The intangibles of leadership are as potent and profound as the physical manifestations of governance.
People must not only see the brick-and-mortar elements of leadership; they must also feel and sense leadership in its compassion, healing, solace, and capacity to inspire unity, as well as foster peace and progress.
The intangible constituents of leadership are so important that citizens may not see utility in improved economic well-being and industrial transformation if the leadership does not manage the delicate confluences of social and psychological needs.
It’s clear that beyond other rudimentary ingredients and supplements of leadership, Nigeria needs a leader who is a healer-in-chief and a unifier by example who tends to choose or do something regularly and deliberately to bring the nation together for the required development despite humongous challenges.
Nigerians are beginning to see such qualities in President Bola Tinubu’s administration as a healer-in-chief and a unifier.
Since assuming office, President Tinubu has continued to make frantic efforts at healing and unifying Nigeria as insulated in his inaugural statement of his administration to further mend and heal the nation, Nigeria and not to tear or injure it.
And true to his promise, President Tinubu has been listening and reaching out to Nigerians of diverse complexions and artificial partitions and mending and healing the nation.
Leadership must be deliberate in managing diversity and fostering kinship among motley people. Nation-building cannot be left to chance or a whim. There must be deliberate plans and actions towards uniting the people. And these plans and actions, President Tinubu has been successfully carrying out in his administration.
The President has maintained an accustomed patriotic, graceful, and expansive demeanor. He has always faithfully affirmed his commitment to Nigeria’s unity in his public statements, mostly done extempore.
The President in several fora has declared his ardent commitment to the unity of Nigeria and constitutional democracy.
Also to consider are the broad and far-reaching projects and programmes which are in themselves symbols of unity – with all Nigerians, irrespective of class or creed, as beneficiaries and potential beneficiaries.
The approval of the Renewed Hope Infrastructure Development Fund to facilitate effective infrastructure development across the pivotal areas of agriculture, transportation, ports, aviation, energy, healthcare, and education, with salient projects across the country are part of the further affirmations of statesmanship and leadership.
The ongoing epoch-making Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road, with its attendant immense economic and social benefits to many States within and outside that corridor, is another plus to his administration.
The others include the Sokoto-Badagry Road project, and the completed Port Harcourt to Aba stretch of the Port Harcourt to Maiduguri narrow-gauge rail, and other key developments across other geo-political zones of the country.
The President also approved the upgrade of key health infrastructure and equipment across all six geo-political zones in line with his administration’s vision of overhauling the health and social welfare sector for enhanced service delivery to all Nigerians.
Part of President Tinubu’s plans is for the establishment of oncology and nuclear medicine centers in the six geo-political zones in the country to ensure that top-tier cancer diagnosis and care are accessible to the people.
Ten other hospitals across all the geo-political zones were also penciled in for critical healthcare-service expansion projects across the fields of radiology, clinical pathology, medical and radiation oncology, and cardiac treatments.
The take-off of the first phase of the Consumer Credit Scheme, which is essentially a system to enable citizens to improve their quality of life by accessing goods and services upfront, paying responsibly over time, and by the same token boosting local industry and stimulating job creation is another key project.
The establishment of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) with the pre-eminent vision of safeguarding Nigeria’s future by ensuring that all Nigerian students and youths, regardless of their social, ethnic, or religious backgrounds, have access to sustainable higher education and functional skills.
This in fact is a further accent to the President’s fidelity to building a strong, stable, united, peaceful, and progressive Nigeria.
Mr. Fredrick Nwabufo is the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Engagement.
