More action less words
Governments over the years have always prescribed varied solutions to the challenges confronting the country, either through their political manifestoes or through national fora or dialogues.
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Ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) also have a penchant for organising so many fora in their attempt to seek consensus on development issues.
I think, as a country, we take delight in holding conferences and seminars and sponsoring government officials to foreign seminars and conferences but fail to apply the knowledge gained.
Though I do not condemn and reject the organisation of seminars and conferences, the inability of our leaders to apply the consensus or knowledge gained defeats the purpose of such meetings.
A cursory reflection on the recently-held economic forum shows that the 22-point Senchi consensus did not reveal any new antidote to our economic and developmental challenges.
For instance, the call for a professionally competent Civil Service working in an environment devoid of political victimisation and intimidation is nothing new, neither is the call for the government to encourage and promote indigenous entrepreneurship and revamp the manufacturing and agricultural sectors a novel appeal.
A first-year senior high school (SHS) student reading Economics as an elective subject can easily diagnose our “diseased” economy, how much more our “competent” leaders. It therefore beats my imagination why taxpayers’ money would be invested in what I saw as an economic “circus”.
We, as a country, should rather focus on pushing our leaders to implement policies needed to solve our challenges because I get frustrated when I am constantly reminded that the weak foundation of our economy is the bane of our development.
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There seems to be no discipline and commitment to apply the requisite programmes that would address our challenges, but rather we organise seminars and conferences to consistently discuss our problems and repeat “cliché” solutions.
A leader is assessed by his/her ability to act and not his/her ability to remind his/her followers of the challenges and possible solutions to addressing same.
It is for this reason that Africa lacks the “turn-around” leaders because our leaders love to talk and recite our problems rather than acting to solve them.
It is my hope that the leaders of our great country would become action-oriented other than “rhetoric poets” who keep reminding us of our challenges and do less or nothing to improve our economic situation.