leaders and leadership

We have seen some of our leaders  of the 40s, , and 60s discussed on these pages. A few things are always brought to the fore. From Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, to Sir Ahmadu Bello, to Chief Obafemi Awolowo straight to Dr Okpara, Alh Tafawa Balewa, not one was hailed for building houses or amassing ill gotten wealth all over the place.

Not one of these leaders had accounts strewn all over the world. Not one of them had wives who had huge egos with offices and several assistants to boot.

We had meagre resources then. But the leaders built educational facilities of quality, infrastructure that could last long. Dr Okpara built no houses but realised agriculture was the right investment to make, so he acquired some land for farming and the elite of the Eastern Region followed suit.

Sir Ahmadu Bello was the leader of the party that won the general elections in 1959. He was expected to take up position as the first Prime Minister of Nigeria.  He declined and sent  his deputy instead.  Can anybody imagine that happening today?

Whatever Sir Ahmadu Bello  may have thought for declining, greed was not one of them. If he had wanted power for the sake of it, control of federal resources and armed forces were enough grounds. How many houses did he build whilst in office?

Tafawa Balewa was the Prime Minister for at least four years and from what we hear,  he had just one house and it wasnt an estate like our present leaders gleefully build

The people have become numbed to the antics of the present crop of leaders, that they can substitute leadership for sharing and misuse of resources.

Adekunle Ajasin was the governor of Ondo State from 1979-1983,. Before then, he had worked as a school principal and founded a school in Owo called Imade College. He was even credited to have given Chiec Awolowo the blue print for the free education programme that made the Western Region what it is today.  Chief Ajasin had one house to his name. He was part of government and opposition for close to 50years.

We will bring more of these leaders to the attention of my friends so that maybe, I can begin to rethink my values.  Wrong values stuffed in me by the present class of leadership.

More folktales

Effiong Edem was a native of Cobham Town. He had a very fine daughter, whose name was Afiong. All the young men in the country wanted to marry her on account of her beauty; but she refused all offers of marriage in spite of repeated entreaties from her parents, as she was very vain, and said she would only marry the best-looking man in the country, who would have to be young and strong, and capable of loving her properly. Most of the men her parents wanted her to marry, although they were rich, were old men and ugly, so the girl continued to disobey her parents, at which they were very much grieved. The skull who lived in the spirit land heard of the beauty of this Calabar virgin, and thought he would like to possess her; so he went about amongst his friends and borrowed different parts of the body from them, all of the best. From one he got a good head, another lent him a body, a third gave him strong arms, and a fourth lent him a fine pair of legs. At last he was complete, and was a very perfect specimen of manhood.

He then left the spirit land and went to Cobham market, where he saw Afiong, and admired her very much.

About this time Afiong heard that a very fine man had been seen in the market, who was better-looking than any of the natives. She therefore went to the market at once, and directly she saw the Skull in his borrowed beauty, she fell in love with him, and invited him to her house. The Skull was delighted, and went home with her, and on his arrival was introduced by the girl to her parents, and immediately asked their consent to marry their daughter. At first they refused, as they did not wish her to marry a stranger, but at last they agreed.

He lived with Afiong for two days in her parents' house, and then said he wished to take his wife back to his country, which was far off. To this the girl readily agreed, as he was such a fine man, but her parents tried to persuade her not to go. However, being very headstrong, she made up her mind to go, and they started off together. After they had been gone a few days the father consulted his Ju Ju man, who by casting lots very soon discovered that his daughter's husband belonged to the spirit land, and that she would surely be killed. They therefore all mourned her as dead.

After walking for several days, Afiong and the Skull crossed the border between the spirit land and the human country. Directly they set foot in the spirit land, first of all one man came to the Skull and demanded his legs, then another his head, and the next his body, and so on, until in a few minutes the skull was left by itself in all its natural ugliness. At this the girl was very frightened, and wanted to return home, but the skull would not allow this, and ordered her to go with him. When they arrived at the skull's house they found his mother, who was a very old woman quite incapable of doing any work, who could only creep about. Afiong tried her best to help her, and cooked her food, and brought water and firewood for the old woman. The old creature was very grateful for these attentions, and soon became quite fond of Afiong.

One day the old woman told Afiong that she was very sorry for her, but all the people in the spirit land were cannibals, and when they heard there was a human being in their country, they would come down and kill her and eat her. The skull's mother then hid Afiong, and as she had looked after her so well, she promised she would send her back to her country as soon as possible, providing that she promised for the future to obey her parents. This Afiong readily consented to do. Then the old woman sent for the spider, who was a very clever hairdresser, and made him dress Afiong's hair in the latest fashion. She also presented her with anklets and other things on account of her kindness. She then made a Ju Ju and called the winds to come and convey Afiong to her home. At first a violent tornado came, with thunder, lightning and rain, but the skull's mother sent him away as unsuitable. The next wind to come was a gentle breeze, so she told the breeze to carry Afiong to her mother's house, and said good-bye to her. Very soon afterwards the breeze deposited Afiong outside her home, and left her there.

When the parents saw their daughter they were very glad, as they had for some months given her up as lost. The father spread soft animals' skins on the ground from where his daughter was standing all the way to the house, so that her feet should not be soiled. Afiong then walked to the house, and her father called all the young girls who belonged to Afiong's company to come and dance, and the feasting and dancing was kept up for eight days and nights. When the rejoicing was over, the father reported what had happened to the head chief of the town. The chief then passed a law that parents should never allow their daughters to marry strangers who came from a far country. Then the father told his daughter to marry a friend of his, and she willingly consented, and lived with him for many years, and had many children.

credits : worldoftales.com

Dr Okpara

Michael Okpara, an Ohuhu-Igbo, was born in December 1920 at Umuahia, in the present day Abia State of Nigeria. Although he was the son of a laborer, he was able to attend mission schools and later went to Uzuakoli Methodist College, where he won a scholarship to study medicine at Yaba Higher College, Lagos. Completing his medical studies at the Nigerian School of Medicine, he worked briefly as a government medical officer before returning to Umuahia to set up a private practicee.

In 1953, when NCNC legislators revolted against the party leadership, he remained loyal and joined forces with Dr. Azikiwe. In November 1960, when Dr. Azikiwe left active politics to become Nigeria's first African Governor-General, Dr. Okpara was elected leader of the NCNC. His outspoken manner led to a severe strain in relations between his party and the rulingNorthern People's Congress.

After independence

Dr.Okpara was the leader of the NCNC and Premier of Eastern Nigeria during the First Republic (from 1959–1966). Although he was one of the politicians detained soon after the military coup of January, 1966, he survived the army revolt, in which two other premiers were killed.

A strong advocate of what he termed "pragmatic socialism", he believed that Nigeria’s salvation depended on a revolution in agriculture. To this end, he acquired and managed a large farm in his hometown, which inspired many Eastern Nigerian leaders to follow suit. He also championed the educational and infrastructural development of Eastern Nigeria.

He never owned a house of his own while he was in government. When the Nigerian Civil War ended, he went into exile in Ireland. Before his return from exile in 1979, his close associates and beneficiaries took up a collection to build him a house in his village,.

Courtesy wikipedia

nigerian airways?

The airline came into being on 23 August 1958^[1]:51 under the name West African Airways Corporation Nigeria Limited (WAAC Nigeria), also known as Nigerian Airways, to succeed the folded West African Airways Corporation (WAAC);^[15] the title “WAAC” was retained due to the prestige this company had previously earned.^[

By July 1980, the fleet consisted of 26 aircraft, split into three Boeing 707-320Cs, two Boeing 727-200s, two Boeing 737-200s, two DC-10-30s, two F27-200s, two F27-400Ms, four F27-600s, six F28-2000s, two F28-4000s, and one Aztec.^[34]:332Nigeria Airways became Airbus' 40th customer in 1981.

Demise

A Nigeria Airways Airbus A310-200 atLondon Heathrow Airport in 1995.

The carrier had accumulated significant debts that outstripped its revenues virtually from the mid-1980s.^[52][53] While 1,000 jobs had been cut by late 1986,^[53] Nigeria ordered the airline to reduce the number of employees —8,500 at the time, with a staff-aircraft ratio of 500:1— even more, and also to reduce or discontinue unprofitable routes

^{Thks to wikipedia.}

Takeaway:   Not an expert in aviation matters in the least. But will do some more 
                      research on the staff to aircraft ratio of 500.:1.

village boy (5)

In the last article, a slight mention was made of houses of worship not been so numerous way back then. It was just the orthodox churches and the main activities were confined to Sundays and maybe the wake up call in the mornings. No pressure.

It is possible the increase in population made it necessary for more of these houses to come into play.  

It is quite possible there are other considerations like founders hearing directly from God to go and set up.

It is not my place or yours to start knowing the contents of other peoples thinking. I am certain there are fantastic reasons for the explosion.

What happened then as a village boy and what I see now is all I can comment on. There was less financial pressure on my folks as offerings and paying tithe were not made a do or die affair. 

Going to church was not compulsory and nobody is called out to explain and no penalties are paid. 

It was all very democratic as pastors are rotated every few years and so nobody can claim ownership. The congregation can actually request for the pastor to be replaced  if he entangles himself in unneccessary controvery.

There were the annual bazaars that led to Xmas and NewYear holidays. The churches had and still have family thanksgiving days. The entire family will host members of the church and give whatever they can afford once a year.  No pressure

These are some of the activities I met  as a village boy. All peaceful and clean. The pastor is not allowed to control funds. There were elections held every year to appoint those to manage the church funds and other activities. The vicar is there to give directions. 

I am certain in the orthodox churches, the rules have not changed. I am no expert at what goes on in the newer ones though.

But you can begin to wonder like the village boy that I am, why way back then, we could build a rail service across major parts of tne country with meagre earnings, whilst nothing has been added in 50years.  With churches in every street? 

Guest series

nigerian railways (2)

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After 1912

In late 1912 preparations began for the development of another rail way trunk from the Eastern areas of Nigeria to the country's Northeast regions. A deep water port site along the Bonny River was chosen in an area previously known as Isaka now Port Harcourt was subsequently chosen as the location of the terminal. The new trunk was built to benefit major economic activities such as the Udi coalfields in the Eastern and upper Benue regions and also Northeastern towns. The financing of the line was mainly appropriated from Nigerian revenues and reserves.

In the 1920s and early 1930s, extensions such as the Zaria-Gusau-Kaura Namoda (1929) were built. Two others extensions were made in 1930, the Ifo-Idogo and the Kano-Nguru lines.

[edit]1970s-1990s:Technical and financial shortcomings

Since the 1980s, the Nigerian Railway Corporation had been bounded by technical and financial shortcomings, however since the 1960s, its performance had not been stellar. The Nigerian civil war depressed railway operations and in the following decade, the low interest in export commodities and coal resulted in reduced freight haulage.

The corporation rarely placed commercial objectives as a priority and government changes in administration and policy resulted in structural and managerial problems. The use of tracks of narrow gauge strewn with curves and gradients coupled with low maintenance over the years resulted in slow speeds for trains.

In 1978, the Nigerian ministry of Transport employed the services of an Indian group: Rail India Technical and Economic Services to operate the railways. The period also coincided with large capital outlays from the government to the railway sector though a large amount of the money was diverted to an ill fated change to standard guage. The contract resulted in modest positive changes but the contract was not renewed. By the end of the 1980s, reduced funding from the government, import bans and managerial problems decreased the performance of the railways.

The large of employees of the railway corporation at many times were owned arrears leading to low labour morale within the corporation.

Courtesy nigerianwiki

Takeaway: All I ask is for us to,compare the two generations of administrators and spot the difference.