Akpabio’s Display Of Sterling Leadership Ideals
The president of the senate, Chief Godswill Obot Akpabio, has come on strongly as a political leader who is able to dissect some of the problems retarding Nigeria’s growth while also proffering solutions. And, his prescribed solutions are practical and simple. They also show his depth of understanding of the problem of growing Nigeria’s economy. A close observation of his strides as Head of the Senate thus far shows that he has a clearer understanding of issues that the Senate must work through for the good of Nigeria.
While contributing to an issue under the scrutiny of the Senate, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan raised concern over the fate of her constituency and its continued ostracism as far as directly benefiting from the mining of iron ore in the constituency was concerned. She wanted a legislative consideration, and action, that would entitle host communities where solid minerals were mined; to some financial benefits from mineral resources mined from their lands.
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That intervention triggered the understanding of the Senate president, who also, openly lamented the failure of the Nigerian state to put itself in a position to prevent the loss of solid minerals to illegal miners, local and foreign, and export companies. Akpabio expressed his understanding of the issues with the story of a Chinese national who was held in kidnapper’s den for almost two weeks after he was picked up in a state of the north-central region. According to Akpabio, the Chinese national, upon regaining freedom from his captors, requested to be allowed to return to the mining field instead of seeking medical examination.
The reality of the narrative was the understanding, by the Chinese, that there was more to do in the illegal minefields of North Central to warrant a waste of time which returning to his country’s embassy to seek medical attention would entail. In Akpabio’s words, the illegal mines exist because there is more to make from them and this was made possible because of the knowledge gap that exists among officials of the Nigerian state that are empowered to oversight the country’s borders. Akpabio believes that the knowledge gap, which translates into a lack of capacity to identify solid minerals, accounts for the sustenance of the illegal mines as those involved in the excavation and export of the minerals, to a large extent, are aware that many border officials do not have the capacity to identify most solid minerals. Akpabio had said: “Most of these solid minerals appear as sand or stones until they are processed and refined”.
The indication here is that Akpabio has already identified a very serious issue that is at the core of the theft of solid minerals in Nigeria and the continued sustenance of illegal mines which, to a very large extent, fuels insurgency and banditry in parts of the country, especially, in places where solid minerals are found. This understanding, indeed, ought to be the beginning of the search for solutions. For many Nigerians, this is the first time a president of the senate has publicly expressed such thinking which embodies the necessary solutions that will help to end insurgency and stop the operation of illegal solid mineral mines and illegal export of solid minerals from Nigeria. The rational logic here is that building the capacity of Nigeria’s border minders and export control experts to identify the different types of solid minerals present in Nigeria, will help stem the tide of illegal export of such minerals.
The value this adds to the country is that building such capacities, will stem the tide of illegal mining and export thus enabling the government to operate such mines and officially export the solid minerals. This will work to improve the revenue base of the country. This logic finds expression in the growing frustration suffered by the illegal crude oil trade for instance. It is easy to bust illegal crude oil trade lines because the officials of states legally empowered to guard the waterways have developed the capacity to identify crude oil. Akpabio’s thinking comes from a mind that is set on solving problems. This is part of what his functions, as President of the Senate, translate into. Though he is not in a position to cause such capacity building to happen, Akpabio has identified a problem. He has also proffered a solution. It is for the leadership of agencies responsible for securing Nigeria’s borders and stemming the tide of illegal solid minerals trade, to build on his solutions in the overall national interest.
It is with the mindset that Akpabio expressed misgivings against the action heads of MDAs in absenting themselves from a senate open hearing on the Medium Term Economic Framework (MTEF) 2024-2026. The importance Akpabio attached to the discussion on the document, made him forgo the final governorship campaign of his party, APC, in Owerri, Imo state. This was to enable him to stay back and ensure that nothing stalled the process of discussing the document and using the inputs to help fast-track Nigeria’s economic recovery. In doing so, Akpabio showed leadership and discipline. He also showed a deeper understanding of the needs of the nation at a time when the masses of the people are chastised by poverty and inflation. For him, the only reasonable thing to do was to find solutions that would help to pull Nigeria through.
However, despite canceling his scheduled trip to Owerri in the overall national interest, the Senate president was greeted with the absenteeism of Heads of MDAs who were invited to be at the open session.
Their inputs were considered necessary for developing the MTEF policy document; that accounts for the reason they were invited. By staying away from the session and stalling it, the Heads of MDAs involved displayed a high level of indiscipline. No serious-minded leader condones such indiscipline. Guess this is why Akpabio was disappointed and threatened to encourage the Nigerian president to sanction them.
In walking this road, Akpabio was expressing a leadership trait that emphasised discipline. This has kept his focus, not on personal gains, but on the progress of Nigeria. For him, it was about getting Nigeria out of the economic crossroads for the greater good of the majority of the population. I guess this is what he expects from his colleagues in the Senate, and also, from heads of government agencies and enforcers of government policy. Together, they ought to look at Akpabio to see why it is important for all to keep the focus on dedicatedly leading Nigeria to solutions to her myriad problems
