The Kogi State governorship candidate of the Action Alliance (AA) in the 2023 governorship election, Otunba Olayinka Braimoh, says Nigeria needs visionary leaders that can reverse the economic situation in the country, and put an end to the ‘japa’ syndrome.
He blamed the dearth of leaders with vision and the inability tap the vast resources that the nation has, that has pushed many Nigerians, especially the youths to embrace the ‘japa’ syndrome to seek greener pastures abroad.
“Today, what are we battling with? We are battling with the ‘japa’ syndrome, and so many parents today, are crying deep inside of them because their children are lost forever, disconnected from their roots.
“They don’t want to come home, and they will never come home. Why because there’s no home to come back to because of lack of visionary leadership,” Chief Braimoh said.
He cited the case of Kogi State, saying the state has been identified as one of the poorest states in Nigeria, in spite of its abundant natural resources, because successive administrations in the state have failed to convert the mineral assets to wealth, thereby fueling poverty.
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“So, changing the narrative requires having a visionary leader at the helm of affairs,” he added.
According to him, if the state’s resources are well harnessed, Kogi State can run independently, without having to depend on federal allocations.
“So, in terms of our resources, Kogi can run independently of Nigeria. I mean Kogi is bigger than Rwanda in terms of land area.
“Our resources are more than the resources Rwanda has. So, what are we talking about? The resources we have in Kogi State is way more than the resources Rwanda has.
“Look, Rwanda has a population of about 12.5million people. Right? Kogi has a population of about 4.5million people. So what does that suggest to you? When we’re talking about per capita, does that not mean that an average person in Kogi should be richer than an average person in Rwanda? We’re talking about visionary leadership,” Braimoh noted.
He lamented that “Nigerians are going to Rwanda. Our governors went to hold a meeting in Kigali for God’s sake. We have Agbaja Plateau in Kogi. We have Mount Plati. All of these places are not developed due to lack of visionary leadership.
“Now, imagine if we’re able to develop all of these things, you will have the conference right there. We have Oni Dam, we have Oraha, and we have Obangogo and several other tourist locations that can host world-class conferences.
“In terms of urban development, the kind of designs that we do, the kind of layouts that we do, visionary leadership is the only thing that is required. Because, without visionary leadership, all of these things will keep eluding us. They’ve been eluding us for long.”