The Senior Pastor of Daystar Christian Centre, Sam Adeyemi, has pinpointed the absence of commitment from Nigerian leaders as a significant factor contributing to the country’s sluggish development.
Adeyemi, who doubles as a strategic leadership consultant, shared his insights during his appearance on Wednesday’s episode of the Sunrise Daily program on Channels Television.
“What drives people in leadership now is money,” he said, adding that rather than making sacrifices for the country, leaders look for how to make money and thereby stunt the nation’s development.”
“Nigerians are not foolish, the instinct for survival is the strongest, the people you are asking to collaborate, the only collaboration that makes sense to them is how they make more money. All the contracts going out of the MDAs (Ministries, Departments and Agencies), even the oversight functions for the National Assembly, it is money driving it.”
“That is why vision is very important as a leader. You got to sell that idea, transfer that idea to people’s heart about where we are going and how we will get there and it’s that where we are going to that will give motivation to people to sacrifice.”
“The people in leadership need to make sacrifices now for that collaboration to happen but I promise you most people in leadership now are not thinking sacrifice, they are thinking survival,” Adeyemi explained.
He stressed the importance of leaders crafting a long-term development strategy that resonates with their followers, highlighting the fact that it’s unrealistic to expect radical change in Nigeria within just four or eight years.
Adeyemi pointed out that the desire for progress is shared by the majority of Nigerians, which is why both the citizens and their leaders must work together to transform the nation into a place comparable to the countries to which Nigerians often migrate.
The leadership consultant emphasized the need for a national dialogue among Nigerians to determine the future they envision for their country, suggesting that revisiting the 2014 National Conference report and implementing some of its recommendations would be a good starting point.”