The Nation Newspaper

Category: Commentaries

  • Stella’s happy ending

    It was an eye-opening lesson on how to go about rewriting history when Princess Stella Oduah, the former Minister of Aviation who left office in undignified circumstances, lectured a gathering of stakeholders in the country’s aviation industry, including civil servants and pilots, at a valedictory ceremony held at the Protea Hotel, Asokoro in Abuja. It was a moment when reality, or objective truth, got reinterpreted, perhaps to the discomfiture of the audience.

    Oduah, whose dramatic exit followed a long-drawn-out controversy over her involvement in the scandalous purchase of two bulletproof cars for N255 million, kept a straight face as she pronounced herself blameless, which was not altogether surprising, given the known tendency of the blameworthy to insist on innocence. In a move that spoke volumes about her provocative perspective, she reportedly shunned a prepared speech by her media aide, ostensibly to speak from the heart. It proved to be socially useful by revealing the mindset of a former public servant who stands condemned by public opinion.

    “And without being immodest, I think we did the right thing,” she said of her stormy tenure, conveniently forgetting that it was the business of the people to judge her performance, and not for her to play the role. Remarkably, her choice of words on the occasion was unwittingly revealing. Three instances will suffice. First, she said, “I really don’t have anything to say but to say that what we did, we did it collectively.” This can be interpreted to mean that she actually has no defence in the matter of alleged abuse of office concerning the over-priced cars. Second, she told the audience, “It was Einstein that said I am strong as I am because you allowed me to stand on your shoulders, and all of you here allowed me to stand on your shoulders and so I want to say thank you.” Considering the unresolved accusation that preceded her removal from office, it was more like she stood on their heads. Third, she added, “Therefore, the next coming person, I believe with your support will do the needful. Most people don’t understand what the needful means…” To go by her dubious accomplishment in office, it shouldn’t be any wonder that her own definition and comprehension of the word “needful” may not be quite popular, as she brilliantly pointed out.

    It is noteworthy that before President Goodluck Jonathan eventually showed her the door, doing so with irritating hesitancy and undeserved courtesy, Oduah had a reputation as one of the very few sacred cows, largely female, who enjoyed unshakable presidential protection. Others who stand out in this charmed circle are Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, and Diezani Alison-Madueke, Minister of Petroleum.

    All it took to reinforce this image of invincibility was for Jonathan to cunningly ensure a soft landing for Oduah under the guise of a cabinet reshuffle in February; and for the avoidance of doubt, he denied any linkage with the armoured automobiles affair, which the Presidency has since left behind after an unproductive cosmetic probe, despite an indicting investigation by the legislature.

    Consequently, Oduah can look back at the scandal as just a bad day at work, and lift her head high as she did at the farewell event. All is well that ends well, isn’t it?

     

     

     

     

     

  • Let this not happen again!

    SIR: Regrettably job seekers in Nigeria died over the weekend trying to secure appointment with the Nigerian Immigration Service.

    This did not have to happen!

    Where there are high levels of unemployment it is to be expected that the demand for available vacancies will far outweigh supply of jobs, hence the large turnout for the exercise.

    As long as we are unable to cater for the teeming graduates seeking work, not to talk of those who are underemployed, we would continue to have a high turnout as witnessed.

    However this did not have to happen.

    Technological advancement has brought about solutions to deal with large number of candidates seeking few jobs.

    It was reported that over 500,000 candidates applied for the exercise.

    The first step is to short list those candidate who meet the recruitment criteria which would have been pre determined by the recruiting organisation.

    Apparently all the candidate were invited to attend a form of screen at various centres across Nigeria.

    A short listing exercise would have been screened out those who fail to meet the criteria. Only those who meet the requirement advance to the next stage of the selection process.

    There are competent organisations in Nigeria who could have offered this solution.

    Each candidate can sit the initial verification exercise at the comfort of their home using their computer or at designated test centres.

    Where a recruiting organisation has concerns about the authenticity of the candidate responding to the initial verification, there are also solutions available to validate the initial screening, which may

    further reduce the number of applicants.

    At the end of the two stage process described above, the recruiting organisation would have a manageable number and failing that, further assessment could be carried out using Assessment Centres before commencing to the interview stages.

    Several private sector organisations and multinationals have successfully adopted this approach. A typical recruitment exercise by Shell Nigeria receives no less than half a million responses and they

    manage the recruitment process effectively using online recruitment solutions.

    It is time we take advantage of technology to manage our recruitment and avoid what I call avoidable accidents. It is not rocket science to predict the NIS exercise was an accident waiting to happen. Other government agencies need to take note to avoid a repeat of this incident.

    It need not happen and we pray it does not happen again.

    May the souls of the departed rest in peace.

    • Shola Ajani

    London

  • The dilemma of a nation

    SIR: Nigeria is undoubtedly a country with great promise. On account of her favourable weather conditions and rich supply of natural resources, Nigeria was once described by a good friend of mine as a country situated in the heart of God. However, in the same piece, she was quick to lament the woes of Africa’s second largest economy calling her, among other things, “My sweet country where NOTHING works”. And that’s where the dilemma is. As much as we cannot deny Nigeria’s potential to become one of the most desirable nations to live in, we also cannot shy away from our pervasive challenges.

    One problem that has especially bothered me over time is our value system which seems to have little respect for human dignity and the sanctity of human life. Needless loss of lives does not seem to bother us anymore. When we’re not talking about the destruction being wreaked by Boko Haram, we’re discussing the havoc being inflicted by Fulani herdsmen. That is not to mention police brutality, illegal detention, dehumanising condition of our prisons and various acts of subjugation.

    In November 2013, at least 25 people lost their lives while apparently trying to invoke the beggarly generosity of a politician. Now, some folks are capitalising on the challenge of unemployment to waste our youths. And the youths themselves are too blind to see. While the Nigerian Immigrations Service has been in the spotlight as a result of the tragedy that attended its ill-advised recruitment test over the weekend, a cursory inspection will reveal that many other government agencies and privately-owned firms are equally culpable.

    When are we going to develop value for human life in this nation? When are we going to stop treating people with indignity? When are the “masses” going to stop running after every foolish scheme like hungry dogs scrambling for dry bones? When are we going to ditch the lie that we are “the masses” and wake up to the reality of our true identity as plenipotentiaries of the Most High God?

    We have wallowed in the mud of greed, selfishness and corruption for too long; and this has robbed us of our collective power as a people. As a nation, we have allowed a few bad eggs to spoil our omelette. Now is the time to stop playing the fool and start living out our true identity as the great nation that we are. Change is imminent. A revolution is underway. We cannot avoid it.

    • Philip Amiola,

    amioladeep@gmail.com

     

  • Recruitment tragedy and Nigeria’s unending mediocrity

    SIR: We woke up in Lagos, Saturday March 15 just like any other day, believing we will have a peaceful day. As early morning joggers moved towards the National Stadium Surulere, they were stunned into disbelief by the sea of heads of Nigerian youths, all in white trooping to the National Stadium. It was an unbelievable sight to behold. They were later to discover that they are job seekers looking for 3,000 jobs from Nigerian Immigration Service, (NIS).

    In the 33 states of Nigeria, including Abuja and excluding Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States, the applicants gathered in their millions. The applicants mostly youths, had certificates ranging from Master’s Degree, Bachelor’s Degree, HND, OND, NCE and Senior School Certificate. Each applicant paid N1000 processing fee.

    The greed, inefficiency and weaknesses of NIS and their masters have brought the death of more than 20 Nigerian youths including three pregnant women and more than 100 people injured. Nigeria has gradually entered into the Guinness Book of Records for this show of shame. NIS has through the power of greed and avaricious tendencies exposed Nigeria’s unending mediocrity to the world.

    Did you see the sea of heads at our Stadia throughout the 33 states and Abuja? Did you see the sufferings Nigerian leaders exposed their youths too? Did you see our youths writing without desk under the scorching heat of the sun?

    Did you see the scramble to enter the venues? How many ambulances did you see out there? Were there plans for emergencies? Were the youths even given a bottle of water from the more than N6 billion naira they extorted from them? Were there provision for nursing mothers and pregnant women? Were there multiple points of ingress and egress at those venues? Was traffic situation considered?

    Does this so-called recruitment exercise have anything to do with 2015 elections? Is it similar to FERMA’s recruitment of thugs and hoodlums in Lagos in the name of employment road managers? Why are PDP and President Jonathan doing all these now?

    More questions: Why should NIS collect N1000 each from more than six million Nigerians when you know you have only 3,000 vacant positions? Where has the money gone to? Who authorized the collection? Where is the balance after the expenditure?

    Now if this is not Nigeria, heads would have started rolling at the NIS. Arrests of the men behind this huge scam would have been completed by now. There would have been apologies from the highest seat of power. There would be apologies and regrets from the organizers and executors of this failed exercise. But this is a Nigeria where impunity is a way of life. This is Nigeria where sycophancy is a way of life

    The horrible pictures of more than six million Nigerian youths seeking for 3,000 jobs have been put in the world scene. The inability of Nigerian leaders to show leadership in hours of need has been exposed to the world. The criminal level of the unemployment situation in Nigeria has been let out of the bag in a country where few leaders pocket $20 billion without caring a hoot. This tragedy has clearly exposed our system’s failure. It has clearly shown the level of the reasoning and thinking of our leaders.

    This is a national shame!

    • Joe Igbokwe

    Lagos

     

  • Freedom has no Father Christmas

    Freedom has no Father Christmas

    SIR: When those who have access to the public till, continue to squander the treasury without let, at the expense of the joint-owners, nobody needs tell the co-owners that the wealth that is being dissipated, should be questioned, as a “right”. But would such question arise, if the so-called disadvantaged or marginalised citizens sit-on-the-fence, and expect the miracle-of- freedom from the godfathers of dictatorship? Would the godfathers of tyranny ever agree to give freedom as a present to their subjects, whom they demand perpetual serfdom, servitude, and idiotic loyalty from?

    Knowing that the only way to continue to lord it over their subjects, is to continue to put them in the cage of submissiveness, dishing out occasional appeasement, through renting them as thugs, arsonists, terrorists, insurgents, assassins, bouncers, clowns, and hirelings, body-guards, with gifts not worth the sumptuous meals prepared for their dogs or pets, on a daily basis! Happily, we accept this vomit from our self-righteous masters, who if we summon-up the courage to confront, are not better than us, nor do they entertain nobler or worthier thoughts, or are they more gifted than us.

    They do not possess the unflinching believe in sacrifice, hard work, morality, values, that embody sane, refined humanity, which we represent. Yet, we entreat them to become our Father Christmas of freedom!

    Now, who has ever heard about any part of the universe, where freedom is presented on a platter of gold, with an e-mail, bearing liberation as an address?

    If freedom has a Father Christmas, then, it must be Nigerian rulers, who are known for their talent in fooling their subjects ( I mean the people), with all sorts of con-artistry, gimmicks, coupled with spoiling them with crumbs from their tables, and dulling their minds with fear and intimidation.

    And this type of freedom that forecloses positive thinking, and produces little minds that lynch great minds, and small men that kill giants, play devastating roles against the receivers of occasional presents, from the small men and little minds that govern them. But if the great minds and giants would someday recognise the fact that they have destroyed themselves, future, and posterity, by genuflecting on the altar of intellectual and moral midgets, at the helm of affairs in their country, and conclusively, seek among themselves for the liberators in their generation, and obstinately and massively queue behind them, freedom will be fought for, and won from small men and little minds, who have been their oppressors for ages.

    The example of South Africa is a living testament, of how the people identified, recognised their liberators, encapsulated in Nelson Mandela, and determinedly and massively queued behind them; today, they are respected globally, as mankind continues to eulogise the Madiba. There were Nnamdi Azikiwe, Obafemi Awolowo, Chukwuemeka Ojukwu, Aminu Kano, here yesterday, who were true Nigerian liberators, in every stretch of the imagination. But little minds and giant killers did not let them carry out total reformation, transformation, reinvention, reorientation of Nigeria! Yet, the Nigerian people whose plight have continued to nose-dive, fortunes mired in the greed and power-chasing madness of today’s Nigeria’s godfathers, god-sons and god-daughters, have refused to take their destinies in their hands!

     

    •Chinedu Ohaegbulam,

    Port Harcourt.

     

  • When an engine refuses to return

    Every Nigerian adult must be conversant with the Ogbanje (Abiku) mythology in Nigeria’s traditional religion. Ogbanje is the (evil) spirit child whose intention of coming to the world is to bring pains and sorrow to his parents. How does he do this? Simple: No sooner is he born than he dies. But he would not be such a baleful augury if he remained dead; no, Abiku is a wanderer, a tormentor who goes and comes at will as if death is but a stroll in the park. Ogbanje, the brief sojourner would return again and again until he is stopped.

    Hardball obviously has been triggered into mythology by a strange event that happened last Saturday. President Goodluck Jonathan and his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) clan had hit Minna, Niger State, for a rally and after the show it was time for the president to fly back to Abuja; the president and his entourage had boarded and were ready for take off. But behold, the engine Air Force One, our presidential jet, would not crack. The ‘return engine would not pick’, someone offered. After a frustratingly long period of fiddling by technicians the big bird would not budge. The president had to fly the vice president’s jet while the VP was given a ride by the senate president.

    You must have seen the Abiku connection now: the engine of the president’s number one jet refused to return to base after an outing; Air Force One refused to return home, it chose to sleep out on the tarmac of a lonely little airport. Hmm, rather ominous but coming on the back of a horrendous air mishap in far away Malaysia, we say rather the jet refused to crack than it stopped running mid air (Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 with 239 people on board disappeared on Saturday and was yet to be found as at yesterday. Our hearts go out to the families of the victims).

    Even as we rejoice and raise praises to heaven that a divine force must have intervened to avert a presidential air mishap, few questions puzzle the mind of Hardball and Nigerians of course. One: is it feasible that a jet would fly from Abuja to Minna, a next-door city that would have been more conveniently accessed by road? Two: it was speculated that “high temperature affected the engine of the aircraft” as the weather in Niger State was very hot. The speculation went on that only Air Force One and not the other planes on the trip were affected by the excessive heat because the premium jet is ‘more digitalised’, if you understand what that means. Is it plausible that an aircraft at rest would have its engine ‘overheated’? What would happen to the engine if the aircraft was on long haul journey and firing away at 8000 kilometers per hour?

    Three: this is a N9 billion jet that is only about five years old. Our Air Force One suffered what Nigerian roadside mechanics call ‘hard-starting’ regardless that about N48 billion has been devoted to the 11 high-end jets in the presidential fleet in the last four years. In the current budget, N4.91 billion has been set aside for the Presidential Air Fleet (PAF) out of which N1.52 billion is allocated for solely for aircraft maintenance. There is another N747 million set aside for the PAF aircraft fuelling. Having blessed our president with 11 luxury jets and with the multi- billion naira pampering of the PAF, we beg to be spared any ogbanje story.

     

  • Come, let us reason together

    Come, let us reason together

    SIR: I hereby, appeal to all Nigerians to come and reason together. Let us reflect deeply on the various ethnic, religious or political crises that we have passed through as a nation from 1960 till date. The main actors have always been behind the scenes. The major foot soldiers and victims of these senseless crises have always been the poor Nigerian youth.

    I continue to be amazed that our reactions to the several challenges and issues we face as a country are consistently based on primordial sentiments of ethnicity and religious affiliations. Take the recent cases of Bugaje versus the Niger Delta; Sanusi versus Jonathan; Amaechi versus Jonathan and Oduahgate amidst many others. When are we going to stop being used by the political elites for their selfish purposes?

    We have had 14 Presidents/Heads of State – nine from the North, two from the South-East, two from the South-West and one from the South-South. Why are we so deeply and foolishly concerned about the particular ethnic origin of who becomes the President in 2015 instead of being more reflectively concerned about the candidate with the best visionary ideology on how to move the country forward?

    Why is the level of poverty so high in the North today despite the fact that nine of our Presidents/Heads of State are of northern origin? We are all agreed that one of the factors that fueled the Boko Haram crises is abject poverty in the North-east. Lest we forget, BH is also a creation of the political class!

    Why is there sustained poverty and infrastructural deficiencies in the South-south in the more than four years of a President from the region? Has the life of the average poor Niger Deltan fared better than before 2010 when compared to Nigerians from other regions?

    Lest we forget, the longest serving President (11 years) is from the South-west. The Nigerian economy is road-driven. Why were the Ilorin – Lagos (the main West-North route), Sagamu – Benin – Ore (the main West – East – South-South route) roads not completed under his presidency?

    How exactly have we, the Nigerian masses, fared better as Christians or Muslims under a Christian or Muslim President? Why can’t we deliver ourselves from our self-imposed socio-political delusions?

    When the elites meet and complain of their region being marginalized, they do not speak for us the masses being marginalized, but for the political elites who have lost out in the political control of our resources!

    Come to think of it: Which of the regions in Nigeria is not afflicted with poverty and infrastructural deficiencies? Which of the regions is free of poor roads, poorly – equipped schools and institutions, insufficient water supply or irregular power supply? Our problems are the same. Let us all work best to begin solving our problems by voting for the best President come 2015.

    The year 2015 is a defining moment for our nation. Let us reflect creatively on how to deliver Nigeria from the clutches of socio-political retrogression, poverty, infrastructural deficiencies and systemic corruption. Let us all agree to vote for a visionary leadership irrespective of whether the candidate is from the North, West, East or South-South. Let us all shed the toga of primordial attachments to ethnicity or religion, and embrace the collective destiny of a more prosperous Nigeria.

     

    • Akinlolu, Abdulazeez Adelaja,

    University of Ilorin, Kwara State.

     

  • North’s glorious state of ignominy

    SIR: It is like the beautiful sky is falling in the North.  The serene landscape of man’s harmony with nature is burning like a desert fire all in the name of fighting for a cause.  Some say it is political.  Some say it is religious.  The spilling of human blood like the slaughtering of rams to appease an unknown god reduces humanity to a glorious state of ignominy.  The nation buries its head in the sand like an ostrich and presumes ignorance of the genesis of the crisis. The responsibility is on all Nigerians to find a solution to remedy the idiosyncratic anomalies oppressing the country.

    Nigeria must grow in unison.  It is fundamentally unacceptable in this modern time for any part of the country to lag behind in any critical form.  Historically the North has been viewed as the region with the less inclination for modern schooling.  It is understandable that there might have been structures in place that necessitated this condition.  Today, it is in the best interest of Nigeria that the North is educated in equal pace with other regions.

    The reckless destruction of lives in the North cannot possibly be disassociated from the brutal consequences of group thinking – them against us – that may not allow for intellectual articulation of the facts.  No matter how one looks at the insurgency, it is the North that is being physically, morally and economically decimated.  One fears reason has been trounced.  If there is going to be an end to this fiasco, who gains?

    Viewing from a broader angle, the nation cannot afford to go backward while the rest of the world is moving forward especially when some regions are advancing in this state of modernism.  It is one’s understanding that a universally educated mind can be able to process the facts around its existence and push forward the best ideology for the betterment of humanity.  One is not canvassing for the abandonment of parochial philosophies but rather an alignment with the moving universe.

    The supervising minister for education, Nyesom Wike recently announced the re-location of students from five federal government colleges in the North-east to safer ones in the area.  Evidently, even the government expects escalation of the insurgent murderous attacks.  One would think that the government should fortify the schools against these aggressions.  But since life has no duplicate, perhaps the government should spread the umbrella of protection to cover free education for any student in the crisis prone areas who is willing to continue schooling in the safer states around the country.

     

    • Pius Okaneme

    Umuoji, Anambra State.

  • Tambuwal: The speech Jonathan failed to make

    It was purely by chance that I found myself in the chamber of Nigeria’s House of Representatives on Tuesday March 11. A wise man once said that it is often by chance that we are present when real history is being made. Now I know what he meant. That morning, I had gone to the National Assembly (NASS) to sit in on the appearance of the Minister of Petroleum Resources and her team before the House Budget Committee. I had looked forward to another series of tales by moonlight by the comedic cast of Diezani Alison-Madueke and company. It was while already at the NASS premises that I learned that the House was resuming from break that day and had indeed declared the day a Day of Mourning in honour of the school children massacred by Boko Harm at Federal Government College Bunu Yadi in late February.

    I recall that the first thought that occurred to me when I heard this was to wonder whether the Senate would think of making even such a symbolic gesture. I wondered, not for the first time, how it is that the House always tends to identify with the issues of the ordinary Nigerian far more readily than the Senate. I remember wondering if perhaps this had something to do with the respective leadership of the two chambers. House Speaker Aminu Tambuwal has consistently shown himself to be a man with his finger on the pulse of the people. Little did I know that in thinking these thoughts, I was being prescient. For before that morning was over, I was going to receive a crash course on the quality and substance of Tambuwal as a man and a leader.

    That morning, unbeknownst to me as I took my seat high up in the gallery of the House chamber, Speaker Tambuwal was about to give the speech of his life, as it was characterized by a clearly emotion-overwhelmed man sitting next to me in the gallery. Addressing his colleagues on the mindless massacre of innocent students and on the general insecurity across the nation, the Speaker gave a speech that would move a heart of stone. I was not surprised to notice that a good number of the Honourable members, especially the female members, were sobbing quietly. It was not just one factor that made Tambuwal’s speech a huge success. It was a combination of factors: the timing, the content the tone, all pitch perfect.

    But for me, from the beginning of the speech to the end, it was Tambuwal’s demeanour that caught and held my attention. He gave the speech like a man in pain. He came across as not merely narrating other people’s pain but also addressing his own anguish. He did not stand before Nigerians as a neutral, mercenary spiritual warrior stepping forward to combat and exorcise demons that are tormenting other people. Rather he came across as a man for whom the fight is personal; a man wrestling with demons tormenting him just as mercilessly as they are tormenting his people. He did not sit there mouthing mere platitudes. Rather he channeled the raw emotions of a whole nation. And, even more importantly, he channeled the raw emotions in his own soul.

    In his speech, the Speaker descended with Nigerians into the depths of their grief, and then lifted them up again onto a higher ground from where he invited them to look into the horizon and see in their not-too-distant distant future the glimmers of a normal life of peace. He took Nigerians into the besieged hostels of the school at Bunu Yadi and forced us to witness with our own eyes the horror that transpired that night. After showing us the horror, and acknowledging our justifiable despondency, he reassured us that there is light at the end of the dark tunnel. However, he made it clear that to reach that light, all Nigerians must work together to clear the debris that make further progress along the tunnel possible. He urged us to focus on what is best in us as a nation while inviting us to turn our backs on what is worst in us.

    The speech Tambuwal gave that morning is the sort of speech that Nigerians are hungry to hear every time they confront afresh the recurrent nightmare of terrorism. It is the sort of speech the leaders of a nation should give to their people whenever they find themselves swimming against the fast flowing tides of despair. Specifically, it is the sort of speech citizens of any nation expect and deserve to hear from one leader in particular: the President of their nation. Unfortunately, the Tambuwal speech is a speech Nigerians have never heard from their own President. It is the sort of speech President Goodluck Jonathan has never given to Nigerians despite the torrents of Nigerian blood that have seeped into the soil during the Jonathan presidency.

    More disturbingly, one suspects that the Tambuwal Speech is not only a speech that Jonathan has never given, but is indeed a speech that Jonathan can never give, for the simple reason that he does not have it in him. President Jonathan has shown himself to be incapable of embodying the grief of Nigerians. He often appears incapable of conveying solemnity even in the most solemn occasions. He seems to lack the acumen to tap into and channel the raw emotions of his people towards the building of a more cohesive nation.

    Sadly, President Jonathan has never really come across as truly cognizant of the trauma Nigerians have suffered as a result of Boko Haram terrorism and other violent manifestations of deep national malaise. How could he when the people around him are more concerned with telling Nigerians who and who said they would make Nigeria ungovernable for President Jonathan? The result is that whenever the President gives another one of his infamously banal speeches, many Nigerians yawn and turn away, convinced once again that that the man simply does not get it.

    On Tuesday, March 11, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal gave a heartfelt speech that convinced Nigerians that he gets it.

    As I descended from the gallery of the House of Reps afterwards, my one regret was that Speaker Tambuwal’s blockbuster speech had been restricted to the chamber of the House he leads. I was convinced the speech deserved a wider audience. It deserved to be presented to Nigerians in a national broadcast. A speech like that is one that Nigerians deserve to hear directly from the mouth of their leaders. Such a speech would go some way to restore the faith of Nigerians in the ability of their leaders to feel their pain. And if their President is unable to give such a speech, it becomes the duty of any other capable national leader to step up and give the speech. House Speaker Aminu Tambuwal stepped up that morning, and gave one heck of a speech.

     

    •Nwoko wrote from Asokoro, Abuja

  • Crisis of institution in Nigeria’s leadership equation

    Anthony ‘Lee’ Iacocca, the American businessman, titled his 2007 bestseller Where Have All the Leaders Gone? In the book, Iacocca was concerned about the role of leadership in the governance equation of any organisation. In his case, he worried about the lack of direction that characterised the political situation of America. The same worry resonates everywhere that governance fails to meet expectations. This anxiety about leadership is not diminished especially when we consider the relationship that ought to be in place between politics and administration that determines the trajectory of good governance especially within a democracy. The significance of Iacocca’s question is essentially the stress it places on the role of leadership in the evolution of institutions and overall institution building. Where this force is absent, such a state is not going anywhere.

    Before my argument is subsumed in nuances, let me state it upfront. I subscribe to the perspective that the future of any nation and the rate of its real development are signalled by the kind of institutions it puts in place. A nation is therefore as good as its institutions or what it makes of them. Leadership effectiveness is thus a function of how effectively the institutions carry the weight of governance and service delivery. The first test for a transformational leader then becomes the priority it places on institutional reform and the building of basic soft infrastructure which s/he will take advantage of to deliver, ultimately, the development outcomes that will in turn translate into good life and prosperity for the teeming masses.

    Leadership is a critical issue that straddles much of the ongoing research in the human sciences, especially political science, sociology, policy development and public administration. Achebe’s The Trouble with Nigeria is a short but decisive articulation of the leadership predicament in Nigeria. We all have something or the other to say about the role of leadership in nation building. Yet, leadership cannot be the omnipotent variable that explains everything; it needs some explaining itself. Within the discourse, the fundamental debate basically surrounds the causal link between leadership and institutions that a leader presides over. Does leadership explain institutions or it is the institutions that influence how a particular leadership behaves?

    Both sides of the divide have their unique contention. For the institutionalists, who a leader is, is a function of the kind of institutions that a state has created for itself. Leaders are therefore strengthened or weakened by existing institutions and structure to become or achieve what they are able to. Thus, a Barack Obama has certain sets of legal and constitutional limitations on his powers. And it was Obama himself who once states that Africa needs strong and behaviour-shaping institutions rather than a strong man. On the other hand, those who advocate the significance of leadership over structures argue essentially that it is actually the presence of a strong man that facilitates the creative combination of centripetal forces and cements their operational dynamics. Without such a strong man or leader, structures and rules would not become institutionalised.

    Even though I have simplified this discourse on leadership and institutions, its essence is still clear: We must choose between the agency of the strong man and the strong institutions. I think this is a false opposition. Human behaviour is so vast and complex to be reduced to an either/or distinction. On the contrary, complex issues like the administration of the human society cannot usually be resolved through one-sided analysis—one singular cause cannot explain political or administrative behaviour of the Nigerian state. A better explanation is found in how leadership and institutions interact: Nigeria’s administrative development requires a critical interaction between the strong man and the strong institution. In other words, leadership is often tasked with the fundamental task of engineering and strengthening institutional capacities which in turn determine leadership quality. Both become essential leverage for delivering developmental outcomes that transform the lives of the citizens. A structure can only be as good as the vision that guides its functions.

    Nowhere is this more urgent than in the collaboration required to propel the political and administrative leadership to a heightened awareness of pushing our institutions beyond the boundaries of low performances and poor outcomes. ‘If there is a spark of genius in the leadership function at all,’ according to Warren Bennis, then ‘it must lie in this transcending ability…to assemble…a clearly articulated vision of the future that is at once simple, easily understood, clearly desirable, and energizing.’ This vision is represented by the entire institutional dynamics that the leadership supervises and motivates. In Nigeria, this translates into the urgent need to create service delivery machinery, represented by the civil service, which serves as the arrowhead for executing the governance strategies of the government. It is in this sense that the civil service, for Schumpeter, becomes a critical complement to democracy.

    It therefore stands to reason that the synergy between these two levels of leadership—the political and the administrative—should facilitate the foundation of effective institutions which would, in turn, define the values and behavioural relationship of the leaders themselves. In this way, we can conveniently transcend the false opposition between leadership and institutions in the administrative framework. What seems certain within the Nigerian context is that the leadership problem is aggravated within an institutional anomie where decisions fail to impact the governance process and agenda. The decision making quotient of the leadership often serve as the strategic fulcrum that motivates the evolution of sustainable institutions. Thus, leadership is inextricably tied with the institutions and structures that influence it.

    The failure to propel these institutions to greater performances results, according to Jared Diamond, from four levels of administrative failures that explain why we allow our institutions to deteriorate to a point of incapacity before we recognise the need to reform them. One, the administrators failure to anticipate a problem before it surfaced; two, failure to see the problem for what it is when it surfaced; three, ignoring the problem even when properly perceived; and finally, failure of attempts to resolve the problem. In other words, the leadership factor in institutional renewal fails to utilise the problem-solving capacity of these institutions for development purposes. It is the task of the leadership to bridge the institutional gap that links decision to social policy and implementation in governance. The first incontrovertible step in this direction is the urgent need to capacitate the institutional matrix to do the right thing and to do things right. Capacitance, to use an electrical term, requires the ability to generate enough electrical charge within the civil service institution that will jolt it into development-readiness.

    The work of development has been laid out for the civil service to do. And here, the truth is that development outcome is dependent on execution relative to national visioning and strategy by a ratio of 85/15 percent. The bigger task, however, is how to execute in an efficient and effective manner that will translate development policies into development outcomes. For Jeffrey Pfeiffer, ‘A company’s…ability to generate those exceptional returns in a knowledge-based economy is dependent, in large measure, upon its ability to attract, retain, and develop the right work force—and whether it succeeds in unleashing their mental capabilities.’ If we are looking for the right leadership direction, this is the path to look at—the path of administrative capacitance. This is where to locate the leaders Iacocca was looking for.

     

    • Olaopa is Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Communication Technology, Abuja