Written by Patrick Wilmot.
FORMER NIGERIAN President Goodluck Jonathan will perhaps be remembered by the dignified manner in which he conceded defeat, congratulated his successor, and bowed out.
African leaders have acquired the reputation of wanting to become Life Presidents, pretending to be indispensable and slaughtering fellow citizens to presume immortality. But the desire to cling to power is universal, fortunately allayed in many countries by willingness to learn from bloody reality and by institutional safeguards to assure the passing of the old and assumption of the new.
For this President-elect Buhari, the Nigerian people, Africa and the rest of the world must thank Goodluck Jonathan and guarantee him a future of comfort and dignity.
After humiliation, defeats and injustice President-elect Buhari has endured and now triumphed. After so much suffering and despair he would cheat himself and the Nigerian people if he neglected a historical mission and became a political chief of thieves. He did not go through the hellfire of betrayal and denigration to preside over a cabinet of rogues.
But given Nigeria’s experience since independence there is no time for sentimentality or undue celebration. Because of the colossal waste, retrogression and chaos, the new leader has to achieve in four years what should have been done in the past 55. And given his advanced years and his previous experience as a leader he must realise he has no time for trivialities or praise singers.
Critics of the President-elect need not fear that he is the impetuous man of three decades ago. He was elected by Nigerians from every region, state, city, village, ethnic group and religion of the country and his responsibility is to the entire nation, not just the millions who voted for him.
Africa may appear unique in its history of poverty, corruption, instability and chaotic leadership but no nation or continent has a monopoly on the evils, which have dogged Africa and its people. In Africa, America, Asia, and Europe people are the same, with the same desires for life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness and the wish to guarantee a future for their children.
Whether leaders brand themselves conservative or liberal, left, right or centre, people demand the same jobs, education, health, security and shelter.
After solving the immediate problems of insecurity in parts of the country President-elect Buhari must realise that the only guarantee of long term stability is economic development, to restore the faith of the people in a nation capable of sustaining them, to fulfil their hope that they elected leaders who will cater for the needs of the people, not the greed of selfish leaders.
All over Nigeria there are stereotypes of the trading ability of the Hausa, Ibo and Yoruba. But there are no Nigerians incapable of investing capital to turn a profit, just as there are no Chinese, Lebanese, Americans or Swazis condemned to a life of apathy and stagnation.
All men and women desire to work for a living and boredom is a greater danger to life than disease.
In Nigeria the people of the south west have made most progress on tapping the entrepreneurial abilities of their people to produce goods and services necessary for ensuring their conditions of living. In the south east the people who made rapid progress just before and after independence have slowed down, hampered by the aftermath of the Civil War and poor leadership.
It is in the north, however, the home region of the President-elect, that retrogression has taken the greatest toll. Borno and Sokoto, once capable of sustaining massive empires in the pre-industrial world, are now spaces of unimaginable poverty and desperation. Kano and Kaduna, once the loci of budding trade and industry are now largely overcrowded slums.
And this despite the fact that national leadership has been largely concentrated in the region.
President-elect Buhari knows his region, knows his people, and hopefully knows the solution to their problems. Until graduates get employment or the means to advance their studies, killing all the leaders of Boko Haram will prove futile. Until hope is restored mass killing will appear like a solution.
All Nigerians yearn for a secure future, one in which they can see their lives go forward. Nigeria needs an educational system which trains the people to make contributions to the welfare of their nation and themselves. They need industries and service providers to create jobs and the means to satisfy their basic needs. Unemployment, especially of the youth, is the greatest threat to security.
President-elect Buhari must provide the impetus to unleash the entrepreneurial ability of all his people. He needs to radically transform the institutional framework of the political system to encourage investments by local and international entrepreneurs.
He needs multitudes following his direction, regardless of where they come from. No one admires a headless political chicken.
And he must show Nigerians that his actions of 1983 were aberrations of a younger, inexperienced man.
*Patrick Wilmot taught sociology at Ahmadu Bello University, Nigeria, for almost 20 years.
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