Servant Leadership

Robert Robert Greenleaf in his essay "The Servant As A Leader" made an excellent contribution to the act of leadership with this point “The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions…The leader-first and the servant-first are two extreme types. Between them there are shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature. The difference manifests itself in the care taken by the servant-first to make sure that other people’s highest priority needs are being served. The best test, and difficult to administer, is: Do those served grow as persons? Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And, what is the effect on the least privileged in society? Will they benefit or at least not be further deprived? A servant-leader focuses primarily on the growth and well-being of people and the communities to which they belong. While traditional leadership generally involves theaccumulation and exercise of power by one at the 'top of  the pyramid,'  servant leadership  is different. The servant-leader shares power, puts the needs of others first and helps people develop and perform as highly as possible."
I'm sure Mr Robert's line of thought was influenced by the book of John 3:12-17,  in that passage of the Bible, our Lord Jesus Christ outlined the qualities of a good leader. Someone that's willing to serve and not to be served.
    The world will become a better place when our leaders decide to prioritize  the needs of the people over their own selfish needs. The black race(Nigeria in particular) has suffered a lot because of the selfish and egocentric leaders that have held sway in that part of the world. The highest money laudering cases in the world involve African leaders like Gen. Sani Abacha, James Ibori, Alison Quattara(?), Mobutu Seko, Idi Amin, Robert Mugabe etc, people that have sucked their country dry all in the name of storing treasures for their children up to the 10th generation.
A leader should take part in the suffering of his people, he shouldn't be happy whenever they are mourning. The well being of his people should be his primary concern. A servant-leader must be willing to listen to the voice of his people, he shouldn't try to impose his views on them.
A servant-leader must be humble like Jesus Christ, who washed the feet of his disciples (remember that the feet are one of the dirtiest part of the body since dusts and other dirty particles tend to stick to it after a lond day trekking)  even though he is the one that created them.
  A servant-leader should be easily accessible to his people, he shouldn't surround himself with soldiers and give a shoot on site order for anybody that comes near him.
  The poor leadership been seen in Nigeria is a sign that we've lost our traditional values. In The Western and Northern Nigeria where there was a centralised system of government in the early 30s, the emirs and obas saw the people as their own children, they treated them same way as their own children. In the Eastern Nigeria where there was a decentralized system of government, the elders of the land made sure that the poor and the weak weren't affected by the rules of the land.
  In the present day Nigeria, the reverse is the case, we have abandoned the good qualities that held our ancient communities together for a selfish attitude that will only increase the gap between the rulers ( not leaders) and their slaves. This is why power is concentrated on the hands of a few individuals. You can't become a leader without the approval of OBJ, IBB, Tinubu, etc. Our rulers tend to serve their god fathers instead of the people.
  As a country, we have to  go back to the basics, we have to teach our students that the blessings that come from serving the populace outweigh the joy that comes from stockpiling money, that the curses from the people can ruin ones life.
May God give Africa another Thomas Sankara and Nelson Mandela.