IT’S TIME TO TRY THE FOLLOWERSHIP

As I continue with my reminiscence of what is today’s Nigeria, it suddenly struck me, yes, why not try the followership? We have been harping on the leadership from Independence and this has led us to massive poverty, hapless infrastructure, the most corrupt cluster of human beings in the world and a desolation that has led to mothers selling their children in a land where a fellow woman is being accused of salting an alleged $90b for herself.

True why can’t the focus move from a pursuit of true leadership since political authority seem to have a way of corrupting our very best of intensions and look towards the followership for bottom up dynamism in a bid to change our fortunes.
The more I think of it, the more convinced I am of its workability. We have seen whole industries grow from almost nothing to multi trillion Naira industries capturing the imaginations of both the empty authorities and the world. Forging on a strong desire to succeed with what I want to call the ‘’the orphan mentality’ where you don’t expect any kind of support and encouragement, let me drill it down to the entertainment industry.

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In the 70s, the industry used to rely on government support and patronage. We used to see actors being civil servants and general employees of government. Everything beginning and ending with the Nigerian Television Authority and the Federal Ministry of Culture which housed the Radio stations, remuneration was pitiable, control was suffocating and creativity was stunted. The people were starved of entertainment and sought relieve elsewhere. This was our lot as we relied on the shallow leadership of moslty military despots who now used these platforms to ram down our throats ill thought out policies and sleep-inducing propaganda that we had no choice but to swallow. I am sure most of you remember the days when TV was opened with the National Anthem by 4.00pm and shut down after a diet of government-approved but lethargic programming by midnight with the same national anthem.

Then suddenly, one igbo boy with a video recorder with nothing but a dream and determination shot a movie and with the help of a savvy spare parts dealer berthed an industry that is today valued at about N3trillion, creating thousands of jobs and promoting Nigeria’s image globally. The music subsector of the industry followed suit, capturing the imagination of the world, pouring dollars into the economy and creating national ambassadors very rapidly.

Government now had to scramble to catch up, throwing in regulation and oft sparse financial support. The people had taken their lives and future in their own hands, creating value, though self regulated. They had moved from crying for subvention to funding government by paying taxes and levies. All the cry of recession has fallen on deaf ears by the people-led revolution. The sector had grown by over 24% in a time when we were witnessing a GDP contraction of about -42%.

This growth had nothing to do with government. You will not believe the level of self-regulation especially in input. The industry as been led by demand and supply, trends and absolute freewill, tenets of a free based economy which remains the strong pillar of unadulterated democracy.

This, I believe, can be replicated in politics. The people can take their lives in their own hands by emancipating thought process and moving it towards self rule. This is not to pursue treason, this is to pursue strict civic duty. Pursuing the total good of the majority by the majority, self regulating themselves and forming clusters of good governance within the associations, groupings and ethnicities. Generating good governance from self and then cascading it through groupings and soon we will begin to see clusters of good governance as can be seen in the real estate conclave that litter Lagos where citizens have taken it upon themselves to build well run communities where they provide infrastructure, security, law and order for themselves and by themselves.

Seriously we can achieve freedom by deploying appropriate strategy around followership.

 

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