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by Femi Okurounmu (Author)
Leadership Failure and Nigeria's Fading Hopes is a heart-rending lamentation by a patriotic Nigerian elder statesman, Femi Okurounmu, on how his country, through unbridled corruption and the selfishness of successive leaders, has dashed the hopes of not just Nigerians, but the entire black race and reinforced the prejudices of racists who raise doubts concerning the intellectual capacity of black people. The book consists of excerpts from a critical but constructive weekly column, Patriotic Punches which the author wrote between 2004 and 2009 in the Nigerian Tribune newspaper. It chronicles incidents of corruption in government, laments the corruption of the entire society and all its institutions and decries the enthronement of money as the national deity, such that its acquisition becomes the surest route to national recognition, no matter how it is acquired. It bemoans the fact that this conscienceless pursuit of money has eroded all of society's values, fostered a culture of corruption and criminality and led to the hijack of governance by a wealthy cabal, among them many criminals, who have provided a climate of impunity for the most horrendous levels of treasury looting by public officials, necessitating repeated rigging of elections to install protective successor leaders. The author is particularly distressed that the traditional watchdogs of public morality and probity - the judiciary, the media, religious leaders and institutions and traditional rulers - have all become mortally infected by the corruption. It calls on the citizenry to take their future into their own hands by shaking off their political lethargy and docility, abandoning their excessive and unreasonable fear of death, and mobilizing to confront bad governance and to ensure the emergence of a government that will fulfil the nation's early promise and give some credibility to the black man's claim to equality with other races of mankind.
