It is quite infuriating and belittling that most people in power are not competent enough to realize their essence in governance.
We cannot have people with inferiority thinking setting the yardstick for the nation called Nigeria and expect to move forward in all aspects of our engagement as a nation.
It is provoking that our world is full of issues that should create higher opportunities for citizens to explore and find lasting solutions to, yet many brilliant individuals have nothing doing or are travelling out, while foolishness continues.
Choosing the wrong yardstick as an evaluation standard is indeed the very beginning of our incoherence as a people.
Many issues that should be amicably resolved to pave way for a better society and to inject moral values and establish purposeful ideologies among the upcoming generation are often treated with levity and carelessness.
Most wrong concepts, thinking, and theories are devastating when integrated into society as a result of lack of qualitative insight, knowledge, exposure, civilization, and education.
We need pragmatic, proactive, active, rugged people who can think beyond what they read in books, journals, and within the four walls of the school to lead us into the future we desire.
The colonial initiative of asking people to go to school to be made slaves and converted to messengers, secretaries, and other unproductive forms of economic engagement is still the world many live in.
However, our failure to defend the right things through sound knowledge, clear expression of validated theories, and challenging the inferiority mindset has led to additional pains and hardship around us. When illiterate leaders exhibit illiteracy in their submissions, there is a need to have documented journals to set the records straight for the upcoming generation to see beyond their limitations.
Our world cannot be loaded with garbage and reckless principles without us reacting to correct the awkward, destructive, and illogical philosophy arising from the quack nature of leadership we have.
My message is a direct critique of the statement of the Honourable Minister of State for Petroleum comparing fuel price in Nigeria with other nations, claiming that everything is in order, while he failed to consider the following:
1. Source of the resource: Crude oil is our birthright. It is not imported or tapped from other nations. It is ours, and that should make its end products affordable for our comfort and usage.
2. Indigenous advantage: Crude oil is a major resource Nigeria boasts of, constantly available for our use. Its indigenous nature should be fully considered before any comparison.
3. Productivity and refining capacity: He failed to examine our level of productivity in converting the resource into final consumable products. He only compared prices without basis or in-depth understanding.
4. Exchange rate: He failed to consider exchange rates. He assumed he was in the countries he cited, using the same currency for a sensitive issue.
5. Technology and innovation: The level of technology and innovation in those other nations was not considered. He only gave an erroneous overview.
6. Infrastructure and social amenities: He failed to study the provision of infrastructure, social amenities, and transportation systems, and did not consider who uses petroleum more — government to render services or the populace.
7. Welfare and subsidy: The welfare packages and subsidies in operation in those countries were not considered, yet he came up with vilified and baseless arguments.
8. Monopoly and competitiveness: The state of competitiveness and monopolistic status was never considered. The only functional refinery in Nigeria is owned by an individual. Government lacks capacity to set up another, and those who should be encouraged to build are castigated.
9. Poverty and cost of living: He failed to consider the state of poverty, level of impoverishment, and cost of living of the people. This alone renders his position empty and incoherent.
10. Salary and remuneration: Salary packages and remuneration were not factored into consideration by a Minister vast enough to make or interpret policies on petroleum price hike.
11. Negligence and incompetence of leadership: He failed to reflect on the negligence, incompetence, and lack of versatility of leadership before putting on the microphone, including wastages and poor management of resources.
12. Comparative advantage: He could not relate with indigenous differences and comparative advantages. He failed to see the vast advantage we have over those who source crude oil elsewhere, and the massive population that should be an additional opportunity for production.
13. Mismanagement of resources: He did not consider the mismanagement of resources and inability to coordinate various resources to work in unison for the best of Nigeria.
14. Lack of foresight: He did not think like a proficient leader with massive foresight and inspiration to think of how Nigeria can become a master plan for other nations.
There is nothing more that can be termed illiteracy than the vast oversight of the Honourable Minister who could not consider the variety of factors that are not common with the other nations he compared Nigeria with.
These and many other issues are what we often point out regarding the cluelessness of government, which many leaders find too complex to think advancedly about to make adjustments.
The negligence, inferiority, and irrationality within the circle of leadership should not create an uncalled-for vacuum in society or generate sycophantic ideologies that can misguide the upcoming generation from the best world they can experience.
Ade'Tope Adeniji (JP)
Realist / Planner / Economist / Political & Public Analyst / Author / Consultant / Musicologist / Engineer / Businessman
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