Leadership And Support Initiatives In A Growing Democracy - DR. UNITY OSEGHE

The National Patron/C.E.O of Value Added Leadership Youth Forum (VALYF) and Proprietor of Change Agents of Nigeria (CAN); Dr. Unity Nosa Oseghe, in a Joint Media Press Interview covered by Channels, AIT, NTA etc, shortly after his Inaugural Lecture at the National Coalition of APC Support Groups (COASG) South South Zone, at the Edo House, Central Area Abuja, Spoke on "LEADERSHIP AND SUPPORT INITIATIVES IN A GROWING DEMOCRACY"...

The lecture went thus;

***LEADERSHIP AND SUPPORT INITIATIVES IN A GROWING DEMOCRACY*** by Dr. Unity Nosakahae Oseghe.

Giving to the necessity of effective leadership in our dear country today, there is perhaps no topic more compelling and relevant than the one for my discourse today, especially in the light of our previous democratic experience as it has necessitated our bid to providing a framework for a better democratic experience in today's new Nigeria governed by the All Progressive Congress.

Before we talk about "Leadership and Support Initiatives in a Growing Democracy" as a subject matter, It is exigent that I begin my presentation with definitions of key terms as used in the topic under discussion.

LEADERSHIP: leadership does not have a one-size-fits-all definition. we all have our own idea of what it takes to be a good leader. While definitions may vary, the general sentiments remain thesame: Leaders are those who know how to achieve goals and inspire people along the way because they understand that without inspiring people along the way to achieving their set out goals, the mission to achieving the goals shall be shortlived. Leadership could be either effective or ineffective. In light of our topic, "Effective Leadership is providing the people with the vision and motivation so they work together towards thesame goal, and then understanding the talents and temperaments of each individual and effectively motivating each person to contribute individually their best toward achieving the set out goal. It is being bold enough to have a vision and being humble enough to recognise that achieving it will take the efforts of many people -or many coalitions".

INITIATIVE: Initiative is an act or strategy intended to resolve a difficulty or improve a situation. It is a fresh approach to something. It speaks of readiness and ability to initiating action. As it relates to our subject matter, "initiative is a procedure by which a specified number of people may propose a statute, or ordinance, and inspire a popular vote on its adoption by the general public and the government".

SUPPORT INITIATIVE: support initiative is an initiative (an inspired individual or group action) that is meant to provide knowledge, experience, social, emotional, strategic, and practical help to another (which could include help to an individual, a group or a party or a government). Support Initiatives establish positive relationships which contribute to positive adjustment and buffer against stressors and adversities by offering..:

* Emotional support (esteem, attachment, and reassurance),
* Instrumental support (material goods and services),
* sense of companionship, and
* Information support (advice, guidance, and feedback) from the government to the people and vice versa.

DEMOCRACY: Democracy has been simply advanced by Abraham Lincoln as the government of the people, by the people, and for the people. In the context of our subject matter, one would prefer to define democracy as a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives. Paraphrasing, democracy is a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections. ...

GROWING DEMOCRACY: A growing democracy is a democracy where the electorate enjoys economic empowerment and a democracy where the franchise of the electorate counts. A democracy stands a chance at growing when leaders in emerging economies can see their way to subordinating ethnic, religious and class differences and put the economy first for the general interest of the people. It stands a chance when investment builds infrastructure that gives the working poor access to capital and markets and when international financial aid -- from the micro to the macro -- comes only with policy change.

Haven been put abreast with our key terms, the big question now is :"Is Effective Leadership and support initiatives a prerequisite for a growing democracy or is a growing democracy a prerequisite for effective leadership and support initiatives?

While this question may divide this audience into two major schools of thought, I would be quick to conclude that a growing democracy being a prerequisite for effective leadership and support initiatives is a fallacy. Without effective leadership seasoned with the optimal operation of support initiatives, a stable growing democracy remains a theory work (i.e., practically unachievable).

To achieve steady growing democracy, we must understand that there is more to democracy than elections and voting. The fact that a nation chooses her leaders through electioneering does not necessarily translate to a growing democracy. There are certain tenets upon which any democracy can be nurtured and progressively sustained. These include the sovereignty of the people, majority rule and minority rights, the rule of law and good governance, respect for civil and political rights, mass literacy, economic prosperity, social development, free press, and an independent judiciary. However, the aforementioned tenets shall be practically unrealizable without the leadership's empowerment of support initiatives which ensures that the conditions listed above are prevalent in the society. Therefore, I make bold to state that Leadership and Support Initiatives are prerequisites for a sustainable growing democracy in Nigeria.

A stable growing democracy in Nigeria depends on leadership which is made effective through support initiatives because Nigeria is a nation with great ethnic, cultural, political, social, and economic diversity, and the leadership of the day needs the active play of support initiatives to satisfactorily feed the hunger of our national diversity.

For the people to enjoy a stable growing democratic economy in a heterogenous nation like Nigeria, support initiatives must be active players in the government of the nation because the degree of effectiveness of the leadership of the day is in direct proportion to the measure in which support groups are empowered to actively participate in achieving the leadership mandate.

Overtime in the past, the government's negligence of support initiatives has given rise to many inefficiencies and dead ends in our democratic system -from Local Government Leadership to the Federal Executive leadership. Electoral mandates were not being met because in every government, the leadership cannot do it alone. Although the leader sees and has the vision, the leader must have to understand that the quest of realising the mandate will remain a mirage without subscribing to empowering support initiatives to being active players in the government. This assertion is in sync with our earlier definition of leadership which is "being bold enough to have a vision and being humble enough to recognising that achieving it will take the efforts of many people -or coalitions". In apparent recognition of this universal concept of an all inclusive, steady, and sustainable democracy, the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended (1999) in Section 14, subsections 2b and 2c respectively state that the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government and the participation of the people in their government shall be ensured. This provision justifies the necessity for the "Leadership and Support initiative matrimony" as a key criterion to ensuring a steady growing democracy in Nigeria.

No matter how vibrant or visionary an aspiring leader might be, he would experience many untold difficulties upon ascending the leadership throne. But in every hitch there is a remedy strategy that provides for a soft landing. "Support initiatives are the architects of remedy strategies". And without active support initiatives in every democracy, the leadership of the day shall be faced with the reality of having a difficult landing at all critical times.

Remember, effective Leaders are those who know how to achieve goals and inspire people along the way because they understand that without inspiring people along the way to achieving their set out goals, the mission to achieving the goals shall be shortlived. Leadership births value invention but it is the Support Initiatives that drives the birthed inventive inspirations down to the least of the people that are surbordinates to the Leadership. It is on this premise that the Leaders and the support initiatives must marry to ensuring a better, steady growing, and a dividend for ALL democracy in Nigeria.

A stable and growing democratic economy requires the development and strengthening of support institutions by the leadership of the day. Every effort must be made to ensure that support initiatives function properly and optimally. Governments come and go but their imprint on the nation's democracy through the purpose driven activities of support initiatives remain evergreen. When Support initiatives are firmly empowered and devoid of political corruption and manipulation, they guarantee the regularity of human conduct within the system and people can predict how the system will respond progressively in a given situation.

In every economy, democracy is advanced when elected political and party leaders fulfil the promises they made to their constituents during electioneering campaigns. There is nothing as unfortunate as unfulfilled promises in a democratic system. When leaders act as if promises they made during campaigns do not matter, it erodes the trust and confidence of the people in the system. The resultant effect is conflict, apathy, inequality, manipulation and corruption, all of which pose serious threats to a growing democracy. Leaders at all levels must realise that promises are meant to be kept; the promises made during electioneering campaigns matter and leaders are under obligation to keep them. There is no excuse to not keeping them. That is the only way to maintain the trust and confidence that is necessary between the people and their leaders for a growing democracy. And there is absolutely no way that political/party leaders can outrightly keep to their promises without the absolute empowerment of Support initiatives to function optimally because it is the mastery of support initiatives to drive the Leadership/Party's vision and mandate with sincerity of purpose to ensure buy-in by all.

The guaranty of a stable growing democracy in our present day leadership will depend on the existence of well-functioning and well-funded Support Initiatives. For our democracy to be progressively sustained, there is need for strong and sustainable coalitions with the capacity to represent government and provide/propagate policy choices that demonstrates our governments ability to govern for the public good of the citizens. There is need, therefore, to strengthen our support groups so that they do not constitute a weak link in our democratic process.

As we strive to achieving our campaign promises as a party and as a government to the good Nigerian people, we must begin to pay attention in our developmental process to the strengthening of support initiatives. We must strive to enhance coalition participation in our democratic process, we must provide a platform for interest aggregation and political stability in societies, we must broaden the representation of different support initiative opinions and ideologies in the governance process so as to enhance the accountability of the leadership of the day, and the democratic system as a whole.

God Bless APC Support Initiatives,
God Bless The All Progressive Congress,
And God Bless The Federal Republic Of Nigeria

Quote of the day: "A leader leads people where they want to go; but a GOOD leader leads people where they don't want to go, but ought to be. There is no leader who became a GOOD Leader without empowering support initiatives to function optimally".

*** Dr. Oseghe is the National Patron/C.E.O., of Value Added Leadership Youth Forum (VALYF) and Change Agents of Nigeria (CAN).

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HO-Ovation