THE IMPERATIVE OF CHARACTER IN GOVERNANCE AND LEADERSHIP

THE IMPERATIVE OF CHARACTER IN GOVERNANCE AND LEADERSHIP

“Character defects are like sleeping snakes that strike people”-Myles Munroe

The place of character in governance in any given society cannot be over emphasized given its centrality in the scheme of things. This is so because only leadership with strong character can exert positive influence on the followers. Since a leader articulates his vision to his followers, lack of strong leadership therefore will automatically result to bad governance which in many ways tends to affect the society and the country at large.

Our country Nigeria for many successive years now has continued to wallow in moral decay with a resultant effect on our political, economical, educational and social life.

The challenge of working towards changing the situation therefore stares at us every now and then. As compatriots, we have a duty to give this a thought and work towards effecting the necessary changes so as to make our communities, states and country a better place.

Most of the problems we face today are true reflections of lack of strong leadership with positive and influential character which indeed is a bane in our society.
What we get as a by-product then when the right people who have character are not in positions of leadership are corruption, indiscipline, poverty, greed, crime, economic uncertainty, declines in moral values and many more.

For the system of governance to experience rectitude in all sectors, the right people with good character traits are needed to be given a chance to assume leadership positions. However this seems to be an impossible task in a country such as ours, because the concept of governance is yet to shift from the old style to what is obtainable globally. Now it is clear that we need a lot of orientation in order to be able to change our belief system (mind- set). What is needed no doubt is an Effective Character Education which should be administered from a very tender age, whether the beneficiary has the opportunity to be in school or not. 

The era of dwelling in the past is over; the world is moving in a fast lane! Now we need to align ourselves with the spate. Our society today is void of Character, Virtue and Integrity.

We do not have many people with good qualities in power; instead people with questionable characters are the ones occupying leadership positions. How will vices and corruption not increase? 

Until there is a paradigm shift from the process and pattern of the selection of leaders, where high consideration is given to the personality of the individual other than his/her bank accounts, what he/she can offer during his/her campaigns, his/her connections, his/her religious sect or even his/her political party, the result will still be the same. Antecedents should be given priority not allowing sentiments to override our reasoning which makes us regret our wrong choices afterwards.

Changing the current narrative from character deficiency to well articulate character is what should be our focus. This will go a long way to correcting the anomalies called political corruption which has been imbued into our system over the years.

If this is anything to go by then it behooves us to rewrite our priorities and emphasis must be given to character molding and education. This will not only restore our respect but it will revive our confidence and dignity.

The level of moral depravity exhibited by some of our leaders is quite appalling. These character flaws need to be addressed if we must go forward as a nation and if the corruption campaign of the present administration will see the light of the day.

Little wonder that Theodore Roosevelt said “character in the long run is the decisive factor in the life of an individual and of nations alike”. A time must come in people's life when the desire to change from the usual to better norms which are beneficiaries to the general society, must be the passion of the people.

To have a better Nigeria, there is the need to embrace the right virtue, attitudes and impeccable character. This is true because character occupies a central place in leadership. Character is what we need to build before thinking of leadership.

It is said that character is the foundation of all aspects of effective leadership and there is no true leadership without good character.

In Nigeria things have gone wrong in many areas due to character deficiency and lack of character education. To have the kind of leadership we yearn, adequate attention must be given to training and educating our young generation to change their psyche and prepare them for leadership and the future in general.

Achieving this no doubt will take some time but we must start somewhere. Advocacy, sensitization seminars, public lectures, media education are useful tools that could help bring about the change we desire in this direction. Above all, there should be a curriculum design for teaching of character education in schools which will herald generational impact on the young ones because they will grow up with what they are taught and imbibe that as a way of life.

If this is done, corruption and other social vices seen today will have become a thing of the past and Nigeria will be a better place to live in.

Those seeking for the opportunity to serve their people at various capacities must be reminded of the need to work on their character if they must be entrusted with mandates.

John Wooden once said "Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there".

The words of Rush Limbaugh, that "Character matters; leadership descends from character" have also given credence to this imperative. 

When the duo is given their right place, governance would be made easy.

PETER SATURDAY
Carelife Resource Person and Abuja based Media Consultant