Mr Harry Udo, a Technical Consultant for United States Agency for International Development (USAID), on Friday, advised Nigerians on the kind of leaders to elect in 2023.
He urged the citizenry, particularly the youth, to look at the antecedents of leaders at all levels of governance ahead of the 2023 general elections.
Udo spoke in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Gombe, on the sideline of USAID’s leadership and management training for 30 Adamawa State government officials.
The programme, which is being implemented through the USAID’s funded Accountability, Transparency and Effectiveness (State2State) Activity, is aimed at promoting good governance at the grassroots.
Udo said that it was important for Nigerians to critically assess those aspiring to govern them at any level, to ensure that gains of the current administration were not reversed in 2023.
He said that citizens should not consider region of aspiring leaders but their basic traits and capacities, and how well they could deliver good governance based on their performances in the past.
According to him, leadership is not about those with the best pockets but those that understand the challenge, the right ideas and decisiveness to confront the country’s challenges.
Udo, who is also the chairman of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Akwa Ibom, said good governance should be the major criteria for selecting leaders that would occupy various leadership positions in the country.
“Being an elite, having occupied certain leadership positions as senators, ministers, governors or lawmakers does not make one a leader.
“Citizens must consider what they have been able to do, how they have been able to translate promises to respond to the yearnings and aspirations of the people they led within the sphere of their influence.”
He said that Nigerians should listen attentively to aspirants to understand what they were saying and “then check their lifestyle, pedigree, capacity whether they have the right mindset as well as have the people’s interest at heart.”
Udo said Nigeria needed a “transformational leader, a pan Nigerian who is not sectional but loves the masses and can attend to their welfare and wellbeing.”
He said that the challenges of Nigeria were those of leadership, but believed that they were not beyond solutions with the right leaders.
Udo said that progress and development were product of good leadership.
“Take Taiwan’s success and development, it’s leadership, Singapore is leadership, Malaysia is leadership; leadership is very key and Nigerians must be careful while choosing leaders in 2023,” he said.(NAN
