Stunted growth: Nigerian followers guilty as leaders, says Yusuf Ali SAN

Stunted growth: Nigerian followers guilty as leaders, says Yusuf Ali SAN 

 

Nigeria will continue to have a stunted grown until the people change their character and enthrone impactful leaders, a legal icon, Professor Yusuf Olaolu Ali (SAN), has said.

Ali spoke to newsmen last weekend before the inauguration of the remodelled Ifetedo Central Mosque in the Ife South Local government Area of Osun State.

Some of the personalities that witnessed the inauguration are the Olubosin of Ifetedo Kingdom, Oba Akinola Akinrera, Latiiri 1; Deputy President of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NDCIA) and President of the Muslim Ummah of the South-West Nigeria (MUSWEN), Alhaji Rasaq Oladejo; Registrar, Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Professor Ishaq Oloyede; Aare Musulumi of Yoruba land, Edo and Delta states, Alhaji Dawud Makanjuola Akinola; Asiwaju Musulumi of Yoruba land, Alhaji Khamis Tunde Badmus and the Chief Imam of Ifetedo Central Mosque, Chief Imam AbdulJabar Hussein Akindunmi.

He lamented that Nigeria had failed virtually in all sectors due to lack of impactful leadership and followership.

He said the country ought to be running like the Asian Tigers that broke into the ranks of advanced economies.

Ali said, “Nigeria has a stunted growth in all parameters in the measurement of the growth of a country. We are stunted because by now, we should be running, but we are hardly crawling.

“All the indices of progress, we don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Other countries such as the so-called Asian Tigers and the advanced countries don’t reinvent themselves. You can borrow and buy technologies. And as long as you are able to have it, you’re making progress.

“We need impactful leadership and followers that are honest and patriotic.”

He noted that the followers are as guilty as their leaders for the precarious state of the country and advocated a holistic approach to redeem the situation.

“It’s two sides of the coin. You can’t be blaming the leaders because the followers are as bad, if not worse than the leaders in this country.

“For me, we have to be holistic and must all play our roles, discharge our duties by doing all that are necessary to have the kind of level of development that we need as a nation,” he said.

The legal luminary said the challenges holding down the country 25 years after the restoration of civil rule are due to the incalculable damage done by military interregnum.

He said, “We grope in the dark because it is easier to destroy than to build. We may not appreciate the depth of what the military had done to our psyche as a people: lack of orderliness.”

He also spoke on the controversy around the Tax Reform Bills pending at the National Assembly, stating that Nigerians usually avoid paying taxes on the premise that there is hardly any evidence of the judicious use of the proceeds by the government.

On the proposal for a six-year single term for the president and governors to replace the existing two terms of four years each.

“If Nigerians don’t change their attitude, nothing can take us to an Eldorado. We must first of all agree on that. I have always been an advocate of a six-year single tenure; it is good for our system. It will stop the incessant fight for self succession by the office holder to return to power after four years tenure. You will know that once you spend your six years you’re out of the place and there will be peace.

“However, if the six-year single tenure throws up an inept leadership, there is provision in the Constitution for impeachment.

“Whether you abuse it or use it wisely is a different thing. The system is self-cleaning but unfortunately, we have character issues.

“Most of us don’t have character and you need good character for a system to work well,” he said.