Leadership by every standard is very essential to the growth and development of any nation. It is a determinant of how far and well the economy, politics and social lives of any nation would go in shaping the collective destiny of the people.
Without mincing words, good leadership brings economic prosperity, attitudinal reform, character rebranding and confidence-building between the leader and the led. But as significant as good leadership seems to be to any nation, it becomes ineffective when it is not accompanied by mentorship. Leadership and mentorship are like Siamese twins––the two are the live wire of any nation.
A peep into Nigeria’s history would further corroborate and establish how pivotal mentorship is. In pre-Independence Nigeria, regional leaders like Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Sir Ahmadu Bello and Dr Nnamdi Azikwe believed strongly in mentorship; while the trio was offering leadership, they were also mentoring future leaders, having known that to build an economically vibrant and politically sophisticated nation was like a race without a destination. They knew such a task required a continuous reinvention of the leadership ethos through the injection of new blood into the system.
The pragmatic approach of these highly futuristic leaders brought about the emergence of cerebral youthful breeds like Chief Anthony Enahoro, Michael Okpara and Abubakar Tafawa Balewa. These leaders rose to prominence through mentorship and their contributions to national growth remain indelible on the country’s political soil.
In South-West Nigeria, Chief Awolowo built a web of leadership that fascinated and encouraged the younger stock. He knew that his political empire wouldn’t last forever and he devised a way of cloning a new set of leaders in the likes of Alhaji Lateef Jakande, Chief Bola Ige, Chief Bisi Onabanjo and this foresight paid off taking cognizance of the dividends of democracy these youthful leaders brought to the South West in the Second Republic of 1979 to 1983.
The military interregnum of 1983 to 1999 did not encourage leadership by mentoring and sadly the good trend. However, the emergence of former Lagos State governor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the new political leader in the South West has reignited the value back reckoning. Awo’s style of leadership, which was greatly anchored on the building of youthful leadership stock, has reincarnated. Little wonder, the six states of the South West, except for the highly financially sophisticated Lagos, are experiencing paucity of funds, but they remain a reference point when it comes to development and delivery of democracy gains in Nigeria today.
After the political tsunami of 2003, when the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) took over the reign of leadership of the zone, Tinubu triumphed over PDP and far away from Lagos, he was able to build a new but dependable crop of youthful leaders across states that eventually gave the PDP a shock and they eventually recaptured leadership which has been of tremendous benefit to the people. If not for Tinubu’s sole effort and political wizardry, the South West and Nigeria would have lost rare gems like governors Kayode Fayemi, Rauf Aregbesola, Ibikunle Amosun, Abiola Ajimobi and Babatunde Fasola and a host of others now seen as the new faces of leadership across Nigeria.
Putting it succinctly, the act of mentoring cannot be underrated in the life of any nation. Taking stocks of the enviable contributions of youthful leaders in Nigeria today, it won’t be out of place to conclude that any nation that fails to plan for its future leadership is doomed, and failure is staring such nation in the face. The take-away from this write up is that leaders across the zones, and perhaps, states must imbibe the culture of mentoring future leaders who would be better managers of men and resources to safeguard the future of our nation. This habit whereby a governor would want to impose a successor who is weak and intellectually hollow should be discarded. Mentoring remains the best way to deepen our democracy, build confidence around leadership and entrench the culture of mentorship that would bring radical development to the country at all levels of governance.
•Dalimore Aluko is an Assistant Principal at Ikere High School, Ikere-Ekiti, Ekiti State. 0806618158.