Democracy birthed in Nigeria when she gained her independence on October 1, 1960. In October 1979, after more than 13 years of military rule, Nigeria returned to democratic rule.

The National Party of Nigeria emerged victorious in the presidential election and Alhaji Shehu Shagari became the first democratically-elected president. Since then, there has been a constant change in power that looks like recycling the people. Those that ruled in the past are still at the helm of affairs today while the youth can do nothing to change the narrative. The popular phrase often said to us back in primary and secondary school days – youths are the leaders of tomorrow – is a blatant lie a toddler of this generation would want to hear. Stakeholders in the education sector continue to lie to our kids today. The leaders of today are undoubtedly the same people that told the generation of today that we on the other side are the leaders of tomorrow.

There is no position of authority whereby the said representative will not create a team of trust to work with him while at his appointed post. President Muhammadu Buhari of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is just like picture model advertising for a company, as seen on various billboards, but the cabals make the drastic decisions on behalf of the President on anything, regardless of the circumstances democratically. Yet, democracy is the government of everybody.

Just few months back when the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, a Presidential Task Force (PTF) was inaugurated. The PTF was doing the daily briefings, reporting the situation of the coronavirus. Traditionally, the President cannot be everywhere at the same time and cannot do all the jobs; that is why he has numerous delegates taking decisions on his behalf. But there should be critical moments when the citizenry of the nation wants their leader to take decisions on his own without any form of consultation; decisions that will not deter the development of the nation, but develop every sector of the economy where the citizens can benefit.

Exponentially, the citizenry of every nation wants the President to take decisions that sporadically would trigger a rapid change in their lives positively. For example, President Donald Trump of the United States of America with the executive orders; we all know at his age how vibrant he is, doing what he knows how to do best. Since inception every leader has always had cabals within his space but, most especially, in Nigeria they take the most decisions although on behalf of the president. When you read news headlines you will see “from the presidency." Deep in your mind as a newsreader, one would assume that the president himself has spoken. When his advisors has taken the decision on his behalf and one would wonder if the President is dormant and can no longer think for himself; and that goes to the speeches broadcast live on national television, where the President transmits some set of information to the nation.

Particularly, the speeches the President read out to the whole world has always not been written by him, but by his assistants. I personally wonder when all the shenanigans would end. When an ambitious man assumes office as a President and can never take an executive order all by himself without consulting his cohorts. The cabal does not end with the President's Chief of Staff, his numerous personal assistants, his SGF (Secretary to the Government of the Federation) and his ministers, but also extended to the chairman of the party by which the President used the platform to campaign before he eventually becomes the President and also the party chieftains and the underground godfathers that had helped him get to that post. I can go on and on about the indecisiveness of the President with his regular consultation mode he has possessed over time.

Rationally, a the successful leader seeks advice regularly, but to each its own as every man on earth has an opinion about every situation they are being asked, but when it is constant it tends to be datanomical, because the people are taking note and keeping a record as to every executive decision taken that affects everyone in the nation positively or negatively.

This has become a norm in the three arms of government in Nigeria. When a councillor gets to his office setting up a 20-man team to work with, you can categorically ask how much he earns to cater for his team. That is the major reason why every allocation directed to help and get an infrastructural development done in their community will automatically be looted, because before any allocation there is a humongous bill to be cleared off.

Mike-Nifty, an economist, curator and public affairs analyst, can be reached on: nifty.mics@yahoo.com

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