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Embrace Servant Leadership and “a lot will change”: Cardinal to Nigerian Political Actors

John Cardinal Onaiyekan speaking during his visit to St. Francis Catholic College in Nigeria’s Oyo Diocese on 13 October 2022. Credit: Oyo Diocese

There is need for political actors in Nigeria to adopt servant leadership as lived by Jesus Christ, John Cardinal Onaiyekan of Nigeria has said.

Cardinal Onaiyekan who was speaking during his visit to St. Francis Catholic College in Nigeria’s Oyo Diocese on Thursday, October 13 said that embracing servant leadership will guarantee positive change in the West African nation.

“In the Nigeria that we have today, we are very much in need of leaders who will serve our needs; leaders who will adopt the method of Jesus of servant leadership,” the Nigerian Cardinal said.

“If we really want our country to be great for our children to enjoy in future, all those who are leaders must be servants,” he said, and added, “If just half of our leaders embrace this idea of servantship, a lot of things will change.”

Cardinal Onaiyekan said that through servant leadership, vices such as “money laundering and impunity will be minimized.” 

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The Archbishop emeritus of Nigeria’s Abuja Archdiocese faulted politicians for failing to pay attention to issues such as the prolonged strike of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the inadequate resources in public institutions.  

He said legislators have approved huge amounts of money while schools are struggling and hospitals suffering from lack of drugs.

“For Nigeria to improve from bad politics that is fueling these challenges, we need to change,” the Cardinal who started his Episcopal Ministry in January 1983 as the Auxiliary Bishop of Nigeria’s Ilorin Diocese said.

Leaders need to use their authority “as service”, he emphasized, and added, “Even the knowledge we acquire is not to elevate us above other people, but to serve and help the society. This is what we call the philosophy of the education of the Catholic Church.”

The 75-year-old Cardinal who was hosted by the Local Ordinary of Oyo Diocese, Bishop Emmanuel Badejo during the October 13 event urged students of St. Francis Catholic College to use the knowledge they acquire from the institution to change the politics of the nation.

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“It’s my hope that you will carry with you the good qualities that you have been taught here wherever you go. As you go, try to promote good qualities out there that are manifested through service as a way of changing the politics of our nation,” he said.

The Cardinal continued, “It will be wonderful if some of you who are classmates here were able to join hands together and continue to insist that we will play politics in a good way. There are a lot of bad politics out there, and to be able to improve them, you need to support each other.”

He went on to caution the students against “bad politics where authority is used for oppression and corruption,” and urged them to be alert, attentive, and to observe what is going on in the politics so as to develop the spirit of service in their mind.

“Politics mean organizing ourselves well. If we organize ourselves well, there will be peace, harmony, joy and prosperity,” the Nigerian Cardinal said. 

If students were to start practicing servant leadership and carry along the practice beyond school, they will change the way of politics for the entire nation, he further said.

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Earlier this month, Cardinal Onaiyekan said that there is need to work towards changing the “bad name” of politics in Nigeria to being perceived as “a noble task.”

In his October 2 second annual lecture at Loyola Jesuit College, Cardinal Onaiyekan said it is “extremely important that we find ways and means of changing the language and insist that politics is not a game for rogues, thieves and liars.”

In his speech during the October 13 event in Oyo Diocese, the Cardinal called on citizens of Africa’s most populous nation to continue praying that the 25 February 2023 general elections “will be peaceful and at the end of the day have a better government than we have right now.”

On September 28, 18 candidates vying for Presidency in Nigeria launched their nationwide campaigns ahead of the general elections that will see the electorate in the West African nation also vote for members of the House of Representatives and the Senate.

The election of State Governors in Nigeria has been slated for 11 March 2023.

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Silas Mwale Isenjia is a Kenyan journalist with a great zeal and interest for Catholic Church related communication. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Linguistics, Media and Communication from Moi University in Kenya. Silas has vast experience in the Media production industry. He currently works as a Journalist for ACI Africa.