The level of development or success every society attains depends on many factors out of which leadership is. Leadership is a key determinant of the destiny of a society and this rests solely on followership so much that whatever leader a society has is a function of the citizenry of that society. This is why some have concluded that every society deserves the kind of leader she gets. Do we as Nigerians, then, deserve the kind of leaders we have? To answer this question, it is important to know the kind of followers we have in Nigeria.
The youths constitute a major part of the followers; they are supposed to evolve into leaders. It is rather unfortunate that the reverse is the case. Most youths do not seem ready to take up leadership responsibilities. This serves as a pointer to the kind of followers that they are. Nonetheless, it is a fact that if the wise refuse to fail, they would be ruled by the fools. Universities ought to serve as training grounds for youths, where they are supposed to be tested in administration and management of both human and material resources. In such institutions, students are expected to lead and be led, but what do we have today? We have associations where students are being begged to vie for executive posts. In situations when few take up the challenge, they only run for posts such as the presidency, vice-presidency, and general secretary. Other offices are either uncontested or by bye-elections after much persuasion and lobbying. This tend to raise such questions as: what happens to the remaining offices?, is it because they are not so attractive as that of the president and vice-president. If it is so, then Nigerian youths are opportunists who seek undue advantage of his society, youths who never planned to be leaders. The question we neeed to ask ourselves is: “What kind of leaders do opportunists make?”
