LEADERS TAKE RESPONSIBILITY

“Do not forget what is to be a sailor because of being a captain yourself” – Tanzanian proverb

“Without a leader, black ants are confused” – Ugandan proverb.

Whatever decision the LEADER finally comes to, he/she would have to take responsibility when the mother comes back.

The argument about whether leaders are born or made has been going on forever and both sides of the divide have their strong points. There are those who exhibit leadership traits without any formal training and excel in positions of authority, there are also those who have become good leaders after some form of formal training. In my opinion, it is important that everyone gets to be educated about leadership traits and attributes needed for making decisions that can affect others since at some point or another life thrusts leadership on us.

We concluded that before the leader makes the final decision, he/she must weigh all available options in a way that is beneficial to all. Leaders who consider only themselves before making a decision are selfish and this attribute is the greatest enemy of leadership.

What we were trying to achieve as we worked with these youngsters was not what was or was not the right decision to take; we were trying to establish the fact that we do not have to get a formal position of leadership before we need to understand the need to develop leadership qualities. The responses we got were quite satisfactory because the participants understood that leadership situations can pop up at any time and they must be mentally prepared to tackle them and in the event that they come into positions of authority, they would not be caught unawares.
(Excerpts from Chapter three)

Help us at Joseph's Place Nigeria to get this book into the hands of as many youths as possible by donating copies to youths in your community (schools, faith-based organisations, other youth groups) or to youths in your Alma mater or Alumni. Together we can change the perspective of the next generation. For more information on how you can collaborate with us contact us on +2348023454461 or josephsplaceng@gmail.com or tagbosa@gmail.com.

MentorAfrica: WE NEED A COLLECTIVE RESPONSE

MentorAfrica: WE NEED A COLLECTIVE RESPONSE: Most times, drivers are completely oblivious to highway codes; they would rather drive against traffic or drive in a non-existent lane and ...

WE NEED A COLLECTIVE RESPONSE

Most times, drivers are completely oblivious to highway codes; they would rather drive against traffic or drive in a non-existent lane and cause traffic hold-ups and delays. In fact, one begins to think that if things are not chaotic they are not normal. The thing that bothers me the most is that when a public transportation driver decides to do the right thing and stays on the right lane, the passengers would begin to insult and bully the driver until he/she gets off and does what is wrong to please the costumers. This also draws our attention to the fact that even leaders in law enforcement and government sometimes help to shape this behaviour.

We are at a point where those who do what is right are considered fools, where government is blamed for our personal responsibilities; cleaning our houses and offices.

 If we are ever to move from where we are to become a more developed nation, citizens would have to learn to take ownership and personal responsibility. In a situation where people don’t care about what is happening around them, things will deteriorate because life is dynamic, meaning things have to move; if they don’t move forward, they will move backwards.

Many citizens have taken it upon themselves to provide basic amenities – light and water- especially for themselves; we might as well go the whole hog until systems are put in place to have a better, more organized and developed nation.

Whatever is right and is in our power to do, we should fill in the gap until government gets its act together, probably when youths reading this book come into positions of leadership in government or the corporate world.

Citizens must move from being passive subjects that are always complaining about what government is doing or not doing to a place where they become engaged in active participation in nation building. Citizens have to become responsive to the happenings around them. 

Help us at Joseph's Place Nigeria to get this book into the hands of as many youths as possible by donating copies to youths in your community (schools, faith-based organisations, other youth groups) or to youths in your Alma mater or Alumni. Together we can change the perspective of the next generation. For more information on how you can collaborate with us contact us on +2348023454461 or josephsplaceng@gmail.com or tagbosa@gmail.com.

MentorAfrica: IT LOOKS DEAD BUT IT IS NOT; LET'S GROW IT!

MentorAfrica: IT LOOKS DEAD BUT IT IS NOT; LET'S GROW IT!: We can’t throw up our hands and give up on the only nation that truly belongs to us. There is something I always try to make them understan...

IT LOOKS DEAD BUT IT IS NOT; LET'S GROW IT!

We can’t throw up our hands and give up on the only nation that truly belongs to us. There is something I always try to make them understand and that is, no matter how we feel about our country, it is ours; whatever other country we are running to was built with the sweat of the citizens of that nation that decided to take ownership of their country. No matter how many foreigners they involved in the final actualization of their development, they had to take the initial responsibility.

This is not in any way making light of the enormity of the challenges that we face as citizens of this great nation. Be that as it may, are we going to give up and continue to abandon our homeland? What are we going to leave for future generations? It has become so bad that many private schools are opting for foreign syllabi/accent and trying to alienate the next generation from any affiliation to this nation; this is so sad but that is the reality on ground. This means that the next generation is being made to believe that this nation is beyond remedy. Parents are selling off family inheritance to make sure that their children go to where they believe the grass is greener, forgetting that the grass is actually greener where you water it!

Where do we go from here? Should we lay all the blame on governance or is there something that citizens can do?

(Excerpts from Chapter Two)

Help us at Joseph's Place Nigeria to get this book into the hands of as many youths as possible by donating copies to youths in your community (schools, faith-based organisations, other youth groups) or to youths in your Alma mater or Alumni. Together we can change the perspective of the next generation. For more information on how you can collaborate with us contact us on +2348023454461 or josephsplaceng@gmail.com or tagbosa@gmail.com.

MentorAfrica: "CHANGE" IS MORE THAN A CHANT

MentorAfrica: "CHANGE" IS MORE THAN A CHANT: Having spoken to over a thousand youths on this matter and armed with questionnaire answers to buttress this point, I feel that civic educa...

"CHANGE" IS MORE THAN A CHANT

Having spoken to over a thousand youths on this matter and armed with questionnaire answers to buttress this point, I feel that civic education is an area we need to pay serious attention to. It is a shame that the majority of the next generation are not driven by any interest in the development of this nation.

Chants of “change” are not enough to produce change no matter how long and how loud they are chanted. There cannot be any meaningful change if the youths are not educated in the ways of change.

Discussions with the youths, even the ones in secondary schools, always throw up the fearful fact that they are already walking in the crooked footsteps of the older generation. The sad truth is that these are the paths they see all around them but when you try to draw their attention to the thought that they are about to go on these same wrong tracks, you get blank stares. They cannot come to terms with the idea that it is possible to do things differently; this confusion arises because they see that what you are telling them is the truth.

(Excerpts from Chapter Two)

Help us at Joseph's Place Nigeria to get this book into the hands of as many youths as possible by donating copies to youths in your community (schools, faith-based organisations, other youth groups) or to youths in your Alma mater or Alumni. Together we can change the perspective of the next generation. For more information on how you can collaborate with us contact us on +2348023454461 or josephsplaceng@gmail.com or tagbosa@gmail.com.