Advanced countries have long-ago discovered a strong correlation between a good system of government and striking developmental strides so much that even those of them with hardly any natural endowment and other economic potentials are at the top of the ladder. Our problem [in Nigeria] is not just that we are unlucky to be saddled with leaders without vision most of the time, but that majority of the citizens have no idea as to what they really want out of governance except the basic necessities like food, drinkable water, shelter and good roads. You therefore have people praising to high heavens corrupt and incompetent leaders for merely patching few kilometers of road … really what people in other lands takes for granted. Once in a while, the people grumble, dare to openly protest and get clobbered on the head. And all is soon forgotten and forgiven as people got used to their suffering and become the “happiest people on earth.”

The political and economic history of Sierra Leone provides many lessons in the perils of denying a large percentage of the citizenry the noble desire of equal access to opportunities and rewards and the fruit of an endless striving for liberty, justice and material well-being.