Making the Case for a Classroom Based Leadership Revolution in Nigeria

It is no news that Nigeria is confronted with a leadership crisis at every level and in every sector. The crisis is evident in government, in the private sector, and sadly, even in the civil society which is supposed to serve as a watchdog to the government. However, the intent of this article is not to paint the grim reality of the leadership crisis we are facing in Nigeria but to underline how we can get out of it using education as a tool. I am excited to write about this topic because leadership education is one of the themes that we advocate in Teens Going for Gold Network.

What constitutes leadership education? It is among other things, knowledge of the nation’s history and instruction in ethics and the art of influence.

At the rate at which we recycle old leaders in Nigeria, one might wonder about the applicability of the “youths are the leaders of tomorrow” saying to Nigeria. The truth, however, remains that the main hope of a nation lies in the education of its youth. It follows that if we must remain hopeful about Nigeria, we must pay closer attention to education: how we educate young Nigerians and the subjects we educate them on.

Furthermore, leadership is not exclusive to political positions. Though youths do not get easy access to political positions in Nigeria, they are the ones who become bankers, policemen, or lecturers and this means that they exercise some form of influence over others. Hence, the importance of leadership education because we all wield some form of influence.

There is however a deficit of leadership education in our classrooms and this is why Teens Going for Gold Network, organizes Project Teach a Teen, an initiative that, among other things, builds the leadership aptitude of young persons aged 13 to 20 across Nigeria.

We adopted this initiative based on our conviction of the potential of leadership education to build the nation. And what better place to teach leadership education than the classroom? From primary till tertiary education, leadership should be an essential component of the education of Nigerians.

You might have the question – what constitutes leadership education? It is among other things, knowledge of the nation’s history and instruction in ethics and the art of influence. More details in the following paragraphs:

History

National History should be instituted as a General Studies course in secondary schools and Universities. If a nation is to be successful, its youths must not be versed in its history. In order to leverage on the past and avoid history’s mistakes, we must have a deep knowledge of that past.

Art of Influence

Leadership is often equated with influence; the capacity to affect someone else’s character, development, or behaviour. Exercising influence necessitates soft skills like public speaking, negotiation, emotional intelligence, critical thinking and problem solving. Hence, leadership education should include studies in the art of influence. This will ensure that participants of the Nigerian education system are well equipped to exercise positive influence in their chosen spheres.

Morals and Ethics

To quote Theodore Roosevelt, “to educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society”. It is therefore, important that there is a moral and ethical component to classroom education. This ensures that when they are presented with different choices, they are prone to making the right decisions.

Civic Education

Owing to the fact that we were not taught the importance of the Nigerian constitution to our lives as Nigerians, only a handful of Nigerians consider it important to read the constitution. A Bible is to a Christian, what a constitution is to a citizen. We should therefore ensure that the civic duties and rights are taught in the classroom. This line of action will ensure that in no distant time, we would have a crop of socially conscious youths who lead with knowledge and want the good of the nation.

However to do this, teachers and instructors also need to be thoroughly educated about their role in nation building. They need to be trained in leadership education because you cannot give what you do not have.

The government remains the most decisive actor in the field of education as it is primarily responsible for funding, and curriculum setting among other things. Hence, the government needs to provide the necessary funding and structure to make leadership education a reality in Nigeria because there is only so much NGOs can do in that regard. The government has to treat education like the future of our nation depends on it because it does!