Liberty is never given freely, and so is a truly representative leadership embedded with accountability openness is never freely given.
The historical context of the evolution of the once Niger Area, to what we today know as Nigeria reflects the poor and abysmal state of the present leadership as a misguided inheritance, handed over to one set of ill-ready crop of freedom-thirsty individuals to the present aristocratic caucus.
This evolved from the British colonial masters whose idea of governance back in the 1900’s favours a central power, exposited by the concentration of power and control of socio-economic resources in the hands of a leading few. This trend was even made more manifest through the several military coup and counter coups till the present civilian leadership which smears of the footprints of the ex-military administrators.
By virtue of this nature of power transference, it is little surprise to witness a contemporary government devoid of any means of true representation of the will of the led. This replicates itself across several African countries, whose growth and sustenance if dependent on foreign monetary intervention, and critical ability of successive governments to loot the treasury more than the other.
However, the surge if the appreciative usage of the new media are not only utilized by the mass populace for self-orientation on the activities of governance through its policies, but most importantly is this effective usage of the New Media to bring the leadership to an open and accountable governance.
Needful to say, the ability of effectively utilizing this new media in demanding for proper rule of law, accountability and openness from the leadership by the led requires a committed dedication of the leadership to give in to these demands without necessarily inciting violent reactions from the led. An example of this was witnessed in January, when the led, utilizing the New Media spearheaded a nationwide protests against the removal of a ‘fairy tale’ fuel subsidy, an action that later led to series of probes, in the end revealing billions of tax-payers US dollars siphoned into private pockets through a secretive operations of the nation’s Oil industry players.
We have witnessed much more of these New-Media instigated protests through the Arab world lately.
A number of public office holders are already fronting this new wave of new media presence for accountability and openness of governance. These include a few lawmakers (from State and Federal legislative arm), notably, an incumbent senator and former two-term governor of Kwara State, @bukolasaraki, a few governors and the Presidency, through his spokesperson who registered a (more interactive) twitter account @abati1990 recently.
While these trend looks like a good move, there still exists skepticism on the intent of this interactive leadership.
The inability of the country, Nigeria and by large, Africa, to attain meaningful development has been rightly diagnosed as a failure of leadership. Moreover, how this new interactive trend translates to developmental leadership, by virtue of promoting the Rule of Law, Protecting the Lives and Property of the led and upholding the tenets of Individual Rights remains a big gap.
There is continued onslaught on lives and properties of individuals by the dreaded Boko Haram insurgency, administrative negligence remains pronounced especially with the loss of about 200 lives during a recent ill-fated plane crash, while federating states remain dependently addicted (like a baby to the mothers breast milk) to funds allocation from the central government.
From the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America, it was ascertained that all Men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness – That to secure these Rights, ‘Governments’ are instituted among Men, deriving their ‘just’ Powers from the ‘Consent’ of the Governed.
It continues, however, …that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the “Right” of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government …” (quoted emphasis are mine)
In a democratic institution like ours, it is left of the Governed, if unsatisfied with the status quo, to challenge it by instituting a new government, through just means by the polls by exercising our franchise.
When leaders are made to understand and realize their dispensability status, and the led, willing to utilize the enlightened and effective use of resources such as the new media, there sure exists hope for the realization of a leadership evolution from the corrupt status quo, to a more open, accountable and development-prone leadership.
Fiyinfoluwa Elegbede is Outreach Assistant, AfricanLiberty.org
@Fiyin_Liberty on twitter
