October 2023 – Dr. Mezie Okolo

Democracy: Choices and Voices

by Dr. Mezie

The beauty of democracy lies in the choices we make and the voices we empower. Although it is defined as government of the people, by the people and for the people, I believe it simply means choices and voices.

In a democratic process of selecting leaders, the people make their choices and empower those voices to speak on their behalf. Those voices are supposed to represent the will and wishes of the people they represent. But once they get elected, it seems they represent themselves, their families or in some cases their ethnic groups.

Next they enact laws that would stop the people from questioning their excesses or even criticizing their gross under-performance. That alone begins to question their credibility ab initio.

But the people should have choices and voices in a democratic system, and the people should be the police. When elected officials fall short of representing the people, the people should recall the official and his position let another take.

And when a people refuse to participate in the democratic process, they allow those who don’t agree with them to make those important choices and empower those voices they don’t want to hear. When you refuse to vote, you actually voted for the candidate you don’t want. That is what happens and that is what also happens when you don’t insist that your vote counts.

African people, it is about time. When shall our slumbering state cease and when do we gain consciousness from this stupor of ours? When will our voices be heard about whose voices we want to hear and vice versa. When are we going to hold our politicians accountable? Why, for example, has the person that moved the ‘hate speech’ bill not yet recalled? Why do we encourage impunity in subtle ways?

Until we the people say no to excesses, we will have to live with excesses of politicians who represent their stomachs, their greed and their avarice. Until we speak up and speak out against looting in high places of governance, our collective resources will continue to circulate in the pockets of a few greedy monsters, and we the people will continue to wallow in the pit of poverty and unmet needs. Make your voices heard by speaking out. A voice suppressed is a voice killed.

Happy holidays every one. Be safe!

MezieOkolo is a leadership analyst and a voice from diaspora

12/20/2019

Straight Talk, Folks

by Dr. Mezie

A time comes in life when you have to somehow determine what is important to you, and your part in the society as you pass through planet earth on your journey to the other side. You can do anything but you cannot do everything. You don’t have forever to do what you can do so go ahead and do it now, or say it now, or suggest it now. Whatever it is you are convinced your role is, play it now. Today!

There are two sides to a coin. Every time you cast it, you get one side or the other. I feel like that is how life is sometimes. We have problems and we have solutions. We have questions and we have answers; we have leaders and we have followers; we have supporters and we have opposers; we have the front liners and we have laggers. You are one or the other. If I may ask, which one are you?

Guilty of an offense are not just the persons that commit it but also the ones who keep quiet and say nothing in condemnation. Bad behaviors are condoned in society when good people keep quiet. They are looking for some alien to bell the cat. They don’t want to fall out of favor with a criminal or an extortionist or a greedy politician so they can still remain friends or so they would gain some more favors in the future. And the society keeps retrogressing. The structure continues to dilapidated.

Everybody is not gifted with eloquence of speech or clarity of thought articulation but we sure have brain to know what is right and mouth to say what is not right. I cannot imagine how people live with their consciences after they had kept mute over injustice, wickedness, lawlessness, greed, avarice and oppression. How can I call evil good or simply refuse to call evil evil so my ‘friend’ doesn’t get offended? I have chosen to call things by their real names so am not about your political correctness. It is about time we stepped up and stood out for what we are persuaded about.

Let me go ahead and make it official. Friendship is not a right, it is a privilege. It is a privilege that you call me your friend and it is a privilege that I call you my friend. I do not exercise right neither would you expect that I should tolerate your exercise of right in our friendship. Meanwhile do not make any mistakes about it, there are people you call your friend but they will not remember you when they count their friends. So you are not my friend simply because you call me your friend.

Friendship could be temporary or short term. You are not my friend today because you were my friend yesterday. You are not my friend today because we met at the market the other day or we go to the same church or sang at the same choir. Maybe you were my choir friend because we both love the same kind of music and we did a good job at it but that does not mean I share the same musical, political, economic or revolutionary ideology with you today. So you must understand the setting and the boundaries of our friendship and stay in your lane or else you will be grossly offended when I operate in my other plane where you don’t understand or with which you can’t relate.

Friendship is a choice. You are not my friend because you are my cousin neither are you my friend because you are my brother. You have to understand and be satisfied with where you are with me. We both have our lives to live and our missions are different. You don’t have to compete with me or with anybody neither do I have to compete with you. There is no room for competition, jealousy or pettiness. The beautiful thing about friendship is that you are my friend because we choose to be. Friendship is constantly evaluated in the present. In the US, it is said that we have no permanent friends no permanent enemies but permanent interests, even though the nature of these permanent interests could change from time to time.

If our friendship doesn’t serve whatever your purpose is, please unfriend me and move on. If you take offense and bicker, you do yourself more harm than good. First, I don’t know that you are offended by me being me, and even if I know, I probably don’t care. So why don’t you find people who share in your school of thought and befriend them. I am not as important as you ascribe to me neither are you as important to me as you probably think.

Friendship is dynamic. It changes. When the premises of friendship change, the dynamics of the friendship change too. You could be my friend when we worked for Mr A because we believed in the principles that Mr A represented. If my opinion of Mr A changes, how do you not know that our friendship dynamics have changed too because I no longer agree with what you preach. Move on and keep doing what gives value to your life and do not worry about me. I am probably having fun doing what causes you heartache. That’s how life is. It is what it is.

Finally, if you are still reading, you are probably one of my friends and I appreciate your friendship. However, our friendship should profit humanity and whatever we can do as little as it is to make the world a better place within our cultural, environmental, political, economic or philosophical space please let’s do it today. Time waits for nobody and time wasted is life wasted. Have a blessed day and don’t forget, he that gathers not with us scatters.

@DrMezieOkolo, Analyst

Public Health & Leadership

07/21/2019

The Sacrifice Of Leadership

by Dr. Mezie

There is a leader within everybody. This truth is easy to comprehend when you realize that leadership is not so much about what you are as it is who you are. So leadership consciousness begins with a discovery of who you are, the gifts within you and your spatial location in the grand scheme of things around your sphere of influence. Simply put, leadership is using the things that make you who you are to exercise dominion within the space where you are.

A child who discovers his artistic talent early can exercise leadership over adults within that space when it comes to the artistic display of his talents, gifts and skills. So you are not a leader because you are older neither are you a leader because you occupy a position of authority. Even a professor leading a class in learning a specific subject could be led by a student in that class in advancing the course to which he originally introduced the student.

Although you are a leader and will always lead, you are also a follower that need to always be willing to follow. The best of leaders are first best at following, then they may appear to ‘rebel’ when they discover themselves and determine that there is another way to get things done.

But my focus is on the sacrifice of leadership. Leadership entails sacrifice and a leader who is not ready to make sacrifices is not ready to lead. Leadership costs and it could cost you everything and anything that is important to you. The first thing it does is put you on the spotlight. Think about any leader. They are all somehow in this spotlight and everybody observes and evaluates, and did I say ‘judge’ them.

When you discover and begin to roll with who you are and the leader within you begins to manifest, you will be in the spotlight and people will judge you. Unfortunately the judgments will not always be fair and just. How you handle those dissenting opinions determine even more how far you could go as a leader and what becomes of your leadership.

Everybody has right to freedom of speech and freedom of expression but sometimes we question a leader’s right to self expression and under the pressure of conformity and fear of being massacred by the press, leaders also take the path of least resistance. This ought not always so to be. But leaders are first humans and humans like to get maximum results with minimum input howbeit it sacrifice.

But the sacrifice of leadership on the family is a big deal to me. Space will not permit me to do justice to it now but we will get back to it sometime.

When you understand the call to leadership, the drive for leadership, the grace for leadership and the force of leadership you appreciate why and how leadership drives a leader in the way of sacrifice. Great leaders make great sacrifices both in the immediate and in the distant future.

They are not so much worried about the cost and sacrifice of leadership as they are encouraged about the benefit and fruits of their leadership, some of which may not be felt or appreciated until long after they have passed. Again think about any great leader that readily comes to your mind.

May the leader within you gain consciousness, speed and direction today. Muchas gracias

Mezie Okolo, Pharmacist, Author, Public Health and Leadership Analyst

12/06/2019

The 4 R’s an entrepreneur must have in his toolkit

by Dr. Mezie

Reassess, Reorganize, Recoup and Reinvest

Reassess: Do an evaluation of how you stand, how far you have come, what worked, what didn’t work, decisions that were not ideal given your peculiarities etc. You must constantly do an assessment of your current situation and an analysis of the factors that may have been responsible for your wins and losses

Reorganize: Be ready to reorganize things and people based on the insight drawn from reassessment. You may have to move certain people to different positions, change certain people’s schedules, let certain persons work together for synergism of skills, fire certain people, end some contracts, sign other contracts etc. Reorganization gives your organization a chance to not do the same things the same way and expect different results.

Recoup: When you reassess and reorganize you create an opportunity for your organization to recoup some of the vigor, enthusiasm, synergism, or opportunities lost or missed so far. These internal changes could even recoup a lot of money too, directly or indirectly for your organization. Recouping gives you the avenue to harvest the benefits of reassessment and reorganization, whatever those benefits are. Recoup what you can and learn from what you cannot recoup.

Reinvest: You do not ever rest on your oars. You reinvest and repeat what works in a bid to expanding your reach and your scale of operations. This is how an organization grows. And the process of growth is not always fun. Sometimes it is painful and inconveniencing. If you wait for everything to be perfect before you reinvest, you will miss lots of opportunities. These things go in circles and over time you will be amazed that what began as a mere wish as you drove down the road one evening, has become a success story that everyone wants to be part of.

Today I pray that you receive insight and grace to execute what is in your mind as you pursue your dream. Don’t let that dream die in your subconscious mind. Follow your heart and have a blessed day.

@MezieOkolo is a Leadership and Public Health Analyst

10/30/2019

We, the people

by Dr. Mezie

Power belongs to the people, but only the people that are informed, aware and determined to refuse any form of divisive tactics of politicians to deny them of their rights and privileges as bona fide citizens. I am not against politics, but am not a very good friend of politicians. ‘All politicians are liars’ even the ones that also profess pastoral calling.

Today I write to address my African brethren. We must know what time it is. Time to call them out and hold them accountable, all those that loot our common treasury and divert our common resources into personal accounts. I am for government which overpays teachers and underpays politicians, maybe then they will not sleep on duty and maybe they will not initiate retarded bills like the ‘hate speech’ nonsense.

The central government should be made weak, and the regional governments strong to encourage healthy competition and development. That is what regionalization is about. That is what resource control entails and that is the way for us to achieve a prosperous and developed Africa.

Although countries of the world have their respective issues and challenges, the countries of Africa are left much behind, unfortunately and that is hugely because the people are gullible. This holiday season, greedy politicians will be driving around in motorcades and flashing stolen money around; and instead of call them ‘high thieves’, we call them ‘high chiefs’. Take me back to the day when elders would ask a young man ‘where is your office and what business do you do?. How did you make your money?

We the people must rise up in unison and be the police for our common polity. Our countries need us and we cannot afford to sit idly behind waiting for an angel to come and hold crooked people accountable. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, and whether you call it hate speech or hating speech, I am not going to stop calling for mass action against looters of common wealth of the people in all of Africa.

We the people are tired of lies and deceit of politicians around election time, promises that will never be fulfilled, intended only to win the next election. Enough of thuggery and manipulating election results in order to get into office by all means. Enough of robbing Peter to pay Paul. The impunity, arrogance and greed of African politicians, if not checked pretty quickly, will leave the next generation wondering what our generation represents. We must hand over a continent for which our children should be proud. The way we are going, I don’t see that happen.

We the people must awake and arise from this stupor of ours. Rat cannot eat the fish of a child who is awake. The future of our children must no longer be mortgaged for the greed and avarice of present day politicians and people at the corridors of power must not forget posterity.

Arise oh compatriots, African’s call obey. Evil becomes norm, when good people keep quiet and refuse to condemn it vehemently. Speak up and speak out, or die a mute. The man dies in him that refuses to call things by their real names. We have chosen to call evil what it is, ‘EVIL’.

@MezieOkolo is the voice from diaspora

12/20/2019

Decolonization of Africa?

by Dr. Mezie

The subject of colonization is one that roughens feathers even in academic circles. In 2004 at the University of York England I asked a British Professor of Economics where and how the idea of colonization came about. He was obviously infuriated and thought I was an American. He said it is only an American that would ask such a ‘foolish’ question.

Here in America we make bold to ask difficult questions and to call things by their real names.

Part of the fundamental issues plaguing Africa is that she is yet to be decolonized, rather yet to decolonize herself. In fact it seems that Africa is being recolonized as we speak. That will be subject of our discussion for another day.

As we think about decolonization, myriads of questions come to mind. Unless we ask the right and obviously difficult questions, the solutions keep eluding us. Literally and philosophically speaking, why is it that everything African is bad and everything foreign is good? Or rather everything African is not good enough. How did we get to the level that we have to look up to the west for solutions even for the problems that are peculiar to us? Why do we have to import and impose standards and definitions that were designed and fabricated to suit other cultures and economies? When are we going to define our own standards based on our peculiarities and the daily experiences of our lives within our cultural, political and economic space? When will our doctors and pharmaceutical scientists be able to discover, characterize and standardize our own monographs and use those specific drugs to confront the specific health challenges that are peculiar to the African? When will our engineers be able to use materials and resources with which nature has blessed us to construct our roads, build bridges, erect time-tested structures that will speak for our expertise and mastery of our own situations and environment? We have all the titles of all the professions there are yet we have little to show for them. When will our time finally come for us to exercise dominion in the African space?

How many professors do we have in engineering, medicine, law, agriculture, aeronautics, geology yet how competitive and self sustaining are we in these fields? If self sustainability is on a scale of 1 to 10, where does Africa sit on this scale? It is good for all of the 55 countries that make up Africa to have gained political independence, but even in the political terrain, how independent are we? In economic terms how independent are we? Even our cultures now elude us as we have become copycats in everything foreign. Those of us in diaspora think and act as if we have become more British than the Queen of England. Africans, who bewitched us? Our educational system cannot decide and sustain its own standards, our health system cannot do the same, our economist cannot come up with our own indices neither can our engineers come up with comparable and even better procedures in their fields of endeavor.

I suggest that it is time for us to re-calibrate. What if we changed our methods of evaluation, promotion and recognition. In academic circles who decides the curriculum and methods of establishing that a student has been found worthy both in character and in leaning to be awarded a B.Sc, M.Sc, PhD or what have you? How many of our doctoral or professorial research solve any tangible problems for humanity? How many of those found worthy both in character and in learning have actually developed character and how many have actually learned anything tangible, and something credit worthy? What standards do we hold ourselves to and measure ourselves against?

Why do we have so many paper qualifications and little practical experiences and problem solving skills? If we are as good as our paper qualifications suggest, why are we still so dependent on our erstwhile colonial masters who actually never left and who in fact, do not have any motivation or intention to leave? Why do we complain that they never left? Why can’t we solve our our problems our own ways and why can’t our own ways of solving our problems be standardized and sustained? Are we still being colonized or not? Are we submitting ourselves to even greater colonization than we know from history? Although our colonial masters have no intention to actually leave which explains why they never did, do you really expect them to leave? Why would they leave if the bait that attracted them in the first place is still well and alive. Why was Africa such a fertile ground for colonization and why will it continue to be? Ignorance is profitable business. The ignorance of Africa keeps her exploited.

The African is largely ignorant of who he is, what he has and what he can do with what he has. Apart from the huge deposits of natural resources buried underground, which we have no idea how to tap, process and value; even Africa’s best resources – the African people, their gifts, skills, talents and works of art which were taken, stolen or cajoled from her are displayed in museums elsewhere and those Africans who are fortunate to visit abroad spend foreign currencies to go view them. Have you not heard or seen? To illustrate, How many museums do we have in Africa and how many of you that pay to visit museums abroad have actually visited museums in Africa?

How do you explain that Africa exports crude of her natural resources for nothing and turn around to pay arm and leg for the refined products? What happened to our so-called intellectuals in the different fields of human endeavors?

What kind of society are we preparing for the next generation of Africans in Africa? I don’t even want to mention the next generation of Africans in America, England or the rest of the world. It is good for us to ask, how can Africa be decolonized but there is a problem with that.

The African is waiting for the colonizer to leave so Africa can finally be free. First even if the colonizer leaves today Africa will know no freedom. Again, the colonizer is on a business trip and in it for what he gets so as long as it is profitable for him he is going nowhere. Third, it is almost foolishness for anybody to think that the decision to decolonize Africa will ever be made in London or Paris or Lisbon. Fourth, The decolonization of Africa is the responsibility of Africans.

Africa has to decolonize herself first from the mind. Our thoughts have to be decolonized. Our language has to be decolonized, so is our name, our identity, our philosophy, our culture, our economy as well as our polity. Africa is the architect of her own calamities and the solution of the myriads of problems that plague Africa will only come from Africans. The African people, both home and abroad, have to figure out when and how to solve the myriads of problems of Africa but until then, Africa remains in a state that would best be explained with a question mark (?). I stand corrected.

@MezieOkolo

07/19/2019

Democracy and the freedom of speech: Which way Nigeria

by Dr. Mezie

It goes without saying that democracy is all about freedom of speech, but not any more in Nigeria; at least so it seems for now. While I am not one that is inclined to partisan politics, I am one that will question what politicians do and if need be, suggest ways in which we can hold them accountable. When we fail to hold our public office holders and politicians accountable, they become demi-gods and call the shots as they please. This is politically unhealthy and unhygienic, as it is detrimental to the development of human society.

The move to shut up the people of Nigeria under the ridiculous ‘hate speech’ bill is one of present government’s attempt to redefine democracy and that move is obviously as grievous as the rugalization agenda. At a time when African countries are reawakening the giants within, it appears that our dear country is relegating herself to the backgrounds through bills and policies that are inimical to human development and societal advancement. This is quite disturbing.

In 2005, I visited places in the United States from London, and one of those places was the White House. There was this middle aged man standing at the gate of the White House with placards, one stapled to his back and the other to his chest with the inscriptions ‘Bush, war criminal’ and ‘Impeach Bush’. At that time, Bush was President. People who took pictures of the White House went home with pictures of this American citizen.

Curious and intrigued by this unusual boldness, I went to interview him. I found out he had lost his job as an engineer and he thought if Bush had made better policies nobody should lose jobs in America. That was his opinion and he determined that until Bush was impeached, he would keep working at the gates of the White House. President Bush understands democracy; not even the police officers that patrolled the White House bothered this citizen who was going about ‘his business’. He religiously reported to work day in day out for only God knows how long. That is democracy. That is freedom of speech. That is modern day society.

As I flew back to London I kept ruminating over that man at the gates of the White House. Let us pretend for a moment that this scenario played out in Nigeria. What would be the lot of that man? He would have been labeled a terrorist and killed like chicken and nobody would have said anything. That is how backwards we are in Nigeria and that, my friend, is a big source of concern to me as a Nigerian.

Different sections of the country are agitating for separate existence and we think that is uncalled for. If the country works for one section but does not work for the other, why wouldn’t people look for alternative ways to exist as a human society? We are told that the borders have been closed, but we also hear that activities are ongoing 24/7 at some borders. Is that one Nigeria or multiple Nigeria? Does the government actually want people to keep quiet about these things just so they wouldn’t be labeled ‘haters’ and condemned to death for ‘hate speeches’?

The world is watching but it is really disturbing and every Nigerian should be concerned that this present government has left much to be desired. While I don’t advocate for civil unrest, we know from history that when you make peace impossible and push the people to the wall, you make violence inevitable and with it comes, chaos and anarchy. Let those that make laws and sponsor bills in Nigeria be mindful of the externalities of the intents and purposes in their hearts when they sponsor these obviously retarded bills.

@MezieOkolo is a Public Health and Leadership Analyst and a voice from diaspora

12/07/2019

Leadership and Hygiene in Africa

by Dr. Mezie

Professor PLO Lumumba has reiterated the need for political hygiene in Africa, and that got me thinking about hygiene as taught in the health sector : washing of hands, personal cleanliness etc. When you ignore the rules of simple hygiene you invite diseases around your members. This is basic and it is serious.

Hygiene requires that you do the right things and that you do things right. It teaches you to think about the consequences of what you do and what you fail to do. Hygiene protects you now and preserves you for tomorrow. It is good for you, your neighbor, your family and the community: whosoever has something to do with you or comes in contact with you, or is affected directly or indirectly by your actions, benefits from your observance of hygiene. When you don’t do things hygienically, we call you unhygienic.

That Africa is unhygienic in the environmental space goes without saying, but the political space is even worse. People do whatever they want with impunity without regards to how it affects the environment, the community, the human race. Because there is no serious accountability framework in place, these folks get away with these things, and leave the next generation thinking that impunity is might and might is right. Someone has to call out these unhygienic leaders. Unhygienic practices cannot be allowed to fly anymore.

Our generation is so unhygienic that our political space stinks. The stench emanating from unhygienic political arena is unbearable, signaling that total decay of the system is imminent. Do we need a prophet to tell us that when we don’t brush our teeth, decay is inevitable?

Some of the countries of Africa are like a person that has not had a bath in years, no manicure, not shaved or washed his clothes for that long. If such a person sits next to you in a bus, how long would you make that journey before you change your seat? Is it surprising that our young people die in the Sahara desert running away from unhygienic political and economic systems? Is it surprising that our ladies take to prostitution in foreign lands?

To fix this disaster, accountability is long overdue. There has to be a way to hold public office holders accountable. The people have to require and demand hygiene from the leadership, and the people must refuse to be intimidated with money stolen from the system courtesy of unhygienic practices. But until we stop giving big titles and nonsensical respect to unhygienic politicians, how are we going to enforce hygiene?

Our society will continue to go the way of decay until and unless we make hygiene a requirement in governance. This is my suggestion and this, I believe, has worked in places. Just as the need for hygiene cannot be overemphasized in the health sector, so it is in the political sector. Hygiene could be everything. It could be both preventive and curative, and we are in dire need of both right now.

@MezieOkolo is a voice from diaspora, and a US based leadership analyst.

12/21/2019

Hold the Light; Pass on the Baton

by Dr. Mezie

On a day like this I reflect on the essence of life and the purpose of our very existence. While we will yet understand all things fully in heaven, it will suffice for us to articulate the piece and pieces we can glean from our daily experiences and the events of life. Reality is that life happens and it happens to people unequally, unevenly, unpredictably, unfairly and sometimes unprecedentedly.

Time and space will constrain me from discussing the gesture of our brother Mr Allen Onyema of Air Peace, in bringing back our brothers who were victims of the ills of two states of the African country. Someone once asked rather rhetorically ‘what has Nigeria done for me apart from wasting my days of early formation? This fellow left Nigeria out of frustration to South Africa only to be waylaid and maimed by the same people he thought would accept him as their own. Instead of giving him a chance they lumped him into the group that sold weed, snatched women, and drove exotic cars. What began as a joke suddenly turned into a routine and a culture of the people, for it has suddenly and unfortunately become culture in South Africa to act xenophobic.

But why do we Africans like to call evil big names and glorify what should be condemned as crime? Black hatred of black people is evil, it is crime, it is wickedness not xenophobia. Even xenophobia itself cannot stand the wickedness of people meted on fellow Africans on African soil. Let’s call it by its name. What is evil is evil, what is a crime is a crime, regardless of who turned blind eyes to it.

As a freshman at the University of Nigeria Nsukka in 1994 I remember spending days in the library reading about and researching apartheid, another big name given to criminal activity and man’s inhumanity to man. I recall the roles played by all the African countries who are now considered ‘foreigners’ in South Africa. Apartheid has not even been dismantled for 30 years yet our brothers in South Africa have quickly forgotten. A person can suffer ‘loss of memory’ and we can understand it, but how can a whole generation suffer ‘collective loss of memory?’. That only happens when a people decide to be lousy in taking up their own destinies in their own hands. It is easy to come up with lame excuses to justify evil and excuse wickedness. Today, I join my brother Julius Malema in stating rather unequivocally ‘no black man is a foreigner on African soil’. We make no apologies for that statement.

But our hero today is Mr Allen Onyema. Who knows whether it was for this reason that God allowed him to come of age, so he can save his people from the hands of ‘his other people’? While the nation yet slept and those awake yet debated, Mr Onyema went into rescue; a mission that cost him a fortune. What made it even more remarkable for me was the moment he came to receive returnee brothers alive on Nigeria’s soil as they all stood in state instead of lying dead in state.

Just like he couldn’t, I couldn’t hold tears too. That man is Christ personified. I don’t know him from Adam and I had never heard about him, and I haven’t even researched his religious inclination but all I know is that he did what Jesus would do, and he is not just a human being, he is a child of God.

I know Nigerians play politics with everything but I don’t care what anybody says, Air Peace is the only Airline that is worthy of my business in Nigeria going forward. Air Peace has become Nigeria’s only air line period. We give our business to people who respect who we are and what we represent. I call on all Nigerians to see to it that Air Peace becomes Household name. Our children unborn must know that at a time like this, Air Peace saved hundreds of Nigerians from being killed in South Africa.

The federal government owes Mr Onyema awards and celebration for this singular act of mercy. He didn’t have to do it, but he did it. He was not looking for cheap popularity nor was he doing choreography, but he saved lives from the valley of the shadow of death. Mr Onyema is worthy of my respect and our collective celebration.

I am not surprised that Nigeria as a country is yet to be clear about what actions she would take against South Africa for this wickedness on fellow Africans. The cattle rearers that have eaten up people’s farms (and prevented us from having new yam festivals in Nigeria), the same folks that commit all manner of killings in Nigeria have not been arraigned before any police station let alone a magistrate court . Nigerians have become chicken to be killed at will both at home and abroad yet an elected government sits mute and clueless. What a joke! What a disaster! What a colossal ineptitude and irresponsibility! What a celebrated failure!

This was not intended to be a long piece. As we wrap up, let us not forget the topic of our reflection. Our responsibility as humans is to hold the light for others and pass on the baton. When you hold the light for others to see, you also see with the light. When you deliver people from death, even death will see to it that you are delivered from the same. When you do unto others as you would like them to do unto you, you hold forth and live the very essence of our collective existence. That is what Mr Allen Onyema did and that is what, beloved, we should do each and everytime the opportunity calls.

The next generation beckons. What baton would you pass on? Do not let the baton fall in your hand. The labors of our heroes past shall never be in vain. Nigerians, Africans, Black People, who did this to us?

@MezieOkolo is a Public health and leadership analyst

09/14/2019

Lead Me And Teach Me

by Dr. Mezie

Lead me by your truth and teach me, for you are the God who saves me. All day long I put my hope in you (Psalm 25:5; NLT)

The subject of leadership is one to which I have dedicated a good part of the last five years studying. One of the things that stand out is that a good leader is ‘leadable’ and ‘teachable’. He is not always right and he doesn’t have all the answers, but he is willing and ready to learn so that he can lead better. Something is obviously wrong if you are always right and no matter how good a leader you are, you can do better.

The psalmist challenges us today. When we look at leaders and their profiles in scriptures, we see that all of them that succeeded knew where to look for the true wisdom and knowledge to lead. Truth and wisdom are crucial elements in the toolkit of great leaders. And these elements are not obtained from just anywhere. The good book is one of those sources of truth and wisdom, and to it we refer today.

One of the things we need so desperately in our society is truth. Literally speaking, I think we live in a time when lies are glorified and truth is scarce in the minds and mouths of many. The way and manner people tell lies and swear by them, you wonder who deceived us into thinking that there are no consequences for lies. How do we not know that we must give accounts of our lies and manipulations and deceits and any misrepresentation of the truth in any way, shape or form, even as leaders? Anytime you misrepresented the truth for whatever reason you lied, and you are a liar. It makes no difference whether the lie kept you momentarily out of trouble or made you a dime richer. The psalmist says, ‘lead me by your truth’; and by implication ‘so I can lead by the truth’. True leaders replicate themselves.

… And Teach me. You don’t say ‘teach me’ if you know it all, or act as if you have all the answers, as is common nowadays. It is wisdom to say ‘please teach me’ even if you know some or have an idea, you can learn more and know more. It takes humility to admit that you need to be ‘taught’. It is an acknowledgment on your side of the fact that someone knows better than you do and that you want to know more than you presently know. A quest for true knowledge and wisdom and a humility to learn by truth cannot lead you to the path of destruction. How is this hard for our generation to comprehend?

Great leaders are guided by the truth as they learn to increase their knowledge and wisdom, in their spheres of influence. You can be a better leader if you would sincerely say ‘lead me and teach me by the truth’. Deceit and manipulation, lies and arrogance do not make you any better leader than you are because the day comes when your nakedness will be open for all to see.

@MezieOkolo is a pharmacist, a leadership analyst and the award winning author of Unguarded Moments

01/26/2020

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