TAGGING Niger State as a land of limitless opportunities is import to the man onthe driver's seat. People who have wealth of time, cash, self-worth and ideas willalways see what others can not see. The chief servant of Niger State, Governor Muazu Babangida Aliyu recently celebrated his birthday with books, ideas and self-assessment, for the benefit of the present and future generations.When he came into office in 2007, he set up a committee to map out plan for the state within the precinct of his own vision of how he wanted his beloved state to be. The action plan was patterned along that of our late selfless president, Umar Musa Yar'Adua. The Vision 20:2020 was reflected on by Governor Aliyu and he brought out his own vision 3:2020, as his dream is always reflected upon whenever he celebrates his birthday. This helps him in making mark his achievements and areas of pitfalls, as no human is perfect. It is this perfection claim in the idea of excellence he avoids, as he chose to be addressed as Chief Servant. The idea of servant- leadership portrays 'abundance mentality' in all ramificationsAbundance mentality was coined by Stephen Covey to debunk the foundation of economic thoughts, as espoused by founding fathers like Adams Smith and David Ricardo, among other early scholars. They posit that resources are scarce, as such, their uses have to be regulated. This led to the idea of population control and mechanism for the control of access to resources. The restriction and mindset that resources cannot get to everyone has led to wars of conquest in the name of struggle for power, resource or authoritative allocation of resources. Covey ruminated over the thesis that resources are scarce and tagged those who hold that belief, as people who have scarce mentality. Abundance mentality is a mindset that opens itself to the limitless opportunities that are hatched in there. The mind sees opportunities in itself in the environment and in the things around it.Like the idea of Governor Aliyu, who sees Niger State as a state with limitless opportunities, Covey espoused the abundance mentality in his workshops with the business community in the United States of America. Instead of rivalry and fierce competition being engaged in by giant corporations in the US due to the idea of struggle for market which is assumed to be scarce, he advocated that consumers, clients and resources are in abundance, as such, synergy should be built among corporations with similar focus to produce and market their products.The past governors of Niger State saw the state as an economically arid environment where nothing could thrive except the civil service. Governor Aliyu came up with his master plan on tourism as potential money spinner. He also saw crop production, fisheries and aqua-culture, mineral resource, human resources and vast land, as resources that are sill untapped. With this abundance mentality, he is working on making Minna the hub of economic activities through rice and other related products in West Africa. The Minna Airport City concept is designed like the Dubai Model, in which tourism will be used as attraction to expose Niger State to the wealth and experience of potential investors.In his worldview of abundance mentatility, the The Gurara Falls, the Zuma Rock and Baro ports are source of untapped wealth for Niger State. Shiroro, Jebba and Kainji Hydro electric dams have potentialities to investors in the state in terms of electricity generation and stability of power supply. The airport will serve as point of arrival for new investors into West Africa. The railway station in Minna which links Lagos, Port-Hacourt, Kano and Enugu is an important asset to the state. The Baro Port in Niger State is also an important link through the Atlantic Ocean. Heavy cargo could be easily brought into the state through the Baro Port and the train will take it down to Minna.All these are being reviewed and ideas on them projected in order to achieve success, given the age of this humble servant-leader, who intends to deliver dividends to the electorate. His birthday bash is not for frivolous activities, but for sober reflection and generation of ideas which could move the state forward. The abundance mentality made Governor Aliyu to invite the Nigerian Air Force to set up a unit within the airport apart from the Air Force Detachment barracks at the junction of the Airport.Celebrating a birthday in the midst of intellectuals and highly imaginative people is a sign of abundance mentality, because great ideas will always incubate in that situation and solutions to some nagging challenges will surely emerge. Creating time for intellectuals and writers to chart the way forward is a sign that quality time is not scarce for leaders who assumed position of leadership with the philosophy of servant-leadership. In contrast, leaders in Nigeria always pretend that they are always busy, and as such, neglect the forum that could make them think, for the ones that will make them stars that will fade away when their tenure expires.The idea that federation accounts allocations can never be enough is a sign of scarce mentality, because it is in scarcity that abundance is created. Moreso, Governor Aliyu has always advocated for diversified economy, because one or two streams of income for a state can never be enough for those who have abundance mentality. He always put forward his capacity to collaborate with partners in the private sector, which has worked in some sectors. The housing sector has benefited from the public-private-partnership, and civil servants who are the beneficiaries have packed into their completed houses.The Chief Servant of Niger State demonstrates his abundance mentality by showing that the state must be one of the three developed states in 2020. This is because he also knows his self-worth as a leader. He stays in the circles of credible intellectuals and writers who serve as motivation for lofty ideas that are inspired by reality. They like to study the society and assess the potentialities imbedded in the things or phenomenon that they study. The independent teams that he has always raised to reflect on the conditions of the people have worked on youth unemployment, problem of housing, public health and education made him have genuine feelings of the people. This made him take the Jam forum as an avenue for meeting the masses in their villages and for them to air their genuine feelings for or against the government. This is an evidence that he knows the worth of the people, and anyone who knows the worth of others knows how much he is worth.In conclusion, celebrating birthday with ideas is a great contribution being made by Governor Aliyu of Niger State in our political space called Nigeria. Like John Dewey of the United States of America, Governor Aliyu is using ideas as instruments for experimenting with solution to challenges faced by leaders and the led. With this, leaders will be able to tap ideas from people who are highly imaginative and very close to realities of their time. It is time for credible change and the polity has to be responsive to genuine yearnings of the people. This will eliminate egalitarian envy, which tends to emanate from the intelligentsia for neglect suffered in the hands of the elite, who monopolise symbols to confuse the masses.Ragada sent this piece in from Minna, Niger State.
Click here to read full news..
