Former Lagos State Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola has challenged Nigerians to define the concept of success, questioning the criteria citizens use to recognise a successful leader.
Fashola raised these tough questions while speaking during the 2025 Independence Lecture and Award Night hosted by the Island Club.
While speaking, the former governor stated that Nigerians have never been satisfied or appreciative of any administration or governance, despite having several leaders.
Acknowledging that success is not static, Fashola emphasised the crucial need for Nigerians to redefine and establish new goals for their expectations and national aspirations.
He said, “I don’t believe in sorcery, I believe we can achieve everything we set our mind to. Can we agree on what the Nigerian dream is, and what it looks like?
“If we have a measure of what the dream looks like, we can have agreement on what success will look like. So that when we get to the destination of success, we really say and stamp our chest that we have hit here.
Of course, success is not static, so we can redefine and set new goals for those that are important resolutions I want us to ponder about whether we can reach.
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“We have had all sorts of leaders, and we seem not to be satisfied with what we have had.”
Fashola further charged Nigerians to work towards a resolution to set a gold standard for good leadership.
“Can we define what the successful leader looks like so that when we see him, we may recognise him, we may converge around him so that we will not end up in those afterthoughts, with due respect to the great men and women who said worse to the effect, like the best president we never had.
“I think it is important to have resolution around these very simple but profound ideas: what is our gold standard for good leadership, what is our definition of success, and what is the Nigerian dream.
“We can then begin to propagate to those who care to listen.” He explained
