‘Good Leadership Isn’t About Age, It’s About Right People Occupying Positions Of Trust’

Tomorrow, President Goodluck Jonathan will be hosting the best 100 of The Future Awards Africa at the Presidential Villa in Abuja. The alumni will be inducted as the guardians of the country’s future. OLUSHOLA RICKETTS spoke with the Executive Director, The Future Project, Chude Jideonwo, on the recent development and this year’s award ceremony. EIGHT years down the lane, what is new about The Future Awards Africa? This year’s edition is remarkable for two reasons. One, Nigeria clocks 100 as a nation; second, the African Union is 50 years old. And for us, it is a very significant year and we felt that we cannot do the same celebrations that we used to do. This is also the first time we would be going continental. We already had it as a vision some years ago that at a particular point, we would go Africa. Despite the fact that Africa is saddled with enormous problems, we are still going celebrate. If we look at what is happening in Kenya, the Boko Harram insurgency in Nigeria and crises in other African countries, our celebrations might be questioned. We must try to drive that change or sustain the good things until they get better. What we are doing this year is to look at the good at the national and continental levels. This year’s edition is a one-week celebration. It starts with what we call The Future Award Africa “best 100.” The Federal Government of Nigeria is celebrating 100 of our best alumni over the past seven years. They did not just stop there after the awards; they went on to do greater things. For the second stage, we are going to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to launch a documentary that would profile 50 of Africa’s brightest young leaders below 35. It is a documentary that will tell what they have done, how they achieved them and so on. What about this year’s ceremony? The only thing we can confirm is that the Federal Government is hosting the best 100 tomorrow in Abuja. The venue and the activities of the main awards ceremony will be announced in the coming week. The Young Person of the Year award is the only non-Nigerian category. We believe it is a process. We have been to 12 African countries to make ourselves familiar with how things are being operated there. We did not do Africa because it was the next thing; we only saw it was high time we passed the message to other countries in Africa. Are you satisfied with the dispositions of the leadership in the country? I do not really have problems with the government because not everybody in government is doing badly. What Omobola Johnson is doing in Communications is massive. The former Minister Youth Development, Bolaji Adullahi, also tried. We still have governors and commissioners equally doing well. Though there have been times that it was “us against them.” I was a key part of the Occupy Nigeria campaign. I write articles too, embedding my personal opinions. I do not shy away from saying what I want to say but to build the kind of country we want, we need to work with all kinds of people. The fact should be told that things have changed in the country. I used to tell people that the Nigeria we have today is better than yesterday but they would insist we should go back to the late General Sanni Abacha’s regime and so on. I guess they have forgotten how bad it was. Nollywood was not striving like this then, the music industry was dead. Look at what is happening in technology now. Look at different investments and what people such as Elumelu and Dangote are doing. So things are changing progressively though not as fast as we might wish. As bad as the country appears to be, people are still managing to do things. We have people like Mosun Umoru, Toyosi Akerele, Uche Eze, Adebola Williams, Linda Ikeji and many others performing well in their chosen professions without godfathers or external funding. I think so much is possible in Nigeria by Nigerians. When I hear any government official saying our generation is lazy, I get so mad because the country used to have so many massive opportunities but what did they do with them? We do not have the kind of opportunities the past generations had but look at what we have managed to achieve. I do not blame any young person whose hope has been shattered. But unfortunately, we have no choice and we need to keep our hopes alive. Do you agree with the idea of the young pushing for a political party to rescue the nation? I do not like talking politics when talking about The Future Awards Africa. It is non-partisan though it founded Enough is Enough Nigeria that is focused on good governance and accountability. However, I do not think Nigeria will change simply because we put a 60-year-old or 22-year-old man at the helm of affairs. The problem is not age; we have seen Speakers of House of Rep or Commissioners who are young but made little or no impact. I am not interested in that; I want capable and competent politicians who are able to solve the problems of the country. Hillary Clinton is pushing 70 and she is one of the most effective Secretary of State America has ever had. Young people can only do great things when you put the right people. Most of the things could have emanated from the idea of some certain people wanting to have a share of the national cake.