The pattern with which Jesus evangelized during his earthly ministry remains a rich source of inspiration if we must respond adequately to the yearnings for God in the hearts of men and women of our time. 

Most of Jesus’ teachings came about as responses to a prevailing situations. For example, we read just few weeks that; after feeding the thousands of men with bread and fish, the crowds were increasing steadily for want of more bread. Such desire for Jesus was inordinate yet rather than send them away; Jesus taught them that he is the bread of life.

The aforementioned shows indeed that Jesus had good leadership qualities which we all are called to emulate. However, from the recent protest which yielded absolutely no fruit, bad leadership sums it all up. We have all that it takes as a nation to have a better Nigeria but due to bad leadership, the reverse is the case. 

I once thought to myself that if one of those who spearheaded the protest is given the opportunity to lead, will Nigeria be better? Think about it. The corruption has really eaten deep into the fabrics of our society such that an average Nigerian when put under pressure, may give in to inordinate and selfish desires. 

Leadership, as I said is key here. Learning and possessing good leadership skills should not begin from teenagehood or adulthood but from childhood. 

A simple definition is that leadership is the art of motivating a group of people to act towards achieving a common goal. He or she is the person in the group that possesses the combination of personality and leadership skills that makes others want to follow his or her direction.

If you are put in the position to recommend people for effective leadership, you should always recommend those that have been great followers. When one has become a good follower, the individual learns how to pay attention to people’s plights, opinion, consider their inputs and also work with emotional intelligence. 

One who has not been an excellent follower cares less about other people’s need or never thinks of asking for their opinion. They have the tendency to consider their followers as being under them and as people meant to serve them and provide their needs. How many of our Nigerian leaders were good followers? 

The reason why the best followers will always emerge as better leaders is because they will consider their followers’ thoughts, ideas, and talents. For these leaders, each contribution made by any member of their team, subjects, followers, and employees is valued. They don’t ignore the plights of their followers rather; they identify and reason with them. Probably if our leaders identify with the masses, they will know how hard it is to live on the minimum wage in the current economic meltdown.  

In his Homily at Chrism Mass (2013) in the Vatican, the Holy Father, Pope Francis called on the world’s priests to bring the healing power of God’s grace to everyone in need, to stay close to the marginalized and to be “shepherds living with the smell of the sheep.” Yes, we are not all priests but we share in the common priesthood. So, we too must cultivate the habit to "smell like the sheep" in our various capacities. 

With the recent protest, it is evident that the ‘shepherds of Nigeria’ do not know their sheep, do not care about them, and have not even seen them, let alone of "smelling like the sheep." This accounts for the seemingly off and on protest of the frustrated masses. 

Let us not be quick to forget these events and just move on like nothing happened. May our labours never be in vain. We pray and hope that God will bring us a ‘Moses’ to liberate us from this ‘Egypt’. May the Holy Spirit have His way in the lives of our leaders and in Nigeria at large. Amen.