The many examples of what we know but don’t apply (1)
Business
Culled from Vanguard Newspaper Mar 28, 2010
In last week’s article, we reviewed some of the pitfalls of not applying the knowledge we already have in enterprise or business. Today, we’ll look at a number of situations that exist in Nigeria today that can only be a direct consequence of deliberate refusal to apply what we already know.
Human Resource Management- The basic function of human resource leadership is to recruit and train the best candidates or employees for any job position.
It is common knowledge that organizations stand to benefit the most when the most qualified and competent people are employed and retained. Although this is a well known fact, in many organizations, people charged with the responsibility to recruit, train and develop the human resource capital end up failing, albeit intentionally, to do the correct thing. More often, you find selections and promotions based on tribalism, nepotism or some other terrible basis. The negative impact of this practice does not show up immediately.
It may take months and sometimes years, depending on the size of the organization for the real damage to become visible. And when it does, it rarely gets recognized as the culprit because other factors often get blamed for the failure.
The non-detection is further exacerbated if the perpetrators of the lopsided recruitment practices are in the top executive level of the organization. Some of these practices can be so sophisticated that it operates at multiple levels with clear lines of responsibility among the ‘gang members’. Although the position may have been advertised in the national media, people who screen the resumes ensure that 90% of the invitees are from a particular tribe. The next step will be to send invitations late to candidates from other tribes, further ensuring that the favoured group enjoy more monopoly. In the interview panel, the kingpins of the tribal warfare prepare for the final battle. Candidates from the other tribes or interest area who miraculously make it to this stage must be 5 times better than the others to stand a 50-50 chance of being employed.
Many non-intended candidates who pass oral interviews are sent offer letters using dubious courier companies. At other times, the offer letters are mailed very late to ensure they are not received on time.
This allows the terrible gang to recruit the preferred candidates on the lower ranking. Similar designs are implemented during promotional assessments. Ultimately you breed an atmosphere of discontent and play acting. It is not uncommon to find that employees from a particular tribe are in the majority when the directors or owners are from that tribe.
Inevitably, incompetent people are made to supervise more competent co-workers. The result; gross inefficiency, worker dissatisfaction, lowered productivity and policy application inconsistency that eventually impacts on the bottom line. The practice also leads many to believe that hard work counts for nothing while connection counts for everything. I have met people from many tribes in Nigeria who are exceptionally intelligent, gifted and skilled. It is really a huge shame that this nonsense continues in our society.
Banking Services- Banks primarily exist to serve customers by providing customer friendly products and services. In almost every bank advert, there’s a phrase or sentence that suggests that the bank exists for the customers.
Or that the bank is a trusted partner in business. Or the bank is committed to exceed the customers’ expectations. In human behavioural science, we all know that people trust and value our friendship if we show our hand of fellowship first. It is for this reason that the saying, “a friend in need is a friend indeed” is derived. We all appreciate people who truly care and are willing to go the extra mile for us. People who are able to demonstrate their love for us measurably become our friends. Better still, we are more inclined to reciprocate the affection or interest of those who not only say they care but really show it, even at their inconvenience. Selfishness, therefore, is a trait that most of us hate in others. It doesn’t matter how good your promises sound to others, they make no sense or have very little value if they are not translated into positive, measurable action.
Our bank executives know this fact too well. Unfortunately, rather than adopt the complete spectrum of two-way expectations in healthy relationships and customer service, they choose one aspect and attempt to make up for the other half by deception. It never lasts.
Our banks start out by promising so much to potential customers.
They use all sorts of sophisticated models to hoodwink customers. Their only motive is simple; customer deposits! Smart dresses, polished manners, sophisticated use of English, vain promises are tricks of the trade.
Bank workers will readily confirm how difficult if not impossible it is to convince a manager or top executive to spend time and money to really study and understand customer needs as a way of achieving lasting market penetration. They simply want immediate profits while conveniently forgetting to apply what they know represents the only way to sustainable profitability.
As a result, they appear to have exhausted all short-term, get-rich-quick strategies to generate funds. From share price manipulation, use of female deposit weapons to Promo and lottery campaigns, the end of the self-delusion game is here. Of course, like I warned some weeks back, they have quietly increased bank charges from regular transactions. Even my trusted bank is guilty of this practice. Check your recent bank transaction statements to verify this. But like all short-sighted measures, the ‘benefits’ from this will soon dry up. These days, bankers, who erstwhile were proud professionals, appear so sheepish and are devoid of any of the traditional charisma or panache. Even the marketers have lost hope. There’s nothing new to say.
The game is up. The very good thing about this condition is that some banks will learn the hard way and come up stronger by doing the right things; facts they knew all along. The slow to learn or stubborn ones will surely face the consequences. Our people have a saying “ You don’t have to tell a blind man that the war has started”. Disasters have a history of wakening us up to reality. May God help us all.
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3/28/10
3/22/10
MUSINGS ON NIGERIA'S CALL FOR CHANGE
Musings on Nigeria’s Call for Change
By Jothany Blackwood - Dean Fresno City College California, United States
A great man once asked me what is it to be a part of something greater than yourself? To discover that meaning is not found in only what you do for self, but for your community. And I believe the answer can be found in how the voices of emerging leaders offers an innovative framework for how people should consider the possibilities for growth, sustainability and investment in their land.
Embedded in this idea is the underlying value that when we invest in Africa, that we are intellectually and financially investing in a stronger global community linked by business, exploration, and opportunities. The lifting of voices to change the country is in many ways a response to the legacy of achievement and greatness that has framed its country’s birth and is now being evidenced in its wrestling with defining itself.
I certainly connect to the power of legacy that drives one to contribute in meaningful ways to your heritage and to add your voice to historical efforts that speak of the power and strength of your people. As a 3rd generation college Dean and 4th generation educator, I have been motivated by people who were committed to positive change and the revisioning of how the world viewed us, who were devoted to the improvement of a global community, and who understood that our work was not done while segments of our populations suffered or were denied access and opportunity.
My family has shared unique historical relationships with the intellectual icons of several generations and that framework is only important for understanding my passion as a humanitarian, an intellectual, and a person of color committed to progress.
My great-grandfather John Whittaker was the1st Chaplain at Tuskegee College, where he was friends with and worked with Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver. My grandfather, also John Whittaker was the Dean at Clark Atlanta University and great friends with W.E.B. Dubois who often sought his counsel about issues of the day.
Herein also began my spirit for entrepreneurship as he is credited with starting one of the first banks for African Americans in Atlanta, GA and at the time of his death owned the 2nd largest Black owned Mortgage Company in America. My mother, Dr. Edna Lockert was considered one of the1st African American women to become a licensed clinical psychologist and served as Dean of Counseling at Meharry Medical College, while also maintaining her own practice. She also maintained a friendship with Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. that began as children in Atlanta and continued into their adult years.
And as my family would recite the history of a legacy of service, of building enterprise, of understanding that your greatness was defined by how you impacted the world around you, I have waited to see who would be the great person I worked alongside that my children would recite when telling our familial story.
And because I have been trained to recognize greatness, it is inspiring to personally know extraordinary and emerging leaders whose sincere desire is to work towards the rebranding of Nigeria and to create opportunities where people locally and abroad could prosper.
Each of you can serve as an ambassador in casting the vision for this change and allowing natives and foreigners to revision a different Nigeria. As the sons and daughters of Nigerian soil, one must catapult one’s voice above the uneven perceptions of chaos and corruption to introduce the realities of a nation committed to integrity, accountability, and change.
Through these efforts there has been a parting of the curtain of mystery that has often shrouded Nigeria to others and an invitation to utilize our creativity and efforts in making Nigerians stronger and ourselves as well.
Being a part of something larger than yourself is understanding that we are integrally linked through history, tragedy, and the relentless hope that as Nigeria continues to reposition itself and rebrand its international image; it somehow reflects the best in ourselves, the possibility of whom we can be, and the promise of what will certainly come to pass. A stronger nation, a better understood people, and the realization that we all became better from sharing in its journey.
In a world that values data driven decision making, then we must demonstrate evidence of our excellence. We must work as intellectual terrorists to destroy schema that teaches that somehow race and color are equated with inadequacy and inefficiency and create models that demonstrate the intellect and genius of our people.
The greatest commodity a country has is its people and it will be the ordinary people who respond in extraordinary ways that will provide evidence of that excellence to the world. As an inspirational speaker, themes of community, the value of diversity, and our potential to move in our purpose and impact the world around us is often embedded in what I share and believe in.
So how exciting it is to see the evidence of that spirit in practice. As Nigeria realizes its immense potential, it reflects back to the rest of the world our own possibilities and ultimately serves as an impetus for our own needed changes. It reminds us that sometimes what we’ve been looking for is in our own back yard and that is a revelation that, quite simply, leaves none of us unchanged. God Bless you Nigeria.
By Jothany Blackwood - Dean Fresno City College California, United States
A great man once asked me what is it to be a part of something greater than yourself? To discover that meaning is not found in only what you do for self, but for your community. And I believe the answer can be found in how the voices of emerging leaders offers an innovative framework for how people should consider the possibilities for growth, sustainability and investment in their land.
Embedded in this idea is the underlying value that when we invest in Africa, that we are intellectually and financially investing in a stronger global community linked by business, exploration, and opportunities. The lifting of voices to change the country is in many ways a response to the legacy of achievement and greatness that has framed its country’s birth and is now being evidenced in its wrestling with defining itself.
I certainly connect to the power of legacy that drives one to contribute in meaningful ways to your heritage and to add your voice to historical efforts that speak of the power and strength of your people. As a 3rd generation college Dean and 4th generation educator, I have been motivated by people who were committed to positive change and the revisioning of how the world viewed us, who were devoted to the improvement of a global community, and who understood that our work was not done while segments of our populations suffered or were denied access and opportunity.
My family has shared unique historical relationships with the intellectual icons of several generations and that framework is only important for understanding my passion as a humanitarian, an intellectual, and a person of color committed to progress.
My great-grandfather John Whittaker was the1st Chaplain at Tuskegee College, where he was friends with and worked with Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver. My grandfather, also John Whittaker was the Dean at Clark Atlanta University and great friends with W.E.B. Dubois who often sought his counsel about issues of the day.
Herein also began my spirit for entrepreneurship as he is credited with starting one of the first banks for African Americans in Atlanta, GA and at the time of his death owned the 2nd largest Black owned Mortgage Company in America. My mother, Dr. Edna Lockert was considered one of the1st African American women to become a licensed clinical psychologist and served as Dean of Counseling at Meharry Medical College, while also maintaining her own practice. She also maintained a friendship with Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. that began as children in Atlanta and continued into their adult years.
And as my family would recite the history of a legacy of service, of building enterprise, of understanding that your greatness was defined by how you impacted the world around you, I have waited to see who would be the great person I worked alongside that my children would recite when telling our familial story.
And because I have been trained to recognize greatness, it is inspiring to personally know extraordinary and emerging leaders whose sincere desire is to work towards the rebranding of Nigeria and to create opportunities where people locally and abroad could prosper.
Each of you can serve as an ambassador in casting the vision for this change and allowing natives and foreigners to revision a different Nigeria. As the sons and daughters of Nigerian soil, one must catapult one’s voice above the uneven perceptions of chaos and corruption to introduce the realities of a nation committed to integrity, accountability, and change.
Through these efforts there has been a parting of the curtain of mystery that has often shrouded Nigeria to others and an invitation to utilize our creativity and efforts in making Nigerians stronger and ourselves as well.
Being a part of something larger than yourself is understanding that we are integrally linked through history, tragedy, and the relentless hope that as Nigeria continues to reposition itself and rebrand its international image; it somehow reflects the best in ourselves, the possibility of whom we can be, and the promise of what will certainly come to pass. A stronger nation, a better understood people, and the realization that we all became better from sharing in its journey.
In a world that values data driven decision making, then we must demonstrate evidence of our excellence. We must work as intellectual terrorists to destroy schema that teaches that somehow race and color are equated with inadequacy and inefficiency and create models that demonstrate the intellect and genius of our people.
The greatest commodity a country has is its people and it will be the ordinary people who respond in extraordinary ways that will provide evidence of that excellence to the world. As an inspirational speaker, themes of community, the value of diversity, and our potential to move in our purpose and impact the world around us is often embedded in what I share and believe in.
So how exciting it is to see the evidence of that spirit in practice. As Nigeria realizes its immense potential, it reflects back to the rest of the world our own possibilities and ultimately serves as an impetus for our own needed changes. It reminds us that sometimes what we’ve been looking for is in our own back yard and that is a revelation that, quite simply, leaves none of us unchanged. God Bless you Nigeria.
3/21/10
NIGERIA: The Cost Of Instability
By Reuben Abati
A qualitative if not quantitative measurement of the cost of the protracted instability in which Nigeria appears currently trapped offers a bird's eye view of the seriousness of our national circumstances. There is already an international consensus that Nigeria is an unstable country. The last time we enjoyed any form of stability within the polity was ironically during the Obasanjo administration. For a long while under the Obasanjo Presidency, there was a lot that the people could be hopeful about. We looked forward to tomorrow, and the government in spite of its many shortcomings kept promising us that it was laying the foundation for a better future. Being such a religious people, and being all so enthusiastic about democracy, we looked forward to that tomorrow. Many Nigerians in diaspora returned home to be part of a process of renewal. Obasanjo could not solve the problem of power supply or roads, but he gave Nigerians the telecommunication revolution which ten years later has transformed our lives in every manner.
Then, there was the EFCC and the ICPC, two anti-corruption agencies which under Obasanjo gave hell to corrupt elements in the corridors of power. The achievements of the two agencies may appear mixed and uneven, but there was a strong awareness in the land about the need for probity and integrity. Openly, people talked about how the fear of the EFCC had become the "beginning of wisdom." With Dora Akunyili in NAFDAC, the determined war which she waged against fake drugs and their peddlers also struck a special resonance among the people. Nigeria also regained its stature in the international community. Obasanjo enjoyed foreign policy adventures and he worked hard to reposition Nigeria internationally. In retrospect, there was stability also because there was a President that people could relate to, a Presidency that appeared to be working, an Obasanjo that took his assignment seriously if not too seriously. Love or hate him, you could not ignore Obasanjo with his rambunctiousness. People admire a strong, healthy President, not a weak, ailing one. Obasanjo lost much of the mileage and the goodwill of his presidency, however, when he gambled with the idea of a Third Term in office. That singular event shook the country and the people's confidence in the future; Obasanjo further worsened his track record when he imposed an ailing President on the country.
But since President Yar'Adua's assumption of office, this country has been stumbling. The instability that has overtaken the land is at great cost to Nigeria and its people. The first dimension is the sovereign cost. The uncertainty in Nigeria has eroded its stature in the international community. In the eyes of the world, we are the country that nobody can be so sure about its future. Political developments and policy directions in the county have assumed a monthly or yearly cycle. Nothing is certain. The world could not see the Nigerian President even when he was said to be in good health, now that he is ill, he has become completely invisible. Not only does government reverse its own policies, it appears unsure of where the country should be heading. There is no greater advertisement of this uncertainty than the country's failure to hold credible elections. The unpredictability of the political sphere makes planning near impossible for every stakeholder in the Nigerian economy. For sure, the economy has been reduced to a play ground for speculators. Apart from the oil and gas sector which will remain attractive for as long as the oil wells are fruitful, the major investment that still comes to Nigeria is portfolio investment that is short-term investments. This is real to the extent that some of the so-called big businesses coming from South Africa, China, and lately the Middle East, have no real structures on the ground. The average investor in the Nigerian economy under the regime of instability is interested only in quick gains. The failure of the administrative system has created so many loopholes which such buccaneer investors can exploit. They bribe their way through the system, they make sure that there is nothing concrete that can hold them down, they violate laid down rules and they make their profits which they promptly expatriate. They may not even pay tax. They are not called to order because nobody is paying enough attention to the rules. When such buccaneers are caught out and they are sanctioned, which is rare occurrence, they simply play the Nigerian game that they have mastered so well; in due course, there will be a favourable court judgement declaring that they have the right to do business in Nigeria on their own terms! Foreign or local investors cannot play such games in countries where there is a certainty of the rule of law.
The second major cost of instability is the infrastructural deficit. Government being so preoccupied with politics has not been able to provide the necessary infrastructure that will turn Nigeria into an enabling environment for business. No regular power supply. No railway. No good roads. This drives up the cost of doing business. The cost is passed on to the consumer and where the company can no longer cope, we have had cases of companies and other institutions relocating away from Nigeria to other countries. So much money is often allocated for infrastructural development, in fact at nearly every meeting of the Executive Council of the Federation in the last two years, contracts have been awarded for the implementation of this or that project, but there has been little evidence of performance. So distracted is the administration that unspent funds are returned to the treasury every year. Political stability is so critical because government is the biggest player in the Nigerian economy. Constant changes at the top, absenteeism and conflicting signals destabilize the polity. It should come as no surprise that many of the Nigerians in diaspora who rushed back to the country with the return to civilian rule in 1999, have gradually returned abroad. Others who still wish to return to the fatherland are carefully studying the situation at home and hoping that Nigeria will begin to solve its many problems of power supply, insecurity and so on. What they are responding to naturally and negatively is the instability at home. The uncertainty at home translates into the uncertainty of their own future should they return.
There is, third, the productivity cost. The country has lost its capacity for competitiveness. Labour is often said to be cheap in Nigeria, with the average worker earning less than $1, 000 per month, but the truth also is that the maintenance of labour in the country is very expensive. Too many Nigerian workers do not really work. They are a burden unto the establishments they claim to be working for. Because of their poor pay and lack of discipline, many Nigerian workers are perpetually distracted. They are trapped in the cycle of survival. Overworked and underpaid, they further exert themselves endlessly in search of other means of survival, and this has been at personal cost. In many establishments, half of the work-force is nursing one ailment or the other, and if we are to go by the high temperature of everyday language, most Nigerians are suffering from clinical depression. Nigerians don't know how to discuss, they shout! They don't know how to disagree, they rave! The country's disease profile is on the rise, what with the country having one of the highest rates in the world with regard to maternal mortality and infant mortality.
The work culture is in jeopardy in part because the gross instability in the land has made it difficult for the appropriate authorities to address issues of national competitiveness. What is happening in the education sector is especially tragic. Educational institutions produce the strategic manpower for the country, but the level of productivity in this sector has been terrible. It is an unstable sector, bogged down by incessant labour strikes, sabotaged by inadequate funding and over-politicized through official interference. Many of our graduates today can neither write properly nor articulate any position in their chosen professions. Where is the same Nigerian education system that produced the likes of Odia Ofeimun and Peter Enahoro? It no longer exists and that is why when a company like Access Bank puts out an advert for new recruits from Nigerian universities, it doesn't hide the fact that it intends to look for the very best that can be found out of the "best" that presents its credentials. Even that so-called "best" will still have to be trained and retrained. Don't be surprised, many Nigerian academics are also caught in the survival trap, and so there is little time or incentive to help the country build a productive and competitive class.
Fourth, there is the standard of living index of instability. The fact of Nigeria's instability can be found in every street corner, in the poverty that stalks the land, and in the tragic collapse of values. The collapse of living standards has also resulted in the erosion of morals: too many parents these days look the other way when their daughters sell their bodies for cash or school grades, too many parents aid and abet examination malpractices, too many religious leaders are no better than common felons. With the failure of social institutions once considered sacred, the family and religious groups in particular, the land is bound to be unstable. This is not a new problem but it is getting worse by the day, more so as there is nothing any more restraining the people. Under President Yar'Adua, against the background of his sickness and invisibility, hope has taken a flight from our land. Does anyone know where Nigeria would be and what it would be like in the next six months? No one can be too sure. All the promises of the Obasanjo years that the policies of that period will begin to yield great dividends by 2007 and beyond have failed, even all the promises made by President Yar'Adua have now become unimportant. Who is still talking about the seven-point agenda?
If anything the pervasive instability and uncertainty within the polity have strengthened the culture of impunity. With government at the centre violating the Constitution, and explaining it away as the doctrine of necessity, it has become fashionable for other Nigerians to resort to expediency as well and claim protection under the doctrine of necessity. The Boko Haram insurgents considered their rebellion against the state necessary, didn't they? The murderers in the killing fields of Jos have all claimed that they were left with no option but to apply the old law of vengeance: an eye for an eye as the determinant of relationship with persons of other ethnic and religious extraction. Hundreds of people are slaughtered and nobody is brought to justice. It is needless painting a picture of the economy of Jos and its missed potentials.
What should be done? We only need to step back in history and ask the question: what were those things that used to give us hope in this country? What was it about this country once upon a time that attracted outsiders to it, including foreign students? What has gone so terribly wrong that it is difficult to find foreign students in any Nigerian university today? In my days as a student, there were many foreign students on campus, both white and black. They came to Nigeria to seek knowledge. But who wants to seek knowledge in a country where the smart ones are the kidnappers, armed robbers and murderers and the political leadership cadre is populated by mischief-makers? The other questions are as follows: what kind of country do we want? What future do we want for Nigeria? Where do we want this country to be in the next 50 years? It is 50 years since Nigeria got flag independence, yet it remains a country in search of direction. These are questions for all Nigerians but also particularly for Acting President Goodluck Jonathan, on whose shoulders now rests a heavy burden. It is possible for him to go through the motions of being a President; merely going through the motions is the easiest way to do nothing substantial: he can appoint persons into positions, allocate oil blocs, receive visitors, appear on television, and generally give offence to nobody. But it is also possible to be the matador and lay the bull of Nigeria's instability to rest, by creating fresh opportunities for hope. We are a nation that is now in desperate need of hope.
A qualitative if not quantitative measurement of the cost of the protracted instability in which Nigeria appears currently trapped offers a bird's eye view of the seriousness of our national circumstances. There is already an international consensus that Nigeria is an unstable country. The last time we enjoyed any form of stability within the polity was ironically during the Obasanjo administration. For a long while under the Obasanjo Presidency, there was a lot that the people could be hopeful about. We looked forward to tomorrow, and the government in spite of its many shortcomings kept promising us that it was laying the foundation for a better future. Being such a religious people, and being all so enthusiastic about democracy, we looked forward to that tomorrow. Many Nigerians in diaspora returned home to be part of a process of renewal. Obasanjo could not solve the problem of power supply or roads, but he gave Nigerians the telecommunication revolution which ten years later has transformed our lives in every manner.
Then, there was the EFCC and the ICPC, two anti-corruption agencies which under Obasanjo gave hell to corrupt elements in the corridors of power. The achievements of the two agencies may appear mixed and uneven, but there was a strong awareness in the land about the need for probity and integrity. Openly, people talked about how the fear of the EFCC had become the "beginning of wisdom." With Dora Akunyili in NAFDAC, the determined war which she waged against fake drugs and their peddlers also struck a special resonance among the people. Nigeria also regained its stature in the international community. Obasanjo enjoyed foreign policy adventures and he worked hard to reposition Nigeria internationally. In retrospect, there was stability also because there was a President that people could relate to, a Presidency that appeared to be working, an Obasanjo that took his assignment seriously if not too seriously. Love or hate him, you could not ignore Obasanjo with his rambunctiousness. People admire a strong, healthy President, not a weak, ailing one. Obasanjo lost much of the mileage and the goodwill of his presidency, however, when he gambled with the idea of a Third Term in office. That singular event shook the country and the people's confidence in the future; Obasanjo further worsened his track record when he imposed an ailing President on the country.
But since President Yar'Adua's assumption of office, this country has been stumbling. The instability that has overtaken the land is at great cost to Nigeria and its people. The first dimension is the sovereign cost. The uncertainty in Nigeria has eroded its stature in the international community. In the eyes of the world, we are the country that nobody can be so sure about its future. Political developments and policy directions in the county have assumed a monthly or yearly cycle. Nothing is certain. The world could not see the Nigerian President even when he was said to be in good health, now that he is ill, he has become completely invisible. Not only does government reverse its own policies, it appears unsure of where the country should be heading. There is no greater advertisement of this uncertainty than the country's failure to hold credible elections. The unpredictability of the political sphere makes planning near impossible for every stakeholder in the Nigerian economy. For sure, the economy has been reduced to a play ground for speculators. Apart from the oil and gas sector which will remain attractive for as long as the oil wells are fruitful, the major investment that still comes to Nigeria is portfolio investment that is short-term investments. This is real to the extent that some of the so-called big businesses coming from South Africa, China, and lately the Middle East, have no real structures on the ground. The average investor in the Nigerian economy under the regime of instability is interested only in quick gains. The failure of the administrative system has created so many loopholes which such buccaneer investors can exploit. They bribe their way through the system, they make sure that there is nothing concrete that can hold them down, they violate laid down rules and they make their profits which they promptly expatriate. They may not even pay tax. They are not called to order because nobody is paying enough attention to the rules. When such buccaneers are caught out and they are sanctioned, which is rare occurrence, they simply play the Nigerian game that they have mastered so well; in due course, there will be a favourable court judgement declaring that they have the right to do business in Nigeria on their own terms! Foreign or local investors cannot play such games in countries where there is a certainty of the rule of law.
The second major cost of instability is the infrastructural deficit. Government being so preoccupied with politics has not been able to provide the necessary infrastructure that will turn Nigeria into an enabling environment for business. No regular power supply. No railway. No good roads. This drives up the cost of doing business. The cost is passed on to the consumer and where the company can no longer cope, we have had cases of companies and other institutions relocating away from Nigeria to other countries. So much money is often allocated for infrastructural development, in fact at nearly every meeting of the Executive Council of the Federation in the last two years, contracts have been awarded for the implementation of this or that project, but there has been little evidence of performance. So distracted is the administration that unspent funds are returned to the treasury every year. Political stability is so critical because government is the biggest player in the Nigerian economy. Constant changes at the top, absenteeism and conflicting signals destabilize the polity. It should come as no surprise that many of the Nigerians in diaspora who rushed back to the country with the return to civilian rule in 1999, have gradually returned abroad. Others who still wish to return to the fatherland are carefully studying the situation at home and hoping that Nigeria will begin to solve its many problems of power supply, insecurity and so on. What they are responding to naturally and negatively is the instability at home. The uncertainty at home translates into the uncertainty of their own future should they return.
There is, third, the productivity cost. The country has lost its capacity for competitiveness. Labour is often said to be cheap in Nigeria, with the average worker earning less than $1, 000 per month, but the truth also is that the maintenance of labour in the country is very expensive. Too many Nigerian workers do not really work. They are a burden unto the establishments they claim to be working for. Because of their poor pay and lack of discipline, many Nigerian workers are perpetually distracted. They are trapped in the cycle of survival. Overworked and underpaid, they further exert themselves endlessly in search of other means of survival, and this has been at personal cost. In many establishments, half of the work-force is nursing one ailment or the other, and if we are to go by the high temperature of everyday language, most Nigerians are suffering from clinical depression. Nigerians don't know how to discuss, they shout! They don't know how to disagree, they rave! The country's disease profile is on the rise, what with the country having one of the highest rates in the world with regard to maternal mortality and infant mortality.
The work culture is in jeopardy in part because the gross instability in the land has made it difficult for the appropriate authorities to address issues of national competitiveness. What is happening in the education sector is especially tragic. Educational institutions produce the strategic manpower for the country, but the level of productivity in this sector has been terrible. It is an unstable sector, bogged down by incessant labour strikes, sabotaged by inadequate funding and over-politicized through official interference. Many of our graduates today can neither write properly nor articulate any position in their chosen professions. Where is the same Nigerian education system that produced the likes of Odia Ofeimun and Peter Enahoro? It no longer exists and that is why when a company like Access Bank puts out an advert for new recruits from Nigerian universities, it doesn't hide the fact that it intends to look for the very best that can be found out of the "best" that presents its credentials. Even that so-called "best" will still have to be trained and retrained. Don't be surprised, many Nigerian academics are also caught in the survival trap, and so there is little time or incentive to help the country build a productive and competitive class.
Fourth, there is the standard of living index of instability. The fact of Nigeria's instability can be found in every street corner, in the poverty that stalks the land, and in the tragic collapse of values. The collapse of living standards has also resulted in the erosion of morals: too many parents these days look the other way when their daughters sell their bodies for cash or school grades, too many parents aid and abet examination malpractices, too many religious leaders are no better than common felons. With the failure of social institutions once considered sacred, the family and religious groups in particular, the land is bound to be unstable. This is not a new problem but it is getting worse by the day, more so as there is nothing any more restraining the people. Under President Yar'Adua, against the background of his sickness and invisibility, hope has taken a flight from our land. Does anyone know where Nigeria would be and what it would be like in the next six months? No one can be too sure. All the promises of the Obasanjo years that the policies of that period will begin to yield great dividends by 2007 and beyond have failed, even all the promises made by President Yar'Adua have now become unimportant. Who is still talking about the seven-point agenda?
If anything the pervasive instability and uncertainty within the polity have strengthened the culture of impunity. With government at the centre violating the Constitution, and explaining it away as the doctrine of necessity, it has become fashionable for other Nigerians to resort to expediency as well and claim protection under the doctrine of necessity. The Boko Haram insurgents considered their rebellion against the state necessary, didn't they? The murderers in the killing fields of Jos have all claimed that they were left with no option but to apply the old law of vengeance: an eye for an eye as the determinant of relationship with persons of other ethnic and religious extraction. Hundreds of people are slaughtered and nobody is brought to justice. It is needless painting a picture of the economy of Jos and its missed potentials.
What should be done? We only need to step back in history and ask the question: what were those things that used to give us hope in this country? What was it about this country once upon a time that attracted outsiders to it, including foreign students? What has gone so terribly wrong that it is difficult to find foreign students in any Nigerian university today? In my days as a student, there were many foreign students on campus, both white and black. They came to Nigeria to seek knowledge. But who wants to seek knowledge in a country where the smart ones are the kidnappers, armed robbers and murderers and the political leadership cadre is populated by mischief-makers? The other questions are as follows: what kind of country do we want? What future do we want for Nigeria? Where do we want this country to be in the next 50 years? It is 50 years since Nigeria got flag independence, yet it remains a country in search of direction. These are questions for all Nigerians but also particularly for Acting President Goodluck Jonathan, on whose shoulders now rests a heavy burden. It is possible for him to go through the motions of being a President; merely going through the motions is the easiest way to do nothing substantial: he can appoint persons into positions, allocate oil blocs, receive visitors, appear on television, and generally give offence to nobody. But it is also possible to be the matador and lay the bull of Nigeria's instability to rest, by creating fresh opportunities for hope. We are a nation that is now in desperate need of hope.
3/6/10
POWER AS AN INTOXICANT
The Nigerian example :By Douglass Anele
In the unfolding charade relating to the appropriate power equation now that the President is incapacitated, the word ‘loyalty’ has become a victim of monstrous panel beating and misinterpretations. People talk as if loyalty is an end itself, not a means to a higher purpose that renders it meaningful.
Genuine loyalty must be manifested within a context which defines the parameters for evaluating loyalty. The way I see it, being truthful, especially during crisis and confusion,is the highest form of loyalty to oneself and to one’s country.
Hence, even if one cannot rule out the possibility that the information minister was attitudinising, given her solid reputation when she was the DG of NAFDAC, it is closer to the truth to say that she spoke her mind out of genuine concern to resolve the phantom leadership problem created by Yar’Adua’s prolonged absence from his duty post.
Members of the ruling elite, especially the ministers (except Akunyili), should be ashamed of themselves for wasting a wonderful opportunity to apply the Constitution in a novel situation. The document is very clear about what should happen in case a sitting President cannot perform his or her functions as a result of ill-health.
The roles to be played by the Federal Executive Council and the National Assembly were clearly stated. But rather than do the right thing,the ministers, by hiding under the veneer of inverted loyalty to Mr. President, pretend that “their hands are tied.”
Political vultures and carpetbaggers have been using jejune, sordid and egoistic strategies to create confusion and anxiety.But Nigerians are not fools, because unless someone is a colossal idiot, it is evident that President Yar’Adua is seriously ill and cannot function effectively as the executive President of Nigeria.
The weird manner in which he was smuggled into the country like a piece of expensive contraband or toxic material, if indeed he was in that air ambulance, rankles our human sensibilities, and suggests that something fishy is going on. Why is it that no one, including the Vice-President, has seen him? No matter how bad the President has been physically devastated by his sickness, at least his deputy and leaders of the National Assembly should have access to him.
The people hiding the President are unreasonable. They do not realise that the moment Yar’Adua accepted to be Nigeria’s President, he has become public property , especially in a democratic setting where transparency is a sine qua non. Nigerians have the inalienable right to demand to see, and be addressed,by their President.
Yet, some people still think that the Presidency belongs to the family of the occupier of the presidential seat at any point in time.
Nigerians should rise up in unison and unequivocally resist home-grown colonialists whose folly is destroying the modest gains we havve made in civilian rule since 1999. No matter the pressures from the diabolical group orchestrating the current anomalies and dearth of accurate information about the condition of the ailing commander-in-chief, I still blame his wife, Turai, for not considering the feelings of Nigerians on this issue, although I sincerely sympathise with her.
If the doctors advised that Mr. President should be flown home to spend the rest of his days among his compatriots, there is nothing wrong with that. But if his return is political, the people that made the decision are wicked. As I stated earlier, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua belongs to all Nigerians, not just to members of his immediate family.
Therefore, there is no good reason why Goodluck Jonathan, David Mark and Dimeji Bankole should not be allowed to see the President. These men are adults who, I believe, can handle whatever they might see with the necessary decorum and sense of responsibility.
If Jonathan and others cannot, it means that they are totally unfit to occupy the exalted political positions they are occupying presently. By allowing needless mystery into the simple sobering matter of our sick President, Turai has inadvertently provided opportunity for negative speculations about her intentions and the evil machinations of the so-called cabal.
In addition, the hide-and-seek has almost obliterated the natural sympathy many Nigerians would have felt for her should the President fail to recover eventually. At all events, I do not know how long she can continue to hide our President from us. Perhaps, Mrs. Yar’Adua is a victim of the intoxicating power of power .
But she must remember that the law of karma does not respect status. Nigeria belongs to all Nigerians; the Presidency is neither a family nor an ethnic affair. It is definitely wrong for an individual or group to behave as if the country belongs to it .
We are all stakeholders in the Nigerian project.Consequently, we must resist any attempt to sacrifice our national interest on the altar of pathological egoism and megalomania. One day the truth will emerge, and all those who participated in desecrating the office of the President will be put to shame.
In the unfolding charade relating to the appropriate power equation now that the President is incapacitated, the word ‘loyalty’ has become a victim of monstrous panel beating and misinterpretations. People talk as if loyalty is an end itself, not a means to a higher purpose that renders it meaningful.
Genuine loyalty must be manifested within a context which defines the parameters for evaluating loyalty. The way I see it, being truthful, especially during crisis and confusion,is the highest form of loyalty to oneself and to one’s country.
Hence, even if one cannot rule out the possibility that the information minister was attitudinising, given her solid reputation when she was the DG of NAFDAC, it is closer to the truth to say that she spoke her mind out of genuine concern to resolve the phantom leadership problem created by Yar’Adua’s prolonged absence from his duty post.
Members of the ruling elite, especially the ministers (except Akunyili), should be ashamed of themselves for wasting a wonderful opportunity to apply the Constitution in a novel situation. The document is very clear about what should happen in case a sitting President cannot perform his or her functions as a result of ill-health.
The roles to be played by the Federal Executive Council and the National Assembly were clearly stated. But rather than do the right thing,the ministers, by hiding under the veneer of inverted loyalty to Mr. President, pretend that “their hands are tied.”
Political vultures and carpetbaggers have been using jejune, sordid and egoistic strategies to create confusion and anxiety.But Nigerians are not fools, because unless someone is a colossal idiot, it is evident that President Yar’Adua is seriously ill and cannot function effectively as the executive President of Nigeria.
The weird manner in which he was smuggled into the country like a piece of expensive contraband or toxic material, if indeed he was in that air ambulance, rankles our human sensibilities, and suggests that something fishy is going on. Why is it that no one, including the Vice-President, has seen him? No matter how bad the President has been physically devastated by his sickness, at least his deputy and leaders of the National Assembly should have access to him.
The people hiding the President are unreasonable. They do not realise that the moment Yar’Adua accepted to be Nigeria’s President, he has become public property , especially in a democratic setting where transparency is a sine qua non. Nigerians have the inalienable right to demand to see, and be addressed,by their President.
Yet, some people still think that the Presidency belongs to the family of the occupier of the presidential seat at any point in time.
Nigerians should rise up in unison and unequivocally resist home-grown colonialists whose folly is destroying the modest gains we havve made in civilian rule since 1999. No matter the pressures from the diabolical group orchestrating the current anomalies and dearth of accurate information about the condition of the ailing commander-in-chief, I still blame his wife, Turai, for not considering the feelings of Nigerians on this issue, although I sincerely sympathise with her.
If the doctors advised that Mr. President should be flown home to spend the rest of his days among his compatriots, there is nothing wrong with that. But if his return is political, the people that made the decision are wicked. As I stated earlier, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua belongs to all Nigerians, not just to members of his immediate family.
Therefore, there is no good reason why Goodluck Jonathan, David Mark and Dimeji Bankole should not be allowed to see the President. These men are adults who, I believe, can handle whatever they might see with the necessary decorum and sense of responsibility.
If Jonathan and others cannot, it means that they are totally unfit to occupy the exalted political positions they are occupying presently. By allowing needless mystery into the simple sobering matter of our sick President, Turai has inadvertently provided opportunity for negative speculations about her intentions and the evil machinations of the so-called cabal.
In addition, the hide-and-seek has almost obliterated the natural sympathy many Nigerians would have felt for her should the President fail to recover eventually. At all events, I do not know how long she can continue to hide our President from us. Perhaps, Mrs. Yar’Adua is a victim of the intoxicating power of power .
But she must remember that the law of karma does not respect status. Nigeria belongs to all Nigerians; the Presidency is neither a family nor an ethnic affair. It is definitely wrong for an individual or group to behave as if the country belongs to it .
We are all stakeholders in the Nigerian project.Consequently, we must resist any attempt to sacrifice our national interest on the altar of pathological egoism and megalomania. One day the truth will emerge, and all those who participated in desecrating the office of the President will be put to shame.
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