According to the English dictionary, proactive means “controlling a situation by causing something to happen rather than waiting to respond to it after it happens”. It can, therefore, be said that a proactive person/ leader is that person/leader who causes something to happen rather than waiting to respond to it after it happens. On the other hand, a reactive person/leader is that person/leader that waits for things to unfold before responding.
For an institution or organization to succeed, the leaders and even the workers must be proactive. If you have leaders who have proactive attitude, it is expected that they will be able to face problems and prevent them from happening or, at least, know how to solve them more effectively.
Incidentally, this attribute is in great lack among many leaders in Nigeria. Many of them, especially the political leaders, are more reactive than proactive. Many of our leaders even when they have opportunities of preventing ugly occurrences, do no such. Rather they wait until the problem occurs before they start running around looking for solutions.
A typical example is the recent building collapse in Ita-Faji, Lagos State, which killed over 20 persons, including school pupils. Upon his visit to the site, Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, blamed the landlord for “resisting” government demolition plans, disclosing that the collapsed building was a residential house with a school operating illegally.
Similarly, the General Manager, Lagos State Building Control Agency, (LASBCA), Mr Lekan Shodeinde, told newsmen that over 180 buildings had been marked as defective and due for demolition within Lagos Island.
He said the owners of the defective buildings had been served several notices since 2013.
So for six good years, owners of defective properties were asked to make way for their demolition but because they were so strong to “resist government’s plan”, the buildings were allowed to stand until one collapsed and entombed many people? What then is the work of LASBCA and other property development bodies? Must we always wait for a building to collapse before carrying out integrity test and other evaluations on buildings? Again, knowing that the school on the second floor of the collapsed building operated illegally, what did the Lagos State Government do to address it?
The truth is that property regulatory bodies across the country are not diligent with their duties and that’s why we have incidences of building collapse in different parts of the country every now and then. From Lagos to Port Harcourt, Ibadan to Abuja, the story is the same. Some of these buildings, like that of  Ita-Faji, were originally bungalows but someone in an office somewhere, receives bribe from their owners and  approves their conversion to multiply storey buildings without any check on the soil type, the strength of the building and other considerations before such conversion is granted.
Many precious lives have been lost in the country due to the collapse of buildings erected with sub-standard materials, yet there are agencies saddled with the responsibility of ensuring that property developers adhere to approved standards.
The worrisome thing is that whenever a disaster occurs, due to negligence of their duties, they start trading blames. The state chief executive will start talking tough, looking for some scapegoats.
Meanwhile, when they had the opportunity to prevent it, they did nothing.
A popular author, Ken Poirot, once wrote, “Be proactive not reactive, for an apparently insignificant issue ignored today can spawn tomorrow’s catastrophe”. Another author and business man, Steve Shallenberger admonished, “Remember, action today can prevent a crisis tomorrow”.
Undoubtedly, many problems we have had in this country in the past and even at present were largely due to the inability and unwillingness of those in authority to do the right thing at the right time. Let’s take the issue of flooding for example. Each year, the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMET), provides weather forecasts, most times predicting flooding but no action will be taken by those in power to either avert the disaster or relocate people in the flood prone areas until the disaster comes claiming lives and properties and we all start crying wolf.
The same goes with the issue of farmers/herdsmen clashes that have claimed many lives in different parts of the country. Many analysts have blamed the lingering problem on the inability of the federal government to nip it in the bud, call a spade a spade and call the parties involved to order.
In fact, the country has suffered a lot as a result of those at the helm of affairs and, sometimes, the citizen’s inability to exhibit proactive attitude towards issues. Our leaders always overwhelm us with promises without fulfillments. They forget the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson that, “An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory”
So, now that the elections are over, except in a few states, with many of the old leaders reelected and some new ones coming on board, one would hope that our politicians would keep their campaign rhetoric behind them and focus on giving us proactive leadership which will help in the prevention of crisis and effective handling of the numerous challenges facing the nation.

Calista Ezeaku