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It’s an honor to speak with you today on a subject that deeply affects not just our future, but our present: How exemplary leadership can change the world. I speak to you as a father, a friend and a fellow Nigerian, someone who has also felt the sting of poor leadership and still dares to believe in the power of change.

The Problem: Leadership Crisis in our World

Look around our communities. See the potholes on our roads, the rising cost of food, the terrible health provisioning and education systems, and the widespread hopelessness among many Nigerians. These are not simply economic problems. They are leadership problems.

When leaders choose to walk the path of selfishness, society suffers. When leaders plot to serve only their narrow personal and group interests, rather than truly serve and provide opportunities for the sustainable well-being of our people, then everyone is found left to scramble for crumbs. Bad leadership has cost us lives due to a dangerously malignant crisis of failed leadership across the board, due to stolen and truncated dreams arising from low quality education, and due to a continuing vicious cycle of multidimensional poverty. Here in Jos, we’ve seen how in the recent past, poor leadership resulted in a deepening of religious and ethnic divisions, sparked violence, and left many families and entire neighborhoods in pain.

This calamity of failed leaderships – in government, in the private sector, in the religious establishments, in schools, and even more so crucially, within the family unit – have combined to push many of our brightest minds to seek hope outside Nigeria. Those who are left behind are forced to either join the bandwagon of evil, corruption and pursuing of short cuts, or abandon themselves to languish in lonely corners of despair or are left totally out of the equation of enjoying even the barest, most simple benefits of citizenship in a resource-rich Nigeria. This is our story!

Impact on Young People

Young people are often the first to suffer. Some of you sit in overcrowded lecture halls, enduring at times poorly delivered lectures—or worse, you stay home because schools are closed. Many of you start businesses with a passion but then have to contend with endless roadblocks because no one wants to invest in you. You dream of a better future, but leadership failures keep haunting you, thereby making your innate desires in pursuit of happiness, meaningless.

But what if you could be the leader who changes our story?

A New Vision: What the World can Become

Imagine a Jos where young leaders rise—not with political slogans, but with hearts of service. Imagine a Plateau State where peace isn’t just a prayer, but a plan. Imagine schools that run, hospitals and health centres that truly deliver, roads that work, leaders who listen, and a generation of youth that leads with integrity, compassion, and courage.

This is not fantasy. It can happen. It is happening already.

Real-Life Stories of Change-Makers

Consider Malala Yousafzai, who was just a teenager when she stood up for girls’ education in Pakistan—even after being shot. She survived, continued her activism, and became the youngest Nobel Peace Prize laureate in 2014. Today, she is a global voice impacting many. She’s proof that leadership is not about age. It’s about influence. It’s about stepping up when others sit down.

Think about Kelvin Doe from Sierra Leone, the thirteen-year-old who grew up in poverty and taught himself engineering using scrap parts. He built a radio station as a teenager to give his community a voice and was eventually invited to the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA. His life’s story shows that even with nothing, you can create something that helps others. Innovation starts where passion meets problems.

Closer to home, think of Faith Odunsi from Ogun State, who gained international fame when she beat competitors from the US, UK, China, and others to win the Global Open Mathematics Competition in 2021. She has inspired countless others to take pride in academic excellence and believe that world-class success is within reach. From her, we learn that school no be scam!

Also consider Tunde Onakoya, the founder of Chess in Slums Africa who alsoholds the Guinness World record for the longest marathon chess game. He learned to play chess at a barber’s shop in Ikorodu, Lagos, where he grew up. His project has now transformed the lives of over 10, 000 children, with 500 receiving fully funded scholarships to local and international institutions. His mantra, “it is possible to do great things from a small place” proves that your story, no matter how humble, can inspire a movement.

Lastly, look at other young people in Jos. Think of Lengdung Tungchamma from Jenta, Jos. Popularly called a “government rejected area” (g.r.a.), Jenta has been labeled arguably, as the most dangerous community in the city. But through the Jenta Reads initiative, Lengdung is on a mission to #changethenarrative. By using books, he’s slowly rescuing young people from the life of addiction and crime and helping them to pursue a new cause. His newly published book Motion eloquently captures the mission and reveals that one man can make a difference. Like many of you, I can’t wait to see it work.

Many other young people in Jos have started book clubs, rebuilt neighborhoods after conflict, and stood in the gap between communities. Change comes when big things happen in little ways over a long period of time. You can also bring change!

Becoming a servant Leader Today

Let me leave you with five practical steps you can take to become a servant leader in your community:

1. Start Small, Start Now: You don’t need a title to lead. If you want to lead, you must first serve in circumstances that may not be ideal, and you must learn to behave wisely. Lead the effort to pick up trash in your neighborhood, or to tutor children. Alone or with friends, take steps to help someone in need, or start a book club. Leadership begins with responsibility.
2. Listen Deeply: Great leaders listen. Understand the needs of those around you—your classmates, neighbors, even those people who are different from you. Be patient to really understand people’s struggles before proposing solutions.
3. Build Bridges, Not Walls: Jos has unfortunately been divided by religion and ethnicity. Make a decision today to become part of the generation that unites, not divides. Visit, hang out, eat and pray with people who are different. Take pleasure to learn about and respect their unique cultures. Make and build friendships across religious and ethnic lines.
4. Develop Yourself: Read books. Volunteer. Take courses. Learn conflict resolution. Leadership is not just a gift; it’s a skill you can grow.
5. Live for a Cause Greater Than Yourself: Seek impact, not fame. Don’t always ask “What can I gain?” Instead, ask, “What can I give?”

These are the values that Sentinel Oasis for Love & Care Initiative (SOLCI) embodies. Today’s roundtable discussion provides us the opportunity to reflect on the problems, and brainstorm possible solutions. It calls us to self-examination and collective responsibility and urges us to confront our internalized biases in honest, productive ways. More than that, it propels us to view ourselves, not as innocent bystanders, but as potential agents of transformation through servant leadership. So, join us!

Conclusion: Lead the Cause

The world does not change because people complain more than they commit. Our world will only change when people rise up to pursue a selfless cause. Write the story of your community as it is. Afterwards, write it the way you want it to be. Then do everything you can to make that dream a reality.

As Nelson Mandela said, “It always seems impossible until it is done.”

You are not the leaders of tomorrow—you are the leaders now. So, may you rise with courage. May you lead with love. And may your service to God and to others bring healing, peace, and lasting change to Jos North, to Plateau State, to Nigeria and beyond. Together, we can change the world!

Thank you.