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By Uche Akunebu
“No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking” – Voltaire, writer, philosopher, dramatist, Historian and polemicist.
The great philosopher plato at around 375 BC in his work the “Republic ” argued for what he called “philosopher-Kings ” as political heads . It was a theory that combines political skills with philosophical knowledge. Plato ,was of the view that it was the duty of this kind of leaders to always put on their thinking caps ,when confronted with challenges, and to think for the uncritical mass.
Marcus Aurelius , who was also the last of what the 18th century English historian, Edward Gibbon, termed the “Five Good Emperors of Rome” from every indication was a classical case of what a philosopher king looks like . When he became emperor in I61 CE in Rome ,he encountered many challenges, but being one with great thinking ability, he was able to surmount most of the challenges. His intellectual work “The meditation ” is still one of the most valued philosophical works available and referenced by philosophers .
In the Christian holy Bible as recorded in the book of Kings 3:16 -28 ,readers are regaled with the story of how King Solomon turned out to have unsurpassed wisdom ,after asking God for it. With such wisdom he was able to resolve a case of claim to newborn child by two women ,without conducting a DNA test ,by just knowing the true owner of the child ,with the different ways they reacted when he threatened to divide the child into two and share to the dueling women.
King Solomon, was a thinker ,as he published so many books in the bible . His unfathomable knowledge attracted people from far and near . Queen Sheba of Ethiopia, had to leave town to come and sip from the spring of King Solomons knowledge.
Apart from the two examples cited ,the world is replete with names of leaders who came to political office ,with great thinking, that transformed their societies. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd president of the United States of America, can rightly be said to be one of such leaders.
President Roosevelt led the United States through two of the greatest crises of the 20th century: the Great Depression and Second world War. It was to his credit that that the powers of the federal government was expanded ,which led to series of programs and reform known as the “New Deal”. Roosevelt, succeeded in power ,because he was a great thinker.
Talking of thinkers in power ,another name worthy of mentioning is Lee Kuan Yew, a Cambridge trained lawyer, who is globally recognised as the founding father of modern Singaporean State . Serving as prime minister of Singapore from 1959 to 1990 ,Yew Kuan Yew ,the world leadership expert who wrote the book ,”From Third World to First :The Singapore story;1965-2000 “, was able to transform his country economy into a highly developed one . Lee who walked out of law school with first class ,was a thinker ,who uses his fertile thought to transform his country.
Coming to Nigeria ,our beloved country, it does appear that leaders with such thinking capacities like Marcus Aurelius, King Solomon, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Lee Kuan Yew and the rest appears to be in short supply;culminating in the underdeveloped status of our nation. It wasn’t so much the situation in the first and second Republic.
In the first Republic for instance , we had a thinker who was a leader in the person of the late sage ,Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the former premier of Western region. Chief Awolowo, as Premier of the Western region, introduced free education in the Western region, that made it possible for a lot of great names we hear today, to be possible. He built the Cocao house and the first television station in Africa . The late sage was able to register his name in the pantheon of history, By virtue of being a great thinker. He did not only use his fertile mind to churn out books ,but also to think on how to bring about development to his people. It was not for nothing, that the Oxford born wordsmith, the Ikemba Nnewi ,Chief Odumegwu Ojukwu ,once described Awo as popularly known as “the greatest president, Nigeria never had”.
As there existed a thinker of a leader in the Western region, there was also a leader in the Eastern region ,that came to power not forgetting his thinking cap . That leader was the late Dr Michael Okpara popularly known as MI power by his admirers. A medical doctor by training, Dr Okpara as Premier of Western region was able to thought out projects that endured after his tenure . He made palm oil produce to rake in enormous revenue for the region, and built industrial complexes in Port Harcourt and Enugu that made businesses to blossom.
The northern region was not left out as Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Premier of the region also was able to prove that he was a leader and thinker,by his Agricultural programmes that sustained the region . In his time the groundnut pyramid was a thing of pride and textile industries flourished in places like Kaduna and Kano.
In the second Republic, we were fortunate to have a leader and thinker in the person of late Dr Sam Mbakwe, the former governor of old Imo state . Here was a man who all he did was to think of the people and projects that will better their standard of living that he was nicknamed the “Oliver Twist ” and the”Weeping governor ” by the opposition. As a thinking leader, his legacy projects in Old Imo state ,still speaks volume of his greatness and place in history.
With passage of time ,we no longer have leaders who are thinkers ,and that appears to be among the woes of our democracy. The leaders we are churning out of late are interested in what the renowned authority in political economy ,the late professor Claude Ake calls “primitive accumulation of wealth ” which is why after serving as governors, ministers, Local government Chairmen, etc ,the Economic and financial crime commission (EFCC) start chasing them up and down to come and explain how monies developed wings and flew off.
It is the absence of a thinking leadership that have occasioned a situation whereby state governors rely on federal allocations to survive ,when they can think inwards and do much for their states. Dr Ike Ekweremadu ,former deputy senate president, in deprecating such an anomaly, described our federalism as ” feeding bottle federalism ” a situation where States waits to be fed by the federal government.
We are bereft of a thinking leadership ,which is why some states endowed with enormous mineral resources are still struggling with poverty ,when they are supposed to be swimming in stupendous wealth. The governors of these states have their mind fixated on oil money ,when mineral resources that could transform their economies are left unattended. What a tragedy!
How can we practice unbroken 25 years of democracy without previous governments considering it a sina -qua- non to build fresh refineries ,but rather prefer to be refining Nigeria crude abroad? It is only an unthinking leadership that would allow such to happen. Cashing in on lack of thinking on the part of previous governments ,a thinking entrepreneur ,Alhaji Aliko Dangote, is now building a refinery that government could not built.
Some states have land mass that doubles the size of many countries, but they do not know what to do with it ,as a result of an unthinking leadership. Israel ,a small country of nine million people, with small land mass is feeding their population and most countries of the world by revolutionising their agriculture, but here even when state government goes into agriculture, it is all about fertiliser distribution and nothing more.
Labour today is demanding for better wage ,and both federal and state governments are proposing provocative wage ,claiming inability to shoulder higher wage payments. A thinking leadership, should have thought of more creative way of cutting down on wastages and thinking out of the box on how to drive development, which ultimately leaves them with huge financial outlays .
We cannot continue as a country to ignore a thinking leadership, if we must enjoy democracy and development. Every country that has prospered stood on the shoulders of thinking leaders. As we grow in this democracy, let men and women who are ready to beat their chest like Augustus Ceasar, when he opined ” I found Rome a city of bricks and left it a city of marbles ” Come forward.
Dr Uche Akunebu is the Head of poets of the world (Poets dek mundo) and Editor of African book series of the international human rights arts Festival based in New York.