I congratulate the Abuja School of Social and Political Thought for hosting this policy dialogue on new governance structures for Nigeria, and I commend all Nigerian individuals and groups that over the years have demonstrated unalloyed commitment to the ongoing project of salvaging the Nigerian nation.

As we engage in one more dialogue session today, let me draw your attention to what I consider a very critical, but often missing or insufficiently highlighted element in our public debates on the revisioning and restructuring of Nigeria.

It is the place of leadership integrity in nation building and national stability and prosperity. For, I have become more convinced today than ever before that leadership debauchery and elite idiocy will ruin any nation, no matter how perfect the political, structural and governance blueprint they adopt.

And it has been well established by social historians that the collapse of powerful civilisations is hardly ever precipitated by external attack, but instead by internal decay, or what the ancient mystics call ‘the want of order in the soul.’

Let me use passages from the Judeo-Christian Scriptures to illustrate the point: We read in Proverbs 14:34 that righteousness exalts a nation, but that sin is a reproach to any people. In Proverbs 29:2 we read that “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; but when the wicked rule the people groan.” In Proverbs 29:4 it says, “It is by justice that a king gives stability to the land.” And in Proverbs 29:18 it says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Some translations render this verse as, “Where there is no leadership integrity, the people do perish.” What this means is that leadership integrity is fundamental and critical to national development, national unity, and national peace and prosperity, or that the socio-economic and political fortunes of a people are tied up to the integrity or lack thereof of its leaders!

This idea is very well illustrated in the history of Israel. When they had good, god-fearing leaders like Joshua, David, Hezekiah, Josiah, Jehoshaphat, Nehemiah, and Ezra, they conquered their enemies, they experienced restoration, and they enjoyed peace and prosperity. But when they had leaders who lacked integrity and the fear of God, like Saul, Jeroboam, Ahab, and Nadab, they were easily defeated by enemy forces, who often went ahead to loot and pillage their resources. In one case Israel was not only conquered by their adversaries; they were expelled from their land and deported to Babylon for 70 years! To illustrate the point further, there is this report in the book of Sirach or Ecclesiasticus 47:23-25 that,

Solomon rested with his ancestors, leaving one of his stock as his successor, the stupidest member of the nation, brainless Rehoboam, whose policy drove the nation, to rebel. Next, Jeroboam son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, and set Ephraim on the way of evil; from then on, their sins multiplied so excessively as to drive them out of their country; for they tried out every kind of wickedness, until vengeance overtook them.

Recall that (as is recorded in the 12th Chapter of the 1st Book of Kings), it was Rehoboam who succeeded his father Solomon as King of Israel and Judah. When he ascended the throne, the elders of Israel went to him and complained about how hard life had been for them under King Solomon, saying, “Your father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore we beg you, lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke that he placed on us, and we will serve you.” His counsellors advised him on how to respond to the elders with compassion, but he disregarded the advice of his counsellors, and instead told the elders that, “My father beat you with whips, but I will beat you bloody with chains.” When the elders heard the response of King Rehoboam, they resolved to separate themselves from the kingdom of David. So, they shouted: “To your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, O David.” This was the beginning of the disintegration of the kingdom that was united under David and Solomon.

What the above Scriptures tell us, and what has been sufficiently demonstrated in human history and in our own recent national trajectory, is that the socio-economic and political fortunes of a people often hang peremptorily on the integrity or lack of integrity of its leaders.

Where there is moral integrity among the ruling class, the people make economic progress and experience stability and peace. But where the leaders are illegitimate, corrupt, unjust, immoral and lacking in credibility, the people suffer economic stagnation, social discord and eventual collapse.

As we gather here today for one more brainstorming session on the imperative of evolving new governance structures for Nigeria, I wish to remind the respected patriots, elder statesmen and women, legislators, political scientists, governance experts, as well as civil society activists here present, that though we all seem to agree today that the prevailing political structures in our nation are not working for the people, and that there is an urgent need for re-visioning, re-configurating or restructuring the Nigerian nation, nations are however built primarily and fundamentally on values, and not on the quality of political or structural blueprints embraced, nor the abundance of material resources, as indeed the post-independence Nigerian experiment has demonstrated.

Nation building refers to the internal, organic and dynamic process by which a society identifies, discusses, contests, and reaches consensus on shared values, principles and norms; the process by which a society galvanises a sense of national cohesion, consolidates a national identity, and forges a sense of common purpose or a set of common goals to which the society is oriented. In other words, nation building is the process of moulding diverse groups into a unified cohesive, harmonious, and stable national entity, with shared vision and collective mission.

To be continued tomorrow.

Rev. Fr. Ehusani, Executive Director, Lux Terra Leadership Foundation, presented this address at the Policy Dialogue on New Governance Structure for Nigeria, organised by the Abuja School of Social and Political Thought, recently.