Leadership and followership in crisis: What Nigeria can learn from the animal kingdom

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where was the Pride when the lion became unaccountable? When followers see leadership excess and stay silent – either out of fear or because they benefit—the system corrodes. In Nigeria, we have often praised “strong men” while despising institutions. We have watched the misuse of public funds and justified it with ethnic loyalty or political calculations. But in doing so, we have enabled a system that rewards roars and punishes thoughtful whispers. It is time to stop cheering the lion and start demanding better. The hyena’s clan: Matriarchy, manipulation, and the chaos of competition Hyenas operate differently. Power is more distributed – often matriarchal – and their survival hinges on cunning. They scavenge, steal, and challenge one another constantly. In a hyena clan, life is a game of survival, not sustainability. This mirrors a society where institutions are weak, values are fluid, and everyone is in it for themselves. Laws exist, but enforcement depends on who you know. Leadership may be decentralised, but decisions are transactional. Think of countries where corruption is decentralised – where everyone, from the minister to the messenger, is taking their share. There is a lesson here. A fragmented society, no matter how “democratic” on paper, will fail if its foundation is moral relativism and civic erosion. The hyena’s people: Distrustful, disconnected, and desperate When people begin to mirror hyena behaviour – fighting for scraps, distrustful of each other, laughing through pain – it is a sign of deep social dysfunction. In Nigeria, this is evident in our daily interactions: bribing our way through processes, glorifying “sharpness” over integrity, and weaponising survival at the cost of others. If everyone is both predator and prey, how can progress take root? This is not how greatness is built. Societies do not thrive on suspicion. They thrive on shared belief in fairness, order, and hope. The elephant’s Herd: Leadership with wisdom, governance with grace Now, enter the elephant. The matriarch does not rule by fear. She guides. She remembers. She leads migrations across perilous terrains, ensuring the survival of all, especially the young. Leadership here is not about consumption, but custodianship. The elephant represents societies where leaders are not above the people, but accountable to them. Think of leaders like Nelson Mandela, who led not with roars but with reason. Or post-war Germany, which rebuilt on the back of wise, principled leadership. In Nigeria, we have had glimpses of this – Obafemi Awolowo’s developmental planning, Murtala Muhammed’s purposeful governance – but they were short-lived. We need leaders who are not just strong, but deeply wise, deeply accountable, and deeply moral. The herd’s people: Cohesive, cooperative, committed And yet, no elephant matriarch can succeed without the herd. The people must be as socially intelligent as their leaders. In such societies, everyone plays their part. They pay taxes. They demand accountability. They build together and trust one another. Nations like Japan or Sweden did not become developed just because of leaders, but because of a culture of civic excellence. In Nigeria, if we all stop cutting corners, stop justifying corruption, stop seeing national duty as someone else’s job, then we too can build an elephant society. The call to action: Time to choose our animal instinct Nigerians face a dilemma: remain a Pride, cheering a lion that consumes our commonwealth, or rise to become wise, united, and dignified elephants. Democracy is not possible without docile people and rotten civic character. To achieve reform, we must fix values at home, markets, and the ballot box. Let the lion be tamed by accountability and replace the hyena with a new civic code. Nigeria can only evolve if we do. Sodik Olofin, an economist at NESG, writes from Lagos, Nigeria

In the wild, leadership is not just about dominance – it is about how societies are held together, broken apart,

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