Visionary leadership builds a sustainable future through shared purpose and accountability, whereas recklessness and impunity destroy trust by prioritizing ego, bypassing rules, and avoiding responsibility. True vision balances bold innovation with deep ethics, while impunity acts as a law unto itself –below is the synopsis:
Core difference in action
Accountability vs. Impunity: Visionaries welcome oversight and hold themselves answerable to the community; reckless leaders operate with impunity, assuming rules do not apply to them.
Strategy vs. Impulse: Visionary paths rely on structured planning, risk management, and data; recklessness relies on blind luck, arrogance, and short-term fixes.
Empowerment vs. Control: Visionary leaders uplift and protect their people, while toxic, impulsive leaders exploit systems for self-gain and leave stakeholders to pick up the pieces. I stumbled on the leadership characteristics of Chief Obafemi Awolowo. Below is one great example:
Awolowo did it without a single drop of petroleum money!
If you read this to the end, you will never look at Nigerian politics the same way again.
Everyone talks about Awolowo’s achievements in Yorubaland.
Free Education.
Free Healthcare.
Full Employment.
Cocoa House in Ibadan.
University of Ife.
GRA Ikeja.
Apapa Wharf.
First Television in Africa.
Breathtaking, right?
But here is the part they never tell you.
CHIEF OBAFEMI AWOLOWO DID ALL OF IT WITHOUT OIL MONEY.*
Not one kobo from petroleum!
Think about it.
From 1954 to 1959, just 5 years as Premier of Western Region, there was no crude oil revenue. Nigeria’s oil had not even become the mainstay. No federal allocation sharing trillions every month. No excessive crude account. No IMF loan.
What did Awo have?
Cocoa. Palm produce. Rubber. Taxes. And BRAIN.
And with that, look what he built for his people:
1. *FREE EDUCATION FOR ALL*
While other regions were still debating, Awo declared free and compulsory primary education in 1955. The son of a cocoa farmer could sit in the same class with the son of a king. That is why Yorubaland produced the highest number of professors, doctors and lawyers in Africa. Your father, my father, many of us are products of that vision.
2. *FREE HEALTHCARE*
He built modern hospitals and made healthcare free for all children and adults. A sick child was treated because he was a child of the West, not because his father could pay.
3. *THE TALLEST BUILDING IN AFRICA*
Cocoa House, Ibadan. 26 storeys. The first skyscraper in tropical Africa. Built with cocoa money in 1965. At that time, Dubai was still desert!
4. *FIRST TELEVISION IN AFRICA*
WNTV, Ibadan, 1959. Yes! Yorubaland had television before France, before South Africa, before many European countries. Awo said Africans must tell their own stories.
5. *A UNIVERSITY THAT LOOKS LIKE HEAVEN*
University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University. He built one of the most beautiful and most respected universities in Africa.
6. *INDUSTRIALIZATION*
Ikeja Industrial Estate, Apapa Wharf that still feeds Nigeria, GRA Ikeja, Liberty Stadium which was the best stadium in Africa then, Oodua Textile, Ifon Ceramics, Oluwa Glass Factory… He created JOBS. He did not share rice.
My people, listen.
This man did all this in 5 years, with money from farm produce.
Today, governors collect hundreds of billions from Abuja every month from oil money for 8 years. What can they point to? Bad roads? Schools without roofs? Hospitals without drugs? Youth riding okada with Masters degrees?
The problem of Nigeria was never money. It has always been LEADERSHIP.
Awolowo proved that when a leader loves his people, even cocoa can become oil. And when a leader does not love his people, even oil becomes curse.
Let me ask you honestly.
If we score Awolowo’s 5 years with cocoa money, and score our leaders today with oil money for 25 years, who wins?
Although, I differ by focusing on future-forward execution rather than relying on historical precedence or current constraints. Past strategies often limit future possibilities. True leadership requires dynamic contribution, not just a formal position. Nevertheless, present methods must evolve past old habits to meet new challenges.
Furthermore, we need to be more realistic with these narratives so that we can correctly guide our youths. Yes Chief Awolowo did wonderful things, but he was a lion leading other lions. What the various Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) governors did in their various States between 1979 and 1983 were also quite laudable which supports the model of lion leading lions – each one is individually ambitious, educated, selfless and diligent.
Now we have 1966 – 79, 1983 – 1999 military regimes, then the present regime of 1999 to 2007, that of 2007 – 2015 and then Buhari disaster of 2015 – 2023. Going forward (I will continue where Buhari stopped). From what I see today, the question is whether the citizens of Nigeria have learnt any lessons? Also, whether there is enough effort at getting them to see the picture and their roles in the state of things in the country. Even the NBA cannot conduct an undisputed election – incredible!
Let, me say it loud again, until we the citizens, smartly regain our role in the democratic process, nothing would change and we would continue to live with the model of hyena leading hyenas (stealing by force of power and otherwise), and the majority of our people would remain nothing but vultures! Our people need education to practice effective democracy –It is about self-rebirth, neighbours influencing neighbours positively, parents influencing children, teachers influencing pupils and students with direction, traditional rulers influencing their local populaces positively (like at the time of Awolowo – read the story of how free education one shilling tax was accepted by the people through the acquiescence of traditional rulers), etc.
In conclusion, I remain firmly in my position that Nigeria’s problem is lack of education, mis-orientation, inability to accept responsibility, mental and psychological laziness – not leadership as defined by western societies. We are different from them. We need to get our people *BEYOND SCHOOLING.*
A society with our type of citizenry will never produce the leaders we believe we should have. I have dealt with Nigerians from those you call successful business people, to academics, to civil servants, to judiciary, to politicians, to media, right down to farmhands. and I can tell you that 90% of them are no different from what they condemn. This is why I have concluded that in our country, *MANY CRITICISM ARE LIKE CONFESSION.*
Finally, a country where people cannot be altruistic, humane to one another (as soon as you remove money from the equation) and do not trust one another due to insincerity cannot expect to have effective leaders at any level.
Richard Odusanya is a Public Affairs Enthusiast and Good Governance Advocate [email protected]*
