No need to panic when the captain is a strategist

By Felix Samari

Someone recently mentioned to me that what makes difference in democratic setting is the power that people have to choose who will lead them whether to glory or to doom. 

He said in Africa people have the same opportunity make much difference with the adoption of democracy but lack leadership to be guided right to make informed decision by the way of choosing a strategic leader. 

I could not agree less with him. Most of the time the few leaders that have been elected  who seem to understand the direction of progress are not the favourite of the elites. Well, the beautiful thing is that whatever it maybe, God gives power to whosoever He wishes. 

I am awoken to think about how educated strategists will change our country if only we can give them the chance. I have not seen in my travels to countries around world where an elected leader is said to learning on the job. People who are elected must come up there with versed experience and they must have strategies on how to let the system work. 

In Nigeria we have voted for people without agenda of personal manifestos not to talk of their track records and leadership experience. And I think that is why most times they are caught between power play and self service. 

Somehow in 2019 people of Adamawa State gunned for an educated strategist. A man who apparently was long awaited for. I was not surprised when I discovered that the Adamawa State Governor has a postgraduate background in strategic studies. Yes, because Nancy Maloney said it all. "Strategists tend to be people watchers who recognize that we learn more from watching how humans behave rather than simply listening to what they say." I think that is simply talking about Rt Hon Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri.

I have had the privilege of meeting great leaders at home here and off the shores of this country and one common thing I noticed is their ability to align their thoughts/plans with their actions and their ability to solve complex problems, whether it is human relations or doable jobs. According Maloney, "Great strategists are drawn to and excited by the prospect of solving complex and often layered problems, but also energized by possibilities. They possess the business acumen to understand not only how a business works today, but the imagination and the optimism to envision how it might work better tomorrow."

I know that strategists imagine and act. When I walk pass by the already eye catching flyover, it resounds that there is a strategist in Dougirei. A man who act with the shifting of the times. Despite the daunting challenges such that came as a result of the pandemic and the economic nosedive, Governor Fintiiri has made history amidst all. 

All the beautiful cities in the world were build by men of will, great leaders who spare no time and resources for themselves but used it to make life easier and better for people and even generations to come. 

Across the state the governor has commissioned and commenced one people oriented project or the other. This is strategic leadership. John Quincy Adams said,  "If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." Check the way Commissioners, advisers and civil servants are working under the leadership of the Rt Honorable Governor. So much is happening but everyone seem to wanting to do more. 

Governance is about ensuring an enduring development. This year marks the beginning of the decade of action of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and to be able achieve anything we cannot afford the luxury of leaders without strategic knowledge of doing things. As the government is moving on the governor needs no some small cog in a large wheel. People with a mindset that things can't work or that big dreams are not possible should be kept aside. Let them see action because whatever the mind can conceive it is achievable. 

Let the ship of fresh air sail on and everyone be calm the Captain is a strategist.