, foreign and local investors would
relocate their resources elsewhere.
Related to the Niger
Delta crisis is Chapter 13, “Understanding and
Managing Nigeria’s Security Challenges.” Nigeria’s
acrimonious politics and fraudulent elections, disregard
for rule of law and due process, lack of standards and
spate of collapse buildings, poor emergency response and
oil pipeline vandalism, poor infrastructure (bad roads
and erratic electricity supply), rising unemployment and
poverty, kidnapping for ransom, and of course
high-profile corruption, are serious national security
and public safety concern that affect Nigeria’s image,
the economy and her democratic experiment.
This book concludes with
Chapter 14, “Final Conclusions: Nigeria Needs
Leadership with a Moral Purpose.” It argues that the
present crop of political leaders –leaders without a
moral purpose - will not take Nigeria to her final
destination of true democracy and economic prosperity.
Nigeria’s brand of “democracy” is likened to a person
who is dressed up, but going nowhere. Anyone who still
has faith in the political leaders must be crazy.
For Nigeria to make any
meaningful social, political and economic progress there
should be a paradigm shift (Thomas Kuhn and The
Structure of Scientific Revolution) in the way the
nation is governed. The future and stability of Nigeria
depends on how the leaders and the people resolve the
myriad burning issues in the society and improve the
living conditions of the people. But this will not be
possible without leadership with a moral purpose.
This book is impressive
both in range of subject matter and in the sophisticated
high quality of analysis of issues covered. The work
deserves to be highly commended in that it clearly
analyzes the key issues in contemporary Nigerian
politics and administration (particularly during the
eight years of Obasanjo administration). Nigeria has not
fared any better under the current Yar’Adua
administration that is devoid of goal and direction. The
absurdities and paradoxes of the past persist with
increasing social crisis. Although Leadership without a
Moral Purpose does not pretend to have all the
‘medicines’ for Nigeria’s problems, it makes a
significant contribution to better balanced
understanding of the problems facing contemporary
Nigerian politics and administration. This book,
therefore, merits the attention of students, scholars,
policy makers and general readers.
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 |
Super Rich: A Guide to Having it All
By Russell Simmons
Russell Simmons knows firsthand that
wealth is rooted in much more than the
stock
market. True wealth has more to do with
what's in your heart than what's in your
wallet. Using this knowledge, Simmons
became one of America's shrewdest
entrepreneurs, achieving a level of
success that most investors only dream
about. No matter how much material gain
he accumulated, he never stopped lending
a hand to those less fortunate. In
Super Rich, Simmons uses his rare
blend of spiritual savvy and
street-smart wisdom to offer a new
definition of wealth-and share timeless
principles for developing an unshakable
sense of self that can weather any
financial storm. As Simmons says, "Happy
can make you money, but money can't make
you happy." |
* * * * *
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The New Jim Crow
Mass Incarceration in the Age of
Colorblindness
By Michele Alexander
Contrary to the
rosy picture of race embodied in Barack
Obama's political success and Oprah
Winfrey's financial success, legal
scholar Alexander argues vigorously and
persuasively that [w]e have not ended
racial caste in America; we have merely
redesigned it. Jim Crow and legal racial
segregation has been replaced by mass
incarceration as a system of social
control (More African Americans are
under correctional control today... than
were enslaved in 1850). Alexander
reviews American racial history from the
colonies to the Clinton administration,
delineating its transformation into the
war on drugs. She offers an acute
analysis of the effect of this mass
incarceration upon former inmates who
will be discriminated against, legally,
for the rest of their lives, denied
employment, housing, education, and
public benefits. Most provocatively, she
reveals how both the move toward
colorblindness and affirmative action
may blur our vision of injustice: most
Americans know and don't know the truth
about mass incarceration—but her
carefully researched, deeply engaging,
and thoroughly readable book should
change that.—Publishers
Weekly |
 |
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The White Masters of the
World
From
The World and Africa, 1965
By W. E. B. Du Bois
W. E. B. Du Bois’
Arraignment and Indictment of White Civilization
(Fletcher)
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Ancient African Nations
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If you like this page consider making a donation
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Negro Digest /
Black World
Browse all issues
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Enjoy!
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The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan
/
The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
/
Only a Pawn in Their Game
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for
Slavery /
George Jackson /
Hurricane Carter
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The Journal of Negro History issues at Project Gutenberg
The
Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804
/
January 1, 1804 -- The Founding of
Haiti
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posted 24 November 2009
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