THE PLATONIC PROPHESY AND THE CRISIS OF LEADERSHIP AND POLITICAL INSTABILITY IN AFRICA: THE NIGERIAN DILEMMA

BY

1. SAMUEL ASUQUO EKANEM, PhD, LLB (HONS), BL2. DAVID ONU SALIFU, PhD

AND3. KIDZU T. OWEH,PhD

1&3 DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHYFEDERAL UNIVERISTY WUKARI

TARABA STATE-NIGERIA

2. DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATIONFEDERAL UNIVERSITY WUKARI

TARABA STATE-NIGERIA2.

AbstractThere are still several problems in Africa despite several decades of trying to grapple with such problems. Many countries in the continent though have gone through transitions from colonialism to independence are hardly out of the woods. Here, Colonialism did not offer a clear -cut solution to the several challenges of Africa. Indeed, rather than solve the African problems, Colonialism introduced complexity into an already endemic situation that left the continent perplexed and bewildered with institutions that deprived the continent of originality and liberty in several diverse ways and therefore tied the umbilical cord of the continent to the western economy, politics, science, technology and paradigm. Poverty, disease, corruption, leadership crisis and political instability are some of the problems that have ravaged Africa thereby leaving a large footprint of “underdevelopment” in the continent. Of the several problems and challenges facing Africa in the last fifty (50) years, the twin problems of leadership crisis and political instability appears daunting and Goliath-like in nature that frightened all to a state of despair. Several scholars and writers have identified the problems of Africa but none seems to proffer a concrete solution that bears the seal of historical antecedence. It is on the basis of this that this paper reflects on the apostolic prophesy of Plato that “the world will know no peace until philosophers become kings or kings philosophers”. It is the position of this paper that the leadership crisis and political instability experienced and prevalent in Africa and Nigeria in particular are due to the fact that philosophers have not been given the opportunity to emerge as African leaders. Leaders in African states have not also imbibed the basic characteristics of philosophers, hence the various calamities that have bedeviled the continent that is blessed and endowed by nature and providence to be the “giant under sun”. The paper posits that the solution to the numerous problems and challenges confronting Africa generally and Nigeria in particular lies in heeding the Platonic prophesy of creating or leaving empty seats for philosophers to occupy as rulers or kings. Also the basic characteristics of the philosopher king are highlighted and explained. There is also the suggestion of a system collapse that was supposed to follow the Platonic model. It is also argued that leadership mentoring fashioned after the Platonic system can salvage the African continent and redirect it towards greatness. The paper asserts that what is urgently needed is to embark on a systemic rescue mission to place the philosophers of this continent on their prophetic position(s).

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IntroductionAfrican states though had political independence but lacked the concomitant economic

autonomy required to evolve truly autonomous states. The emergent ruling class also was a product of ill-equipped political class that controlled the political terrains within the context of ethnicity, fragile economic and educational system. The contradictions led to the collapse of the political structure inherited from the colonial system and the subsequent political discontinuities prevalent or experienced in Africa, generally and Nigeria in particular. Indeed, there has not been a well-structured system of education or training design that will lead to the emergence of the type of ruling class which can drive activities in Africa and Nigeria. The implications of these are the frequent leadership change, lack of ideology, policy reversals, consistent inconsistency and weak institutional bases.

Also, this lack of proper training of the ruling class fashioned after Plato's model made the perception rating of the ruling class to be poor. What we see are intense power struggle to access statist structures, private economic accumulation, self-aggrandizement, profligacy, poor management of state economic resources, repressive and malevolent use of state power and political struggles that result in the neglect of critical developmental issues.

These are what laid the foundation for the leadership crisis and political instability that have come to characterize the African states. Historically, the failure of policies, programmes and perceived national decay are all traceable to the leadership, and once there is a problem or crisis of the political leadership, the effect will be political instability. However, the leadership question is basically hinged on the interface of structure and behaviours, dialectics of persons and institutions as historically ascribed to Socratic Method. Those that create, implement or interpret the laws that are building on existing social institutions play the state roles. The behavioural aspect however depends on the impact of personality traits, attitudes and values of political governance. It is the imperative of these to socio-political development that necessitated the Platonic prophesy that “the world will know no peace until philosophers become kings or kings philosophers”. This assertion by Plato was anchored on the fact that politics is an intellectual activity, rather than the practical pursuit that Africans and Nigerians are used to. Governance by non-philosophers, it is argued, will be characterized by opinions, beliefs and self-interest which is in sharp contrast to the philosopher ruler who will govern with virtue as championed by Socrates, wisdom and justice as advocated by Plato without any “hidden agenda”.

The product or result of such philosopher rulership will be a just and egalitarian society where peace and development are sustained. This paper, therefore, examines the relevance of Plato's conditions for global peace in relation to Africa with particular reference to Nigeria. Also, it posits that the major characteristics of the philosophers place them on a better pedestal to function as rulers that will engender peace, which promotes social cohesion and sustainable development, than the non-philosopher, which is the case in Africa and Nigeria. The crisis of leadership and political instability in Africa and Nigeria, the paper contends, lies on the fact that philosophers are not the rulers in Africa and Nigeria. It advocates for role reversal or a system that will equip the rulers with the necessary philosopher's traits or qualities.

Historical Perspective of Leadership Crisis and Political Instability in Africa The problems of leadership and political instability in Africa owe much of their causes to internal factors, but the interpretation of internal and external factors while

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considering geo-political and economic interest of the international community will show that this plays pivotal role in undermining the very processes and institutions that are expected to nurture democracy and inspire a sense of stability, cohesion and harmony for societal development in Africa. The combination of certain factors such as uneven development, poverty, disease, violence and the manipulative tendencies of the local elites pose a serious threat to stability in Africa. This threat is not just coming from within Africa but essentially from external interests that crave for African resources and so constantly shape the dynamics in key areas that have to do with governance. It is an established fact that Africa is well endowed by nature with abundant resources. These resources found in Africa if well managed, have the capacity to provide for the entire population of the continent. However, the potentials for growth, development and a more stable environment have been thwarted by the enormous stolen wealth from Africa that isusually stashed up in foreign banks (Africa Focus Bulletin: 26). This can be seen in the amount of money stolen by political elites as illustrated by the case of Mobutu of Zaire, Abacha of Nigeria, and Arap Moi of Kenya and the recent Kibaki regime of Anglo-leasing scandal in Kenya, the Halliburton bribe scandal and Dasukigate in Nigeria. All these still end up in banks in western countries.

Also problematic in the continent of Africa are the existing institutions of the state inherited from colonial regimes which are defective. Although there is the existence of institutional frameworks that are supposed to direct and guide process and essential services delivery, the constant weakening of these institutions, through political manipulations and predatory nature of African elites that work in tandem with external interest also contribute immensely to the undermining of stability in Africa. The Judiciary is not spared this political machination. A case in point is thesuspension of Justice Ayo Salami (the President of the Court of Appeal of Nigeria), and the assault of a High Court Judge in Ekiti State by thugs said to have been carried out by the order of a Governor elect. These tendencies exacerbate resource wars (the Petroleum Industry Bill debate currently in the Senate demonstrate and confirm this assertion), ethnic rivalry (as can be seen in Nigeria) North and south dichotomy, and more recently, the emergence of electoral violence as a characteristic of multi-party elections in African states (the post-election violence in northern Nigeria) after the 2011 presidential election is a typical example to illustrate this fact. Indeed, there are several events and occurrences that tend to confirm the fact that the continent of Africa is still “drifting”.

The Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria, the Malian upheaval, the Libya struggle and several other troubled spots in Africa all point to the fact that all is not well with the continent. It is on the basis of this that Anthony Ong'ayo asserts that “there are pull and push factors, which keep shaping the internal dynamics in Africa”. Domestically, African governments are run in such a manner that greatly differs from the modern Western state systems that they are modeled after (Ong'ayo:4). But it must be stated here that leadership per se is not entirely a new concept to African people or tradition and cultural practices. The forms and context could differ, but there have been systems of governance in several cultures that had characteristics discoverable in modern systems of governance (Aderanti:16). However, several African communities abandoned their ways during the era of colonial regimes and adopted modern Western state system but with “independence”, the implementation was seriously distorted and involved a great deal of arm- twisting during the transition from colonialism to independence. This is because the colonialists did not want to leave the continent on their own volition. This compelled the post-colonial regimes in Africa to “sought national unity through the

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centralization of political and economic power, employing vestigial colonial laws and institutions to stifle and suppress pluralism” (Annan:8).

This pattern of post-colonial government in Africa led to the ushering in of the constitutions to the independent states that were not indigenous, but rather products of protracted negotiations in western capitals, and the outcomes were indeed only favourable to the departing colonial powers. It can be gleaned from this that leadership crisis abinitiocrept into the newly independent states, as the “new African leadership became the neo-colonialists, while the liberators turned into oppressors of their own people” (Ong'ayo:6). As a result of this, therefore, we started having African leadership that is not, according to Fanon, “engaged in production nor in invention, nor building, nor labour, it is completely canalized into activities of the intermediary type. Its innermost vocations seem to be in keeping with the running and be part of the racket” (Fanon, 1967). It is evidently clear that these domestic factors have greatly contributed in shaping the political and economic transitions in Africa. O'Donnell and Schmither (1986) opine that “domestic factors play a predominant role in the transition”. As outlined by Diamond, Liz and Lipset (1989), Domond and Plattner (1999), these domestic factors include “corrupt rulers, repression, a colonial legacy, 'swollen' states, and insufficient political structures and a destruction of democracy from above”. Despite these, there are also the international aspects of the transition in general, as this account for the presence of violence in the continent (Lupo,2004). Linz and Stepan (1996) also raised the issue of “international influences” that includes foreign policies and diffusion effect that generally affect the stability of African states.

An appraisal of the factors previewed here shows that the prophetic statement of Plato is of global importance. The relevance of this prophesy cuts across all cultures and political systems. Domestically, it is clear from our analysis that African leadership lacked the basic characteristics of the philosophers. The acceptance of the colonialists to influence and erode the African system, traditions and cultures is clearly against the doctrine of censorship of what the rulers should be exposed to, or the kinds of books they should read. It was a glaring display of lack of virtue, knowledge and truth for the African leadership to allow the establishment of western systems and institutions that were distinctly alien to the African states.

Also, the partitioning of Africa by the colonialists shows that they were selfish, and this is against the Platonic tenet and the character of the philosopher. Furthermore, the imposition of colonial rule, weak institutions and unwillingness of the colonialists to quit Africa when the Africans wanted them to leave shows the Western colonialists as non-philosophers. Indeed, the conquest of Africa was achieved through deceit of “religious missions” with a veiled economic interest to despoil and exploit the vastly endowed African continent. This approach shows no wisdom in the positive sense, which is one of the characteristics of philosophers. It is proper, therefore, to argue that the colonialists were deficient in truth, which is a fundamental characteristic of the philosopher. This is because the philosopher ruler is in love with learning, knowledge and truth. So, there is the ontological root to the crisis of leadership and political instability in Africa. This is due to the failure of the Africans to “appreciate the compulsive role that hereditary and environment play in a man's unconscious motivations, tendencies and habits, be they physical or mental” (Awolowo, 1977).

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THE CRISIS OF LEADERSHIP IN AFRICAWe share the sentiment of Professor Rita Kiki Edozie when she opines that “the crisis of

leadership in Africa is perhaps not one of the regimes in power per se, but it is a crisis in the broader 'civil society' which lacks vision and a strategic 'plan' on how to put the continent back on its toes”. It has been the practice of most scholars, authors and writers to discuss about Africa's political and economic crisis with a divorce of leadership from followership when both issues can be viewed as two sides of the same coin. I tend to share the sentiment that Africa and Nigeria need to evolve a vibrant and dedicated followership as a cultural requirement for good leadership.

This argument is anchored on the logic that any Nigerian or African ruler, who does not derive from an effective, democratic, activist political organization, and has no effective progressive political structure to rely on, hence, whose actions and policies are not authenticated and affirmed or legitimated by popular, progressive, accountable, political culture would of necessity be very erratic in the application of justice, in the fight against corruption, or in the observation of the rule of laws, among others. This in a way creates a vacuum that allows the ruler to act or implement policies on bases of personal calculations that indicates how secure such rulers are in their political position. Their actions and reactions would mostly depend on calculations of what the immediate local political gains that would be derived and what local political force has the overriding salience in affecting their positions. The manifest effect of this pattern of governance is the incoherent nature of the ruling class that lack vision and there is the absence of viable, depersonalized, nationalistic and ideologically coherent political party, and administrative structures. This also includes the absence of progressive principles around which a core like-minded people could together bring about progressive and development driven policies and goals. But rather, what we have in Nigeria and Africa is a sycophantic followership, which tends to lick the “boot” of the ruling elites.

This situation cannot promote peace and harmony in the society as envisaged by Plato in his tripartite nature or structure of the state. This structure of the society corresponds to appetitive, spirited and rational parts of the soul. Here, the productive (workers) that include the “labourers, carpenters, plumbers, merchants, farmers, ranchers, among others, correspond to the appetitive (appetite) part of the soul. The protective, (warriors or auxiliaries), which are adventurous, strong and brave- the armed forces represents the spirited part. The rulerscorrespond to the rational (reason) part of the soul and this class of people are very few” (Ekanem:112). So, for the society to develop these three classes must concentrate in doing only that which they are well suited for.

This Platonic foundation for a just and peaceful society is seriously lacking in Africa and Nigeria. The Platonic model that represents the basic principles of Athenian democracy as it existed then does not exist in African states at all. So rather than depend on rhetoric and persuasion, Plato opines that reason and wisdom should govern. Plato graphically put it thus:Until philosophers rule as kings or those who are now called kings and leading men genuinely and adequately philosophize, that is, until political power and philosophy entirely coincide, while the many natures who at present pursue either on exclusively are forcibly prevented from doing so, cities will have no rest from evils…nor, I think will the human race (Republic 473).

It is clear here that Plato's description of the philosopher king is that they are “those who love the sight of truth” (Republic 475). It is this love for the truth that African leaders seriously lacked and this has created political instability in Africa.

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POLITICAL INSTABILITY IN AFRICAIt has been established that African political instability and other related problems is

primarily a consequence of its leadership problem (Ong'ayo:4). However, the economy of Africa contributes to the existing political instability in the continent. This can be seen in the assertion of Julius Nyerere of Tanzania when he identified “Poverty, Ignorance and Disease” (PID) as the major obstacles facing the African continent. Indeed, African states are plagued with the Poverty, Ignorance and Disease(PID) syndrome, and the various leaderships in the continent seem to have been bereft of ideas as to how to overcome this problem. It is as a result of this that recourse has been made to Western institutions to provide palliatives to the prevalent economic malady. This was aptly captured by Ong'ayo when he argued that the “existing economic conditions based on western policy prescriptions also play a significant role in the deprivation of African populations, of the essential services, which are key to development” (5).

This argument is buttressed by the economic policies of Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs), which packages involve “sweeping economic and social changes designed to siphon the indebted country's resources and productive capacity through debt payments and to enhance international (TNCs) competition” (Ong'ayo:5 and Hong:14). An example of this can be seen in the “massive deregulation, privatization, current devaluation, social spending cuts, lower corporate taxes, export driven strategies and removal of foreign investment restrictions” (Clarke :301). There are severe effects of these on essential services which include health, education and infrastructure. The drastic cuts in public expenditure under SAPs, according to Ong'ayo, has “led to a drastic decline in control and prevention measures against disease such as cholera, yellow fever and malaria that were once under control while new diseases remain a big challenge”(6), especially Ebola that is presently ravaging West African States.The cut has also made it difficult for African countries to overcome the problem of illiteracy. Here, the problem may appear African, but the cause is the consequence of “western based financial institutions interference through conditionality and economic policy prescriptions” which has contributed to the instability in Africa (Ong'ayo:5).

Again, political violence, according to Ekanem and Simon:17, contribute to political instability. This is because “political violence is a kind of socio-political interaction that has opposing elements struggling to conquer and control the social environment economically, legally, socially and politically”. However, it has been argued that multi-party democracy (Huntington:46) in Africa is the root cause of political instability. This position is anchored on the fact that “most regimes in Africa did not fully embrace the changes that accompanied democratic transition. Several autocratic regimes were merely pressured by international community and civil societies to embrace multi-party democracy. This reluctance led to the tempering of constitutional frameworks and institutions that create uneven play ground against the oppositions. Some of these processes, it has been argued, have resulted in sporadic violence during electioneering campaigns that lead to political instability. The degree of this violence and the manner in which it is carried out vary from country to country as can be rightly observed in recent elections in Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya and Zimbabwe.

The reason for the resultant political violence has been attributed to African elites' resolve to hang on to power at all cost and for the purpose of primitive accumulation. This tendency inspires them to perfect the art of political expediency even when such acts threaten the stability of their countries. It is on the basis of this that we witnessed the third term bid of Obasanjo in Nigeria, the post-election violence in Kenya, Robert Mugabe holding on to power

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and still willing to stay at the age of 85 years, Mubarak of Egypt's 32 year rule; Colonel Mamman Ghaddafi 42 years regime that took him to the gutter as a rat; the long regime of Eyadema of Togo that is geared towards life Presidency, Paul Biya of Cameroon uninterrupted 27 years of Presidency; and Ben Ali of Tunisia who was there for 23 years. In all these cases, there is always the unseen hand of external interests that will want to maintain the status quo, and whenever there is a support for political change, the choice will be against the wishes of the people. This can be seen in the case of Britain and Moi's regime in 1980s and 1990s. The stand of Britain was just to protect her interest in Kenya (Murienga: 198).

Furthermore, the issue of political instability in Africa has been directly linked to migration and development. The worsening and life- threatening socio-political and economic conditions in Africa effectively encourage and instigate the mass exodus of both highly qualified professionals and those not so educated population in Africa. The factors responsible for this include civil conflicts, bad governance and poor economic conditions (Mohamoud, 2005: 20). Several people of African origin are moving away from the continent as asylum seekers or have become refugees in some countries. These people are running away from civil wars and oppressive or dictatorial regimes that tend to have the tacit support or endorsement of some external interests and forces. The fear of all these usually leads to forced and willing migration. This can be seen in the brain -drain that has affected several African countries including Nigeria. This particular problem has posed a great danger to our institutions of higher education and research. African states now have serious shortage of qualified manpower in academics, researchers and in the medical profession (Mohamoud:20). The International Organization for Migration (1OM) explained that there are over 100,000 skilled Africans living and working outside the shore of Africa (ECA, 2000). According to World Bank report (2000), brain drain in this context is “impeding potential economic growth, and remains a handicap for sustainable development in many countries in Africa” (Mohamoud:8).

Fundamentally, these problems have their roots in leadership that lacks the basic characteristics of the philosopher king. This is because political instability is a product of leadership crisis. So, for Africa to get it right as far as leadership and political stability is concerned, the Platonic template must be implemented.

PLATO'S MODEL AND THE CRISIS OF LEADERSHIP AND POLITICAL INSTABILITY IN NIGERIA

Plato's political philosophy is contained in his Republic, but it is his allegory of the cave that is generally taken by scholars to represent his epistemology and metaphysics, entwined with political ideology. This is so because, it is only those who have climbed out of the cave and have their eyes on the vision of goodness that issuitable for rulership. He advocated that the enlightened men of society must be forced from their “divine contemplations and compelled to govern the city based on their noble or lofty insights (Ekanem:56). It is from this premise that the concept of “philosopher king” evolved. This explains the fact that the wise person is one who accepts the power thrust upon him by the people who are wise enough to choose a good master. This constitutes the thrust or creed of Plato's Republic, which is the fact that the more wisdom the masses can muster or have will amount to, or reflect the wise choice of their ruler.

The relevance of Plato's idea can be justified in comparison to the Nigeria style of leadership and political system that is replete with “thuggery”, corruption, violence, assassination, fraud, manipulation, intimidation, insincerity, betrayal and “godfatherism”. The

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pertinent question at this juncture becomes; where lies the people's wisdom in making a wise choice of their ruler when their votes do not count any more? There is the need, therefore, for the Nigerian ruling class to become philosophers or have the mind and intellectual dispositions of philosophers and the citizenry vested with the wisdom and intellectual attitude of the philosophers for the Nigerian states to be stable, peaceful and move towards the direction of development.

The implication of Plato's political philosophy demands a systematic involvement of the citizenry to show a strong and dedicated pattern of followership that will inspire the leadership to respond promptly and positively to issues of the state. This is because for there to be a strong and effective leadership, there should also be a strong and effective followership. It is on the basis of this imperative that Femi Kalapo:1 argued that “if we cannot conceive of an effective, proactive, democratic, and empowered followership as the appropriate structural and cultural contexts within which an effective democratic leadership could emerge, it might be difficult to make significant progress in Nigeria, and Africa in general” .

The importance of a vibrant and an effective followership is anchored on the Platonic notion of society being “man-writ-large”. To Plato, a soul that will gradually decline from aristocracy, which is rule by the best to democracy that is rule by the honourable, then to Oligarchy that is rule of the few, then to democracy, which is rule by the people and finally to tyranny which is a rule by one person who is a tyrant. What Plato was trying to do here was to caution humanity about the various types of immoderate souls that can advise and counsel the rulers that are often lovers of power, money, fame and popularity.

Also, Plato's believes in the principle of specialization for the distinct classes of stratified society that is, the rulers, the soldiers and the people. For a peaceful and egalitarian society to emerge, each class of the citizens should perform their function effectively without any interference. So, the frequent or incessant military incursions into politics and power are clearly a distortion of the Platonic socio-political structure.

To therefore equip the guardian class to function effectively, Plato maintains that they have to be special human beings. One of the major characteristics of the “GuardianClass“is that they must have temperamental inclination towards philosophical thinking. As can be seen in Apology and the Phaeton, it is only the philosophers that can excel at investing serious questions about human life and in judging what is true and best (Republic, 376).

To produce and develop the kinds of qualities of the philosopher kings or the guardian class, Plato believes this can be achieved through a systematized kind of education. The central concern to achieve this must be the physical training and musical performance combine effectively with intellectual development. To achieve this goal about how to bring up the children, he advocated for strict censorship of literacy materials, mostly poetry and drama.

Plato's equally raised the issue of the virtue in human souls. In this, Plato held in that every human being there are three souls that correspond to the three classes of citizens within the state. Each of these contributes in its own way to the successful operation of the human person. Accordingly, Plato outlines these as:a) The rational soul (mind/intellect), which is the thinking aspect or portion within each

person that discerns what is real or not only apparent, judges what is true and false, and wisely makes a rational decision based on the proper life of the human person.

b) The spirited soul (will or volition), that is, the active portion whose function is to carry out the dictates of reason in practical life, courageously doing whatever the intellect

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decides is the best.c) The Appetitive (emotion or desire), which is the portion of us that wants and feels

several things, most of which have to be deferred in the face of rational pursuit if we are to achieve that salutary degree of self-control. So, as a well-structured and organized state, the justice of the individual emerges only through the interrelationship among its separate components (Republic 443).

Basically, it is an established fact that Nigeria as a country has not developed the kind of systematized education for the training of rulers or leadership as espoused by Plato. Again, the censorship, which could have brought about a kind of mentoring is seriously lacking in our socio-political culture. Godfatherism that has emerged within the Nigerian political culture is a perversion of the Platonic system that was designed to bring about a highly disciplined and well- groomed leadership that cherishes knowledge, truth and justice. Within the Platonic context, the training was to bring about visionary leadership with the intellectual competence to analyze, evaluate and find solutions to state problems. But in Nigeria, what we have is the kind of leadership that is visionless, myopic, confused and ill-equipped or not at all prepare for leadership. The result of this is the complex problems that these unprepared leaders throw the nation into. Dimeji Bankole graphically captured this when he opined that “the lack of adequate preparation for leadership, especially in public life, is a critical missing link in our search for solutions” (2).The demand for a quick solution to the leadership crisis in Africa becomes more relevant when we discover that most African states, including Nigeria are presently experiencing the greatest existential threat to its corporate survival. The ugly situation in Africa is explained by Bankole thus:As we survey the African landscape today, we see glaring instances of the challenges facing the leadership. When we consider the continuing crisis of nationhood in our country; the challenge of largely unmet expectations in post-apartheid South Africa; the confrontation between terrorist cells and the state in the horn of Africa; the tentative steps being taken to manage the aftermath of the “Arab spring” in North Africa, it is easy to fall into the temptation of concluding that Africa is bedeviled by intractable problems (3)

This depicts the loss of foresight by the leadership of Nigeria and Africa, in general. Clearly there exists no leadership in Africa and Nigeria that one could really say possess the power of foresight to promote unity, the conviction to dictate and produce the map for African development. This is against what the founding fathers of Africa and Nigeria represented, which Bankole:5 argued laid a solid foundation for national development. To Bankole African and Nigerian;

….founding fathers enunciated far-sighted initiatives that served our people well not just in the field of agriculture but also in the larger area of human development. Little surprise then that today we remember them for the groundnut pyramids in the north, the numerous path-breaking initiatives put in place by the administration of Dr. Michael Okpara in the eastern region and the marvels that the cocoa farming delivered under a progressive administration in the western region…

Though the founding fathers of Africa and Nigeria had greatforesights and initiatives that were good enough to promote development, but these same founding fathers laid the foundation for

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the divisive tendencies that pervade African states, especially Nigeria today. These were people that had direct contact with the colonial masters, they received quality education and were adequately exposed and equipped to define the direction of African development, but rather, they chose to be regional and ethnic leaders. It can therefore be argued that ethnicity blurred their nationalistic vision and Africa lost greatly an opportunity to be great. So, the crisis of leadership and political instability in Africa and Nigeria though traceable to colonial era, but the African and Nigerian peculiarity of this challenge lay squarely on the footsteps of the these founding fathers.

THE WAY FORWARD One of the basic principles and practical approaches to cure an ailment is a proper diagnostic process. It is this process that helps to identify the problem through which an effective prescription can be given. This provides the relief and gives the hope that the African and Nigerian problems as they relate to leadership and stability are surmountable. The reason for this is because the problem has been diagnosed. The identification of leadership as the major problem of Nigeria and Africa is one sure step toward providing solutions.

Leadership is about steering people towards shared values so as to achieve a given goal. It involves taking responsibility for what members of one's group, community or society does. Leadership, according to Bankole, is about “envisioning, passion, commitment and challenging the status quo to make one's group, community or society perform better”. Leadership is not just about holding political offices, but includes every person that takes responsibility for the activities of others. It is on the basis of this that we can say that “leadership is pervasive and present atevery level of human organization” (Bankole:3). Indeed, leadership is the personification of the ideas and orientation of the group, community or society they belong or emerge.

Armed with this notion, or definition of leadership, it becomes clear that the first step towards providing solution to leadership crisis should be that of value -orientation. This is because African and Nigerian leaders lack values. The value the leaders in Africa and Nigeria tend to cherish is not those values shared by the society or the country they control, but rather these leaders' personal values that are detrimental to the very people they are supposed to lead. These personalized values of the leaders create a kind of contradiction, distortion and disorientation in the society, which eventually leads to alienation of the people, and once the people are alienated from their leaders “things” based on Chinua Achebe's literary postulations “fall apart” and once things “fall apart” the “centre cannot hold”. The result of this on the society will be social upheaval, conflict and other social ills. On the political terrain what will emerge will be violence, electoral fraud, thuggery and political instability.

So, the first remedy to the leadership challenge or crisis in Africa and Nigeria is value -orientation of the leaders. This can be achieved within the purview of a sound national philosophy of education, which can be found in Essencism. Essencism, as a philosophy of education, according to Ekanem, “sees man as the centrality of all the happenings on earth. Man is the determinant and designer of the world that he lives in and controls. This is because, from the Biblical era, man was given the divine authority to inherit the earth and dominate it. The book of Genesis made us to understand that God created man in His own image to have both physical and spiritual dominion over all things. As the last thing that God created before his rest, man represents the divine authority of God. Man is God's ambassador…”(218).

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It is further argued that man is imbued with divine intelligence and knowledge to fulfill God's purpose on earth. It follows then that his (man) education must seek to establish this essence, that is, those important qualities that make man who he is by God. These qualities of man can be seen in the dual nature of man as both physical and spiritual beings. This duality is what constitutes the essence of man. Hence, any philosophy or idea that tends to de-emphasize this dualism must be rejected. Man was created for the purpose of dominating his environment as established by God. So, man's stay in the Garden of Eden was to provide him with divine education to enable him cope and dominate his environment outside the Garden (Ekanem :219-224).

Basically, the type of education advocated by essencism caters for the physical and spiritual needs of man. But before the physical aspect of the education, which Essencism regards as technology, the spiritual foundation must be laid. This is because, it is this spiritual development that can lead to inspirational advancement which practical applicability will lead effortlessly to technological development. This then satisfies the physical essence of man since it is through technological advancement that man is provided with physical comfort. But for the physical comfort to be attained there must be a corresponding spiritual level of development. Also, inclusive in this spiritual aspect of man's essence is the ethical value for all that is good. It provides man with a sound knowledge of what is good and bad. This knowledge which essencism will provide will lay bare to all Nigerian citizens and make it possible as a socio-cultural practice that honesty pays. It will also help to wipe off the culture of looting the national treasury through public office. It will create in the leadership the sense of common value of integrity, honesty and visionary leadership that will sustain and uplift humanity and not destroy it.The reason for this approach can be seen in the words of Uduigwomen when it asserts that “Value itself is the primary concern of education. It crops up everywhere whether in the classroom, or in the school at large or the role of education in the society….”(242). Values which the leaders will acquire through Essencism will assist the leaders to personally judge how reasonable, truthful and appropriate their actions and relationship with the citizenry are. This is because values according to Denga(1983) represent the reasons, beliefs, convictions or virtues that guide people's actions. Values basically refer to those objects that we cherish, appreciate, desire, want or need. It could be social, religious, moral, spiritual, aesthetic, political, economic, technological, material, among others (Uduigwomen:243). Value- orientation tallies with the National Policy on Education (1981), which stipulates “the inculcation of the right type of values and attitudes for the survival of the Nigerian society, and the training of the mind in the understanding of the world around us”.

The second approach towards solving the leadership crisis in Nigeria and Africa is for the leaders to be made to take responsibility for their actions or inactions. This is because modernity and globalization tend to promote individualism within the social context. This is largely due to the competitive nature of the present age, whether as person or nations. Also, several institutions such as the economic, political, educational and legal seem to be constructed on the basis of the individual. This has placed a burden on the individual as to what he/she does. It is on the basis of this that personal responsibility as an obligation to oneself becomes a rational approach towards solving leadership crisis. This argument is a derivative of the Platonic notion of society being man's- writ-large. Based on this, it is your individual duty to ensure your good character and behavior irrespective of how you were brought up or what kind

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of conditioning you have received. This becomes an imperative because if every individual takes responsibility and admit that they are the one, not others, responsible for the choices made, then socio-political events will reflect this thinking, and once leaders accept personal responsibility for their actions and inactions, the leadership crisis will naturally be solved. This is because leaders will have deep personal reflection before embarking on anything (Ekanem:1).

Ekanem(2013), puts this more succinctly when he opines that:

Personal responsibility includes being accountable for the degree and level of one's health, wealth, success and happiness. This reflects the right attitude because being accountable shows maturity and wisdom. When you have right attitude, you are less likely to create unnecessary problems in your life and in the society (5).

This clearly explains the fact that personal responsibility will assist in curbing the excesses of the leaders and this will go a long way to provide foundational solution to the leadership crisis in Nigeria and Africa. This is so because responsibility is the hall- marks of the fully integrated, fully functioning human being. Responsibility goes hand in hand with success, achievement, motivation, happiness and self-actualization. It is the absolute requirement for the accomplishment or everything an individual could ever want in life (Tracy:9). Again, individuals should be made to show commitment in all that they do. Commitment as a character trait falls within the existential framework that will make the leaders to be committed to societal values, constitutional provisions, rule of law, oath of office and social cohesion. Commitment to the ideals of the society will help to keep the leaders focused on what will be beneficial to all.Commitment to social norms can help instill in the citizenry through the essencist approach to education as already stated. This way, commitment will naturally become a national culture that is internalized from childhood to adulthood. This also will make it difficult for any person or citizen who becomes a leader to deviate from such tenet of the society. For such deviation will make the person a social misfit and sociologically classified as a social deviant.It is a fact that leadership has enormous responsibility bestowed on them. Bankole in his paper says that:In developing society, the demands on leadership are enormous. In Africa, leaders have the duty of not just espousing policies, programmes and projects that will bring about meaningful development and progress that the people are yearning for, but also the singular obligation to ensure that they mentor people that will eventually take over from them. Every leader at any level, in any sector, or any institution has the cardinal duty of ensuring that capable and effective leadership does not end with him or her. As it often said, “in the leadership relay, it makes no difference how you run, if you drop the baton”. Mentoring is therefore an indispensable component of a truly successful leadership and in the wholesome engineering of positive change (4).

From this it is an established fact that mentoring is a necessary and effective component of leadership. However, this basic component of leadership is seriously lacking in Africa and Nigeria. This is due to the fact that most of the leaders do not have any plan or agenda for successor(s). Most Nigerian and African leaders also plan to perpetuate themselves in power. This manifests itself in the recycling that has beengoing on in the continent and country. In Nigeria, you can easily predict who will be nominated as a minster in the country depending on

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which party wins the election. This practice does not promote effective leadership and has contributed to the stagnation and underdevelopment of Africa and Nigeria in all spheres of life. It is on the basis of this that mentoring is seen as a panacea to the leadership crisis in Africa and Nigeria.

This support and advocacy for mentoring is because mentoring as a process is about “giving support and encouragement to people to manage their learning in order that they may maximize their potential and become the person they want to be”. Mentoring is indeed a powerful personal development and empowerment tool. It is an effective way of assisting people progress in their careers. It is a kind of partnership between two people that work in a similar field or sharing similar experiences. It is a helpful relationship that flourishes on mutual trust and respect (Eric Parsole and Dimeji Bankole).

Due to lack of mentoring, Africa and Nigeria tend to lack role models, confidants and advisors in leadership as the young ones lack those to help them think about their life and career aspiration and to recognize the impact that they could make on society. Countries that have become great in the world today are those that they successfully mentor successive generations of leaders. We can take example of this from the Chinese Communist Party that just held its Congress at which the new set of leaders of the world's most populous nation were unveiled. These leaders emerged from a careful and systematic preparation and the process has enormous dividends in the rate of growth that has today transformed China in the last three decades.

India is another country where the emergence of leadership conforms to the Platonic model of preparation. And as China, this process has delivered fabulous results in terms of the rate of development of the Indian economy. Today, as pointed out by Bankole, the emerged leaders in the global economy are the BRICS nation –Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. All these countries have a strong penchant for leadership mentoring.

The South Africa example is very instructive as a lesson to Africa. This is so because the great man of that country – Nelson Mandela spent greater part of his Presidency to nurture younger peoples within the African National Congress to take over from his generation. This approach has greatly enhanced and strengthened the institutions of the state and ensured smooth succession. However, in other African states several leaders especially at the political level are just concerned with self-succession bids and this tends to create leadership vacuum or confusion and thereby lead to political instability. Mohammed Siad Barre who was the former strongman of Somalia typified this group of leaders in Africa, as he was reported to have boasted before his ouster from office: “après moi, chaos” (after me, chaos). This indeed happened as Somalia is just getting its first president twenty years with several causalities after that boast. The sit- tight syndrome experienced or prevalent in Africa and Nigeria has not demonstrated the desired leadership values needed to lift Africa to global stage for leadership qualities.

ConclusionThe political instability witnessed in the continent is a manifestation of leadership crisis,

which has indeed become an African malady. This crisis has its root in colonialism and the attitudes of Africa leaders that prefer to die in office rather than do their bit and quit the stage for others to take over and contribute their quota to the development of the continent and nation. The reason for this is largely due to the lack of philosophical insight and preparations required for leadership.

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Leadership is not meant for everybody. For a person to become a leader, such a person must be adequately equipped physically, intellectually and spiritually. It is on the basis of this that Plato political philosophy designed to produce the philosopher- king becomes very relevant to Africa and Nigeria. The platonic structure or design requires systematic training, which is a kind preparation for effective leadership delivery, but this is completely absent from the African and Nigerian leadership emergence. What is common in Africa is a system where some ill-equipped and unprepared people gun or force themselves to power. Once in power they exert or spend so much of their energy and resources to perpetuate themselves. This sit- tight syndrome that usually succeeds through coercion creates violence and political instability in the African states.However, a deep reflection on the leadership crisis and political instability in Africa shows that the problem lies in the pattern of emergence of the leaders and lack of sound preparation in conformity with the Platonic model that provides the would be leader(s) with a holistic education that make the leader(s) cherish wisdom, love knowledge, seek the truth, possess virtue, appreciate criticism, realize human frailties, know that there is no permanence in anything and that power or authority is transient. The philosopher- king is expected to be good at critical thinking; be well acquainted with logic and logical fallacies; committed to individual integrity, values and well- round; discipline; willing to experiment with new ideas to advance their craft; value the coach- player relationship; appreciate and understand human nature; love their sports and work; straightforward; honest; and strong in character. These are the attributes of the philosopher- king that Plato foresaw would bring peace to the world, and Africa and Nigeria require these to escape the crisis of leadership and political instability that stand as obstacles to development.

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