THERE ARE STILL THOUGHTFUL NIGERIANS

I was checking my mails today and I gor this mail from an old classmate of mine. Immediately I read through, one thing kept ringing in my mind: there are still thoughtful Nigerians; people who care what happens to us as a nation; people who are concerned about how we are treated. Take away all personal sentiments, the writer of this article just demonstrated the kind of attitude our leaders should have.

American Embassy Plc (By Sochima Ndu; Published: Monday, 26 Mar 2007)

I was sad when I read the account narrated by Mr. Hakeem Ogunniran, the Managing Director of
MDS – a Division of the UACN Plc, in the Saturday PUNCH of March 17, concerning the appalling, and indeed pathetic, treatment that was meted to his wife by the Canadian Embassy in Lagos. The Ogunnirans are not alone in the saga of ill-treatment of Nigerians at the hands of foreign embassies.

Top on the list of these notorious embassies is the American Embassy on Walter Carrington Crescent, Victoria Island, Lagos. The visa section of the American Embassy is the revenue generation unit of the element and I can imagine that, like any profit-oriented enterprise, they start the year with a target of revenue and profitability which they must generate at all costs. The modus operandi for extracting the targeted sums from Nigerians starts with the invitation forinterview. The embassy exploits the desires of many Nigerians to visit foreign countries while on holiday, broaden their knowledge by attending seminars and conferences abroad and yes, even explore their destinies in other countries, by inviting them for these spurious interviews. It seems that they count the applications and decide how many must come per day and how many must have to reapply for the targets to be met.

In most cases, the letters of rejection have already been prepared in advance of the interviews. The candidates are invited, not to be heard, but for their N14,000 which is vital to the income and expenditure account of the embassy. Does the upfront collection of non-refundable application fees by these embassies not qualify as a definition of advance fee fraud? Can these embassies not collect a lower amount as non-refundable processing fee (say N1,000), while the N14,000 could remain as a visa issuance fee taken only from successful applicants?

I heard the case of a medical doctor whose son gained admission into Princeton and visited the American Embassy for a visa. Apparently knowing the penchant of consular officers to make instant illogical decisions on visa applications, he arranged to be at the embassy on the same day (perhaps to renew his visitor’s visa) so he could lend his voice to his son’s student’s visainterview. The visa official questioned him as to why he wanted his son to study in America instead of in a Nigerian university. What right does that American have to determine where a man wants his children to go to school? The answer is very simple – how many of the staff of the American embassy studied in Princeton or Harvard? It irks them to think that Nigerians aredaring to exceed those mundane limits which they have set for us in their finite minds.

In my few years in the service industry, I have learnt that revenues are compensations for values which have been added to a customer’s life or business. The question that then arises is, what value is the American embassy (our typical example and the worst culprit) adding to the lives of Nigerians to justify the gargantuan amount of money that it milks from them? Is it the number of hours that people must spend in order to attend those grueling interviews? Is it the sheer rudeness of the security personnel at the embassy? Is it the degrading attitude of the insincere embassy staff? Where lies the value addition in all of this experience?
In today’s world of branding, where organizations of different characters are taking concerted steps to develop positive perceptions from the public relative to their brand image, the likes of the Canadian and American embassies are very brazen in their disregard for the views and perceptions of Nigerians. Or is that not the case?

The truth is that what is being meted to the Nigerian citizenry is a direct reflection of the degree ofdisregard and disrespect that these people and their nations have for our country and our governments. They treat this country as a pariah and pay lip service to relationships.

They treat our leaders as clowns and show no modicum of respect for them. It is probably for this reason that even our leaders show no form of concern at the treatment meted to our citizenry. It seems normal to them. It is in this bizarre abnormality that the mystery lies. We have mortgaged every iota of self-respect for a fee and sacrificed our national destiny on the altar of greed and unabridged corruption. The Nigerian high commissions in other countries cannot even dream of conducting business in any manner near what these people do here. Their governments will shout to the high heavens. If our embassies do not crawl in penitence, they will blackmail, arm-twist, and threaten to bring down sanctions or even worse.

I call on the leadership of this country, in the spirit of the national anthem and the Nigerian pledge, to shake itself free from all apathy and protect its citizenry by standing up against the injustices and maltreatment which are handed down to Nigerians by all hostile foreign embassies operating on Nigerian soil.

Ndu writes from 23, Balogun Road, Ogba, Lagos.
Culled from the Punch Newspaper

THE BE-KNOW-DO OF LEADERSHIP

Yesterday I gave you an article by one brilliant Nigerian as an emphasis on my opinion on the current rift between our leaders and how it sharply contrasts with what obtains in the more mature world. The issue, like I raised yesterday, is that there are certain qualities every leader must possess- qualities that carry the essence of leadership. One of these is Finesse which we mentioned already. In what follows here, I just want you to have a synoptic understanding of what makes a leader good.

1. BE a professional. Examples: Be loyal to the organization, perform selfless service, take personal responsibility.
   
2. BE a professional who possess good character traits. Examples: Honesty, competence, candor, commitment, integrity, courage, straightforwardness, imagination.
   
3. KNOW the four factors of leadership - follower, leader, communication, situation.
   
4. KNOW yourself. Examples: strengths and weakness of your character, knowledge, and skills.
   
5. KNOW human nature. Examples: Human needs, emotions, and how people respond to stress.
   
6. KNOW your job. Examples: be proficient and be able to train others in their tasks.
   
7. DO provide direction. Examples: goal setting, problem solving, decision making, planning.
   
8. DO implement. Examples: communicating, coordinating, supervising, evaluating.
   
9. DO motivate. Examples: develop moral and esprit in the organization, train, coach, counsel.
   

STILL ON LEADERSHIP: reflections of national consequence

The truth is that leadership entails some
sterling qualities, one of which is finesse

That statement was made by Rasheed Ojikutu, a University don attached to the Faculty of Business Administration, University of Lagos. He wrote an article for the Guardian Newspaper yesterday (and I intended to place the full article here but... no thanks to PHCN, I lost my connectivity at some point) in which he drew some important lessons for us from the similarity between the events that presently surround the seats of power in Nigeria and Britain. While Nigeria's VP has proceeded on the path of arrogance and carefree vituperations against his boss (and the boss is not making matters better, either), Gordon Brown, the British Chancellor of Exchequer precedentedto succeed Tony Blair as PM and favoured above the latter by the political WHO'S WHO, displayed unequalled loyalty, discipline, responsibility and maturity in an article he sent in to The Sun newspaper last Sunday. The refined man gallantly admitted his boss' faults and gloriously celebrated his successes. In fact, Gordon, rather than join in the anti-Blair campaign which has seen the resignation of about 5 key parliamentarians, openly expressed his continued support of Tony as long as they are still ogethr in government.

In contrast, our own Atiku Abubakar has decided to GET BACK at his boss by hanging the adminstration's dirty laundry in the open. If you never gave it any serious thoughts before, I like you to know that the on-going feud between Uncle Sege and his Adamawa boy is a national shame. It only goes to show us what kind of leaders we have...let me allow Victor Oshisada's article spaek to you further...

The crisis in the presidency by Victor Oshisada
IT is disgusting. It is ridiculous. In the past couple of weeks, there have been ceaseless cataracts of allegations and invectives being poured forth from the Presidency. The combatants are President Olusegun Obasanjo and Vice-President Atiku Abubakar. Such a humiliation is a deep wound to the leaders' sense of honour and decency. Indeed, the development is hardly adult; it looks like a drama between two schoolboys who are struggling for a memento. How could it be explained? Whatever may be the good intentions or achievements of President Obasanjo's administration, the untoward scenario constitutes an abrasion on it. What a poor diversionary sideshow! It merely helps to slake the voracious appetite of the country's fifth columnists in their quest for unwarranted criticisms.
There are no guts in washing dirty linen in the public. All those ugly revelations emanating from both parties were their joint private action when the going was good. At the very first, I thought that the crisis between President Obasanjo and his deputy was a storm in a teacup, and that the discord would be resolved soonest. My reason for so believing was that human beings are human beings, and are naturally bound to disagree on issues anytime. But with time, I was weaned from this belief, because the discord has snowballed to greater proportion. On reflection, I concluded that the crossfire of accusations and counter-accusations between the fathers of the nation amounts to an admission of corruption, a sort of open or self-confession.
Interestingly, many Nigerians at home and abroad have called for the resignation of both leaders. The Minister of Information in the First Republic (1960 to 1966), Chief Theophilus Owolabi Shobowale Benson, one of the few surviving nationalists, in his own criticisms called on the President of the Senate, Chief Ken Nnamani, to take over the presidency if the duo fail to resolve their rift. In a statement signed by the Executive Director of Africa in America, Mr. Bonaventure Ezekwenna, said: "Clearly, admissions of corrupt practices are the well-established facts being communicated freely to the listening Nigerian public, at home and in the Diaspora, and the global community at large..."
Unknown to both sides, it may open up a vista of terrible consequences into the polity; not every politician is matured; the exalted position notwithstanding. The use of unbridled tongue borders on the verge of political immaturity, which is the hallmark of budding politicians at local government council meetings. The unrelenting interchange of accusation letters between the President and his deputy indicates that there is less to do in the Presidency, and that the welfare of the masses is at a discount. Our roads are in ruins, whilst the national electricity is producing at a low level. What is more, at a time that our graduates, supposed to be the economic hopefuls of their parents, have now become mill-stones round their necks, for being jobless, our leaders are engaging in mud-slinging.
In any exalted position, the basic requirement is discipline. If the fathers of the nation descend so low to engage in brickbats, the types that are traded by illiterate market-women, where is the claim to puritanical leadership? It must be borne in mind that the world is watching. The nations of the world have their representatives in the country. I think that the combatants are power-drunk. In government, serious minds are required. If the two leaders should engage in the frivolity of accusations, it is a manifestation of unseriousness. It may even mean that they have nothing to engage their attention in the presidency.
The ugly exposure throws bad light on the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its government. Being members of the same party, I can only conclude that the cleavage between them reflects a political organisation that is divided. A divided party means a divided government and consequently a divided nation. The ongoing imbroglio between the President and his vice is an incarnate symbol of the Action Group crisis of 1962, except that the present combatants are in the same government at the centre.
What is the PDP doing as a political organisation that is in control of the centre? Where is the Council of State? What efforts has the Council made to effect the much-desired cease-fire and resolve the discord? It is a situation where the tail is wagging the dog. In a political party where the chairman is a mere figurehead what do we expect?
With all the allegations from both sides, if Constitutional immunity from prosecution is enjoyed, impeachment must be a veritable tool to implement removal. The country looks like being at the giddy edge of a cliff, gripped by the insane fear of attempting to jum over. My prayer is that the crisis does not lead to a macro-political convulsion.

The article is on page 65 of The GUARDIAN Newspaper today, Wednesday, 27th September, 2006. Rasheed Ojikutu's article that I earler referred to is on page 65 of The GUARDIAN Newspaper yesterday, Tuesday, 26th September, 2006.

THIRD DISCOVERY: LEADERS OR MANAGERS?

Have you ever wondered why some companies outperform their competitors without any apparent extra investments? I mean, have you seen a set of firms in the same industry, the same investment profiles, similar crop of staff and equal standing in years but different profitability; and you begin to wonder why?

I'll tell you what makes the difference: LEADERSHIP. The problem with many firms today is that they only have EXPERIENCED MANAGERS and BAD LEADERS. The truth is that NO SOCIETY, INISTITUTION, ORGANISATION or even INDIVIDUAL can be really successful without being properly led. If you're a Nigerian, our experiences as a nation, since independence, should have taught you that lesson.

One interesting thing that I just discovered (and that's my 3rd recent discovery about leadership) is that a manager is not necessarily a leader.

That's easy for everyone to know, you'll say. But I'll ask, does everyone know that? If you say "Yes, most people know," then I'll ask, "Why then do we place the academics of the candidate above his PERSON and EXPERIENCES when we make appointments? The truth is that while leadership can be learnt, the school for it is really in the heart of a man and not in any tertiary institution. You can't ever force a man to learn what he doesn't want to. Do, it makes little difference whether a man has a Harvard Business School MBA or a Yale Scholarship or is a graduate of "GREAT IFE" , if he's not a leader at heart, the best he can be is a MANAGER.



•Managers administer, leaders innovate
•Managers ask how and when, leaders ask what and why
•Managers focus on systems, leaders focus on people
•Managers do things right, leaders do the right things
•Managers maintain, leaders develop
•Managers rely on control, leaders inspire trust
•Managers have a short-term perspective; leaders have a long- term perspective
•Managers accept the status-quo; leaders challenge the status-quo
•Managers have an eye on the bottom line; leaders have an eye on the horizon
•Managers imitate, leaders originate
•Managers emulate the classic good soldier, leaders are their own person
•Managers copy, leaders show originality

LEADERSHIP SERIES: SECOND DISCOVERY

The rains that came in IFE early this morning reminded me of one thing: GOD STILL CARES FOR US...

Now, let's get back to our series. My second discovery about leadership is not as simple as the first but it's equally (if not more) profound and far-reaching. Have you ever had any cause to visit a friend of yours who suddenly became an important office-holder? You probably will then understand better what it means to say that a leader should not live in a shell.

One of the greatest problems we have in AFRICA is the WITHDRAWAL SYNDROME among our leaders. Imagine a close friend of yours becoming a Local Government Chairman; and suddenly because of his NEW POSITION does not want to associate with you anymore. I think when we talk about Africa's leadership problem, we must always remind ourselves and those who lead us, that LEADERSHIP IS NOT ABOUT BEING IN FRONT BUT BEING INVOLVED.

At times, it's easy to understand why our leaders tend to burn the bridges behind them and holler across the gully at their followers. It's all about INsecurity. A celar conscience, they say, fears no accussation. No be so??

You'll know a TRUE leader when you see someone who wants to do things WITH his people and not just FOR them; who wants to reason WITH and not FOR them; and who thinks THEIR FEARS ARE REASONABLE. I'll never vote for someone who considers my anxieties invalid. I mean, if the people think some things are important why should a leader think otherwise (except, of course, he has superior information)? A bad leader is simply someone who is too fond of saying "NO PROBLEM" when actually there is!

All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: it was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This, and not much else, is the essence of leadership.

- John Kenneth Galbraith (Born 1908)

U.S. Economist

in The Age of Uncertainty, ch.12 (1977),

on his experience of the Nuremburg trials of Nazi war criminals

LEADERSHIP SERIES: FIRST DISCOVERY

LMy first new discovery about the concept of leadership is simple, yet profound; it's straightforward yet far-reaching. Have you ever observed the extent of complications most leaders surround themselves with? The lives of many just take a dramatic turn from being simple to being complex once they assume a position of responsibility.

The truth, however, is that LEADERSHIP is not COMPLICATED. In fact, the less complicated a leader is, the more of a true leader he/she is.

The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men the conviction and the will to carry on. The genius of a good leader is to leave behind him a situation which common sense, without the grace of genius, can deal with successfully

-Walter Lippmann (1889-1974)

U. S. journalist,

from article “Roosevelt Is Gone”

in New York Herald Tribune. 14 April 1945)

LEADERSHIP SERIES

Last Saturday, my boss was invited to the 2006 Annual Convention of JAYCEES International in OAU. He was to speak on Functional Leadership for Better Future. One day before his presentation, the Registrar of my department presented a seminar to all senior staff in our office. Her title was The 360-Degree Measure of a Leader. I found myself playing an active role in the compilation of both presentations. In the next few weeks, therefore, my plan is to share with you some of the new insights I just gained into the concept of LEADERSHIP.

Note that you’re invited to share with me your thoughts on anything I write. It’s so easy to do. Just click on the appropriate link below the post. ENJOY...