By Msonter Anzaa
The great Chinua Achebe has written in one of his novels that when an ill-fated man drinks water, it catches in his teeth. I think Nigeria is an ill-fated nation. The things people do in other lands that work, when you do them on Nigerian soil, they don't work. People have even insinuated that if you bring the world's best leaders here, they will fail. Though I share no sentiment on this, I believe we are at a point in Nigeria's history when she desperately needs to be inspired.
I may not be able to define inspiration, but I can tell when I feel it. And if I may quote what I have read somewhere, 'we were not taught definition in school.' There is a quality in some people which readily appeals to our emotions and gets us connected when they are talking. This quality makes us look at the future or a particular situation through the eyes of the speaker. An inspirational speaker opens himself up to his listeners. While talking about whatever situation at hand, he invariably speaks about himself and is able to make his listeners feel what he feels and see what he sees. My opinion is that this quality is lacking in our leaders. And I think it is for a number of reasons.
