The great divide between
men, between people and nations of the world is the availability of great
dreamers. Men must first dream, then conceive and put their dreams to action.
Not minding the odds they have to face.
God made man to dream. To dream with his eyes open. To
dream is to call into existence, things that had not yet existed in the human sphere
or cause those already existing to exist fully – whether they are of
inventions, situations or ideals. Without great dreamers, the world would
experience little or no progress at all. God never intended for man to exist
without progress, and without novelties.
In many books, dreams are called vision. Men who have
built the world’s greatest discoveries, who had pioneered inventions, powered
peoples and nations to greatness, and who have given humanity great strides in
different spheres of human life, were men of vision. Most times, they were
opposed, ridiculed and mocked. Most times they faced gruesome and enormous
challenges. In defense of these, they moved on and left their mark for
generations unborn.
In very many cases, these men were misunderstood and
opposed. What they see, everyone else could not see. That is vision. Vision is
the big difference. A lot of men may work very hard. They may be wise enough to
pray for God’s favor in their ventures. They may have faith in the Maker of the
universe. Still, these are not enough. There must be something in someone’s
life, a passion, an enthusiasm above normal, a great will in attaining a
purpose, a great spirit. Whatever this is, it far exceeds a normal vocation. It
is more than the pursuit of wealth and material possessions. It is higher than
genius and more enduring than fame. It is a sense of a higher calling. It is
vision. It is the ability to see far ahead of time. To see far ahead of others.
They say that most men look, but only a few see. People
generally of themselves cannot fashion or attain a vision. They cannot saddle
themselves with the challenges of dreaming large. Usually, it is difficult for
a leader to communicate his dreams to many others. But if the leader gets a way
to do this and is able to convince others to follow him, then his vision is
accepted as the collective vision of the people.
Not all men are leaders even though they attain to high
positions. Many men so called leaders are mere rulers and wielders of
authority. Only a leader with a clear vision and purpose can be called a
leader. History abounds with many of them. Men who had great visions and who
were able to communicate their visions effectively to their people and were
able to rally them to share in their dreams. The visions of such men were
contagious. The morale of their people or followers were high. Their people
were able to forsake their individual interests for the collective one and
there was unity.
MaoTse Tung who rallied China to great victories, Lenin
who gave Russia the blueprint for their moment in history, Chaka Zulu the
greatest military strategist of all time and the greatest African ruler, Nelson
Mandela who gave his life for generations unborn in South Africa, Dr. Martin
Luther King who charged the blacks of America to the reality of their existence
in America, Otto Van Bismarck who rallied Germans to the formation of a great
German nation. Cavour and Garibaldi who saved the way for Italian unification
and the birth of the Italian nation are just a few mentioned for space. The
list is enormous and endearing.
When a country is devoid of a leader that has a vision,
so many things happen. There is low morale, individualism prevails, collective
effort is most always thwarted for selfish individual interest and there is
much disunity.
This country has the greatest potentials – human and
materials – that mother earth can give. What do we lack? We do not yet have A
DREAM.Only a great leader can give his people a dream.
In the leadership class, we were told that it takes more
than a good bunch of seasoned players to win a match. That it takes more than
professionalism and proficiency to leave a mark. Spirit matters, that is where
vision comes in.
A leader is a hope builder and a hope sharer. Man can
live ‘forever’ if he has a great hope. Hope cures many ailments and makes
feeble hearts strong. Where is the leader than can see far beyond our immediacy?
A leader that can change the way we see and perceive our nation. A leader who
would show us that he really cares, a
leader who would make us proud as a people and give us a great sense of
belonging, a rallying force, a leader that would take us beyond our limitations
and rally us to greatness.
I was four years old in 1963. First time I witnessed a
blackout. ‘Dem don take light!’ that was what I heard. Later years it became
more frequent, then it got worse, apologetic, epileptic, then ‘deader’ than
dead. It is over 50years now; we are still battling with
electricity.
Not only electricity. We have a long list of woes.
Everything we have put our hands on as a nation has failed. Agriculture,
education, infrastructural development, transport, steel, petroleum, sports
etc., just mention them.
In 1984, I did a research on the steel industry. Steel
was a laudable project designed to establish the framework for industrial,
national developmental and technological take off. It had been expected that
this would give us one of the greatest economic dominion in the sub-region and
Africa as a whole. Where are they today? We have become one of the biggest
importers of steel.
We have 2 ports in Lagos; we have the Warri, Sapele,
Koko, Calabar, PortHacourt main and Onne ports. These are underutilized. We all
have to be made to use the 2 Lagos ports more for political fears and reasons
of economic dominance. Cotonou port in Benin Republic is not up to any of our
ports, yet we have become the greatest patronize of that port. All that is
banned in Nigeria for the sake of encouraging local industry and economic take
off is unbanned in Cotonou.
In every barrel of crude oil, we have apart from PMS,
DBK, AGO and Aviation fuel and gas, we have over 13 other bye products. When we
export our crude and bring in these products, we are losers. We have been
losers for years, with unemployment and every sector of our economy so
affected.
We have been operating at the lowest ebb. Agricultural
development is almost nil. Education is nose-diving and spiraling down. Health
services the way it is now is at a halt. What is going on?
The Dutch country in Europe has this saying. “God has
given us nothing but sea and sand and wind. But they had leaders who taught
them to convert the unalluring challenges and they became great. The Swiss also
have one equivalent saying, “God has given us nothing but rock and ice and
snow”, but great leadership and teachings made them convert these disadvantages
to greatness. They did their best in ‘truth and honesty’ and their trustworthy
banks, they expanded their savings. They are noted the world over for good
banking and other services.
After 50 years, we are still battling with tribalism and
disunity. Everyone is advocating for their individual primodialities. We are
tending towards sectionalism. Where is the leader who without bias would weld
us together as a people? The leader whose vision transcends selfish and
sectional allegiances? Where is the leader with the great vision of correcting
our ills and helping us to ‘heal our disease’ as a people?
A reporter in a Nigerian Newspaper in the early 1978 told
of the great joy and optimism with which our independence was received and
celebrated. He told of the great expectations and the general overpowering
belief that we would in a short time become Africa’s greatest and even so,
soonest a power to reckon with in the world.Why would it not be so, when we
have all it takes?
But how did the dream die? When did it die? A great dream
emanates from a great leader. I care for no food. I care not for your
economics. Give me a hope to work and live for. I am still a patriot. Give me a
country I can proudly call my own. Let me be a Nigerian proud of his own
country.
