Last Thursday I had the privilege of hosting a National Conference organized by my Executive MBA 1 Alumni of the Lagos Business School Alumni Association. I had a first-class cast of speakers-Governors Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) of Lagos and Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers States; leading CEOs Aig Aig-Imoukhuede of Access Bank Plc and Larry E Ettah of UACN Plc; former Lagos State Health Commissioner, Dr Leke Pitan,; Pharmacist and distinguished politician, my “egbon” Jimi Agbaje; and Dr Tony Rapu, Senior Pastor of This Present House. Our firm RTC designed the concept, strategy, execution and provided rappoteurs for the programme. This week, I reproduce my welcome speech at the event for all readers:-
It is my pleasure and privilege to welcome you all to this conference organised under the auspices of the Lagos Business School Alumni Association (LBSAA) by the pioneer Executive MBA class of the Lagos Business School. The class is composed of 40 or so executives who participated in the executive MBA programme at the LBS between 1996 and 1997. We have met as an alumni group since our graduation in 1997 and it is my privilege to serve as current president.
In coming up with this event, we wanted to make a positive contribution not just to the school and its alumni, but to the wider Nigerian society and polity. We thought that rather than bemoan the failures and sub-optimality of the past 50 years, we should help refocus the national debate on planning not just for the next 20 years ala vision 2020, but for the next 50 years and perhaps beyond. We thought this is particularly important in this period of transition as our contribution towards shifting the discussion from personalities, zones, ethnic origins or even political parties to policies that would lead to the transformation of the Nigerian society. That is the thinking that led to this programme which we are all witnessing today
In coming up with the speakers, we were careful in picking speakers who tallied with our focus on positive themes, and all the speakers were selected for that reason alone. Any one who we proposed as a speaker today is in our view in a position, and has demonstrated capacity to contribute either as a private or public sector player to building a new Nigeria; and represents a theme or constituency that we believe critical in that regard- leadership and good governance, investments in social services and human capital, particularly education and health; economic growth and development; investment climate reforms, financial and capital markets; manufacturing and private sector development; national security and law and order; health sector reforms; elite leadership; national values and attitude reform; infrastructure and power; science and technology etc. These are the themes which informed the design of this interaction and the proposed speakers, and we invite the audience to contribute in the Q&A/Comments in furthering the debate.
We believe that Nigeria if it seeks to avoid the fate of an insignificant global player by 2020 or 2060 must rethink our direction. At the root is the need for transformation of our national value system to enthrone positive, altruistic and principle-based considerations rather than the materialistic and self-centered but clearly unsustainable society we are now building. This transformation can only be driven by a new type of transformational, service-oriented and selfless leadership-the type that transformed Singapore, China, India, Brazil and much of Europe and North America.
That leadership must focus on re-building our education system from the root right through to the universities. Education policy must now focus on quality, standards, ethics, science and technology and entrepreneurship. We need to build a health system based on sustainable financing and coverage. Our nation needs to become a law and order society, where crime and lawlessness have consequences and where citizens are secure. We must reform our investment climate and become more globally competitive, in order that both domestic and foreign investors can thrive and we must build efficient and transparent world class financial systems and capital markets. We need to radically restructure our economy from one dominated by trading, sub-modern agriculture and the export of crude oil to one in which value-added manufacturing, services and knowledge become our economic main stay. Our elite must become actively engaged in social and political leadership and we must develop a consensus across ethnic, religious or political divides about what Nigeria is all about and where and how we are going as a nation.
The real question is how do we do this? Hopefully by the end of this programme, the speakers and our audience will have shed some light on these issues. I thank those of our speakers who are here, and even those who in spite of their best efforts could not be with us. And I welcome those in the audience who have graced this event in spite of all our busy schedules. I am also grateful to members of the EMBA 1 class for supporting this project morally and financially.
I look forward to a useful session
Thank you very much.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Person of the Year 2010
This column annually names the Nigerian who has been most central and had most significant positive impact on critical issues affecting the nation in the year under review. My shortlist for 2010 included Professor Attahiru Jega; former President Olusegun Obasanjo; Mr Rauf Aregbesola; Dr Kayode Fayemi; Mr Sanusi Lamido Sanusi; Mr Olusegun Aganga; Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola; Mr Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, former Governor Bola Tinubu and President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.
Jega’s appointment as INEC Chairman to replace his discredited professorial colleague, Maurice Iwu received nationwide acclaim and endorsement reflecting the hunger of most Nigerians for free, fair and credible elections and a rare occasion in which Nigerians unanimously lauded the credentials and credibility of an appointee to public office. His work lies ahead and success or otherwise may yet be tied inexplicably to the nation’s destiny. Obasanjo spoke against the Yar’adua power vacuum and argued for President Jonathan taking power in line with the constitution. He shaped the PDP “zoning” debate and in a sense 2010 was his year of political resurgence after the subtle but undisguised efforts of Yar’adua regime operatives to push him into political oblivion.
Governors Aregbesola and Fayemi took power in Osun and Ekiti states after a bruising battle. Their courage and persistence was remarkable, and their victory rhymed with the desire of many Nigerians to roll back PDP suzerainty, especially in Western Nigeria. But their victory actually belonged to their mentor, Bola Tinubu! Central Bank Governor Lamido Sanusi, captured popular imagination towards yearend claiming the National Assembly spent 25% of the nation’s “overheads”. Even though Lamido was technically wrong and the legislators correct (budget figures are unambiguous-National Assembly budget in 2010 was 1% of capital, 5% of recurrent and 3% of total federal spending), his position echoed widespread anger over unjustifiable emoluments legislators awarded themselves. More substantively Lamido exercised policy leadership in financial sector reform; secured the conviction of one powerful ex-bank CEO and established AMCON.
Finance Minister Olusegun Aganga, even though unfairly vilified by the media and internet bloggers was a star in 2010. Indeed while others tapped into populist acclaim, Aganga did the real work of thinking strategies for fighting unemployment, reducing spending, establishing a sovereign wealth fund and restructuring recurrent spending. He set up credible committees to review recurrent spending and unemployment; drew up a sovereign wealth fund bill, gently coaxing the Governors into some consensus, and produced a draft 2011 budget which reduced 2010 total spending by 18%. His calm, professional mien is to be applauded and not derided.
Governor Fashola remained a star amongst his gubernatorial colleagues, even though in 2010, he was severely distracted by uncertainties over his political fate. Public opinion remained strongly in favour of his second term, and he is an example of what a competent administrator should look like. Governor Rotimi Amaechi also emerged as a shining star amongst his peers. His administration’s extraordinary social sector investments-world class primary and secondary schools (over 350 primary schools and 23 secondary schools); massive road construction; and investments in health infrastructure-suggest a social democratic agenda and a leader who seeks to make an impact on the lives of ordinary people. In 2010, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu elevated the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) into the mainstream party in Yoruba land, (in alliance with Labour Party’s Segun Mimiko in Ondo now controls four states to PDP’s two) and the largest opposition party in Nigeria. The ACN attracted politicians outside the West into its ranks and seems set to make a challenge for Oyo, Ogun and other states across the country.
But from the beginning to the end, 2010 was about Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan!!! We entered 2010 with late President Yar’adua ill in Saudi Arabia his narrow inner circle trying to rule by proxy; with Jonathan carefully navigating a complex and dangerous labyrinth of schemes, desperados and interests. At some point, Jonathan negotiated a compromise by which the National Assembly proclaimed him Acting President through a doctrine of necessity; then he survived a mini-coup attempt when Yar’adua was smuggled into the country and troops were deployed in the thick of the Abuja night without the Acting Commander-in-Chief’s knowledge. In all these, whether Nigerians realise it or not, Jonathan walked successfully through the valley of the shadow of death! And he did so with commendable calm, insight and maturity. Had he panicked, over-reacted or become agitated, perhaps the country’s course may have turned differently.
When Yar’adua died and Jonathan became substantive president, the issue became whether he could contest the 2011 presidency given the “zoning” and “rotation” in the PDP. People give Jonathan little credit for facing down the powerful political, regional, and security interests which sought to intimidate him out of the contest. Given the circumstances of his ascension and the forces seeking to make his government “ungovernable”, Jonathan’s overall agenda may still be a work-in-process, but his power sector road map; commitment to increase funding and reform of education; appointment of a credible INEC leadership; sovereign wealth fund initiative; aviation and infrastructure investments; personal humility and consensus building approach; and open communication with Nigerians were modest but real successes. Jonathan defined 2010 in Nigeria and is man of the year.
Jega’s appointment as INEC Chairman to replace his discredited professorial colleague, Maurice Iwu received nationwide acclaim and endorsement reflecting the hunger of most Nigerians for free, fair and credible elections and a rare occasion in which Nigerians unanimously lauded the credentials and credibility of an appointee to public office. His work lies ahead and success or otherwise may yet be tied inexplicably to the nation’s destiny. Obasanjo spoke against the Yar’adua power vacuum and argued for President Jonathan taking power in line with the constitution. He shaped the PDP “zoning” debate and in a sense 2010 was his year of political resurgence after the subtle but undisguised efforts of Yar’adua regime operatives to push him into political oblivion.
Governors Aregbesola and Fayemi took power in Osun and Ekiti states after a bruising battle. Their courage and persistence was remarkable, and their victory rhymed with the desire of many Nigerians to roll back PDP suzerainty, especially in Western Nigeria. But their victory actually belonged to their mentor, Bola Tinubu! Central Bank Governor Lamido Sanusi, captured popular imagination towards yearend claiming the National Assembly spent 25% of the nation’s “overheads”. Even though Lamido was technically wrong and the legislators correct (budget figures are unambiguous-National Assembly budget in 2010 was 1% of capital, 5% of recurrent and 3% of total federal spending), his position echoed widespread anger over unjustifiable emoluments legislators awarded themselves. More substantively Lamido exercised policy leadership in financial sector reform; secured the conviction of one powerful ex-bank CEO and established AMCON.
Finance Minister Olusegun Aganga, even though unfairly vilified by the media and internet bloggers was a star in 2010. Indeed while others tapped into populist acclaim, Aganga did the real work of thinking strategies for fighting unemployment, reducing spending, establishing a sovereign wealth fund and restructuring recurrent spending. He set up credible committees to review recurrent spending and unemployment; drew up a sovereign wealth fund bill, gently coaxing the Governors into some consensus, and produced a draft 2011 budget which reduced 2010 total spending by 18%. His calm, professional mien is to be applauded and not derided.
Governor Fashola remained a star amongst his gubernatorial colleagues, even though in 2010, he was severely distracted by uncertainties over his political fate. Public opinion remained strongly in favour of his second term, and he is an example of what a competent administrator should look like. Governor Rotimi Amaechi also emerged as a shining star amongst his peers. His administration’s extraordinary social sector investments-world class primary and secondary schools (over 350 primary schools and 23 secondary schools); massive road construction; and investments in health infrastructure-suggest a social democratic agenda and a leader who seeks to make an impact on the lives of ordinary people. In 2010, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu elevated the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) into the mainstream party in Yoruba land, (in alliance with Labour Party’s Segun Mimiko in Ondo now controls four states to PDP’s two) and the largest opposition party in Nigeria. The ACN attracted politicians outside the West into its ranks and seems set to make a challenge for Oyo, Ogun and other states across the country.
But from the beginning to the end, 2010 was about Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan!!! We entered 2010 with late President Yar’adua ill in Saudi Arabia his narrow inner circle trying to rule by proxy; with Jonathan carefully navigating a complex and dangerous labyrinth of schemes, desperados and interests. At some point, Jonathan negotiated a compromise by which the National Assembly proclaimed him Acting President through a doctrine of necessity; then he survived a mini-coup attempt when Yar’adua was smuggled into the country and troops were deployed in the thick of the Abuja night without the Acting Commander-in-Chief’s knowledge. In all these, whether Nigerians realise it or not, Jonathan walked successfully through the valley of the shadow of death! And he did so with commendable calm, insight and maturity. Had he panicked, over-reacted or become agitated, perhaps the country’s course may have turned differently.
When Yar’adua died and Jonathan became substantive president, the issue became whether he could contest the 2011 presidency given the “zoning” and “rotation” in the PDP. People give Jonathan little credit for facing down the powerful political, regional, and security interests which sought to intimidate him out of the contest. Given the circumstances of his ascension and the forces seeking to make his government “ungovernable”, Jonathan’s overall agenda may still be a work-in-process, but his power sector road map; commitment to increase funding and reform of education; appointment of a credible INEC leadership; sovereign wealth fund initiative; aviation and infrastructure investments; personal humility and consensus building approach; and open communication with Nigerians were modest but real successes. Jonathan defined 2010 in Nigeria and is man of the year.
Friday, January 14, 2011
The Leadership Calling: Readers' Reactions
This week I devote this page to the reactions I received from some of the various readers who responded via different media to my column last week. Evidently readers felt strongly about the absence of positive leadership in Nigeria. A sample of their views is reproduced here.
“Bayo Oba” from Lagos (bayoba1@yahoo.co.uk)
Very interesting article.....as usual!
Why can't an intellectual or University lecturer be president? Let me answer your question with a question. Will an intellectual engage in money rituals? This might seem an absurd and inaccurate comparison/analogy at first glance but think about it again. What is politics in Nigeria today? You risk your life, well-being and family safety for what? Money! What's the difference between this and money rituals? The implication of this is that its mostly people who are desperate enough for the material things derivable from politics in Nigeria today that would be willing to risk having their aged mother kidnapped, or their little kids maimed on their way home from school that would be willing to go into politics and have to contend with the 'Eleweomos' and 'Tokyos' of this world. Why do we have thugs in Nigerian politics? Well, the simple answer is that politics is probably the most profitable sector in Nigeria where thuggery is a highly valued skill set.....and as we were taught in economics, supply will go where the demand is!
Is there a solution? Short term? I don't think so. Long term? Maybe, just maybe and it has to start now! There needs to be a conscious effort to reduce the pecuniary gains from politics, coupled with an empowerment of the electorate through free and fair elections and a movement towards a more accountable political system. These cannot be done overnight, probably not in two full electoral terms as this sort of reform would be fought by a lot of powerful interests. If you were a Senator earning a reported N270 million per annum, you would vote to impeach any tough talking person who vows to close this tap of abundance. This is why the fight cannot be obvious....it must be subtle and gradual. We must take small, calculated steps such that politicians would wake up one day and realise that the people have been empowered and the pecuniary benefits have dried up! When politics becomes a negative return investment, that's when the true patriots and democrats would be interested because the touts, murderers, and thieves would have very little to benefit. In my opinion, an example of a small calculated step would be stopping this absurd practice of voice voting at the national assembly. Constituents should have a record of every single vote by their lawmaker during his term and voice voting deprives the electorate of the chance to evaluate their elected representative. Nothing irks me more than the sound of Mr Mark's voice on the radio saying 'the ayes have it'.
One thing is clear. We need a strong leader with sufficient political capital and savvy to start implementing these small changes. Do any of the current presidential aspirants fit the bill? I personally doubt it. President Jonathan is probably the closest to fitting the bill of the aspirants as he has the advantage of having some political capital and would operate from a position of relative strength if elected by virtue of his incumbency. I am however unsure if he possesses the requisite political will and savvy to drive these changes through. I personally think he has the best interests of Nigeria at heart but is shackled by the system that brought him to power.
I look forward to the days when the Tayo Aderinokuns, Fola Adeolas, Tony Elumelus, Cosmas Madukas, Chuka Esekas and the likes (including your goodself) would dominate our political space. Till then we'll keep generating our power with our private power plants, source water with our private boreholes, contribute money for 'OPC' to secure our homes, refuse to report to the police when we are robbed because they add no value whatsoever and live in hope that things will get better....afterall, hope is the opium of the people!
Femi also in Lagos (femi@artisanlagos.com)
Winging words! I have often wondered as I'm sure many other rational thinking Nigerians have. Here's the real question; why don't you run for office?
Ommy, a US-based Nigeria wrote on my facebook page
“tearful" indeed. I have moved around quite a bit since leaving Nigeria and there is hardly a place I have been that I have not met a Nigerian in a highly exalted place of honour and responsibility (Education, Health and Social Services, Administration, Business...., In my mind I cannot help but wonder why those people cannot do the same thing at home. But then I remember the level of hostility and contempt that such people receive at home. A system based on anything but merit and integrity has been established and it is so defensive and threatened by anything and anyone that will reveal the mediocrity and parochialism behind it
A combination of mass education (and grassroots campaign) of the cost of good governance to the governed. It is definitely not cheap. I am sure you political junkees have these answers (academically) but where is the will? If this was something the average person can do individually or in small groups, there are people out there who will. But this takes intellectual master planning and dedicated implementation across the country by a people armed with the right tools (information). The people are ready, let the leaders arise.
“Bayo Oba” from Lagos (bayoba1@yahoo.co.uk)
Very interesting article.....as usual!
Why can't an intellectual or University lecturer be president? Let me answer your question with a question. Will an intellectual engage in money rituals? This might seem an absurd and inaccurate comparison/analogy at first glance but think about it again. What is politics in Nigeria today? You risk your life, well-being and family safety for what? Money! What's the difference between this and money rituals? The implication of this is that its mostly people who are desperate enough for the material things derivable from politics in Nigeria today that would be willing to risk having their aged mother kidnapped, or their little kids maimed on their way home from school that would be willing to go into politics and have to contend with the 'Eleweomos' and 'Tokyos' of this world. Why do we have thugs in Nigerian politics? Well, the simple answer is that politics is probably the most profitable sector in Nigeria where thuggery is a highly valued skill set.....and as we were taught in economics, supply will go where the demand is!
Is there a solution? Short term? I don't think so. Long term? Maybe, just maybe and it has to start now! There needs to be a conscious effort to reduce the pecuniary gains from politics, coupled with an empowerment of the electorate through free and fair elections and a movement towards a more accountable political system. These cannot be done overnight, probably not in two full electoral terms as this sort of reform would be fought by a lot of powerful interests. If you were a Senator earning a reported N270 million per annum, you would vote to impeach any tough talking person who vows to close this tap of abundance. This is why the fight cannot be obvious....it must be subtle and gradual. We must take small, calculated steps such that politicians would wake up one day and realise that the people have been empowered and the pecuniary benefits have dried up! When politics becomes a negative return investment, that's when the true patriots and democrats would be interested because the touts, murderers, and thieves would have very little to benefit. In my opinion, an example of a small calculated step would be stopping this absurd practice of voice voting at the national assembly. Constituents should have a record of every single vote by their lawmaker during his term and voice voting deprives the electorate of the chance to evaluate their elected representative. Nothing irks me more than the sound of Mr Mark's voice on the radio saying 'the ayes have it'.
One thing is clear. We need a strong leader with sufficient political capital and savvy to start implementing these small changes. Do any of the current presidential aspirants fit the bill? I personally doubt it. President Jonathan is probably the closest to fitting the bill of the aspirants as he has the advantage of having some political capital and would operate from a position of relative strength if elected by virtue of his incumbency. I am however unsure if he possesses the requisite political will and savvy to drive these changes through. I personally think he has the best interests of Nigeria at heart but is shackled by the system that brought him to power.
I look forward to the days when the Tayo Aderinokuns, Fola Adeolas, Tony Elumelus, Cosmas Madukas, Chuka Esekas and the likes (including your goodself) would dominate our political space. Till then we'll keep generating our power with our private power plants, source water with our private boreholes, contribute money for 'OPC' to secure our homes, refuse to report to the police when we are robbed because they add no value whatsoever and live in hope that things will get better....afterall, hope is the opium of the people!
Femi also in Lagos (femi@artisanlagos.com)
Winging words! I have often wondered as I'm sure many other rational thinking Nigerians have. Here's the real question; why don't you run for office?
Ommy, a US-based Nigeria wrote on my facebook page
“tearful" indeed. I have moved around quite a bit since leaving Nigeria and there is hardly a place I have been that I have not met a Nigerian in a highly exalted place of honour and responsibility (Education, Health and Social Services, Administration, Business...., In my mind I cannot help but wonder why those people cannot do the same thing at home. But then I remember the level of hostility and contempt that such people receive at home. A system based on anything but merit and integrity has been established and it is so defensive and threatened by anything and anyone that will reveal the mediocrity and parochialism behind it
A combination of mass education (and grassroots campaign) of the cost of good governance to the governed. It is definitely not cheap. I am sure you political junkees have these answers (academically) but where is the will? If this was something the average person can do individually or in small groups, there are people out there who will. But this takes intellectual master planning and dedicated implementation across the country by a people armed with the right tools (information). The people are ready, let the leaders arise.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
The Leadership Calling
“There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, as an error which proceedeth from the ruler: Folly is set in great dignity, and the rich sit in low place. I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking as servants upon the earth….Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child, and thy princes eat in the morning! Blessed art thou, O land, when thy king is the son of nobles, and thy princes eat in due season, for strength, and not for drunkenness! By much slothfulness the building decayeth; and through the idleness of the hands the house droppeth through.” Ecclesiastes 10: 5-7 & 16-18. KJV.
That is the story of Nigeria! The New International Version Bible says “…Fools are put in many high positions…Woe to you, O land whose king was a servant and whose princes feast in the morning. Blessed are you, O land whose king is of noble birth and whose princes eat at a proper time-for strength and not for drunkenness.” We do not understand that leadership is a calling and have elevated many who lack the nobility to serve and to lead into positions they are scarcely prepared for. For some time now I have reflected on this tragedy of our nation. There are some positions which are fundamental to a nation’s future-its leaders, teachers, doctors and healthcare workers, priests and judges. The more I reflected on these positions and their critical role in a nation’s destiny, the more it was clear to me that all of these positions are positions to which men are called.
The problem in Nigeria is that we have despised virtually all of them and elevated people into them with neither inner desire nor anointing for these offices. So many are promoted into priestly positions as routine postings and appointments; graduates who can’t get other positions become teachers a position they positively hate and visit their grievance and anger on their unfortunate students who embody our future; our medical workers are poorly treated and are always on strike, evidence that when they are not on strike, they do the work with disdain and unhappiness; and corruption has crept or perhaps strolled boldly into the honourable sanctuaries of justice. The price we pay for these evils under the sun of our nation is the state our nation is in today!
Of course the greatest error is in terms of those we have allowed to become leaders over us. Or in fact that might well be the foundational error i.e. perhaps the reason we are building dysfunctional education, administrative, judicial, medical and religious systems is because we have allowed misfits become our leaders. Our leaders have been servants, soldiers, customs officers, police officers, dishonourable men and women, cheats and fraudsters, thieves, street fighters and thugs. Essentially a coalition of all the wrong people lead while honourable people occupy lowly positions. When we see a gentleman who seeks leadership and/or who leads with consideration and humanness, we begin to despise him. Like the woman who prefers the man who ill treats her to one who respects and honours her, we are masochists who assume that only brigands and “chieftains” are good enough for leadership in Nigeria.
Unfortunately leadership is a calling and when servants rule, there is woe in the land, and the nation decays. When God would choose a first king for the Jews, he sent Samuel specifically to Saul and asked him to anoint him king over Israel. When God would replace Saul with David, he sent Samuel this time to the house of Jesse and told him to “Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man look on outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.” In Nigeria, worse than looking at the intimidating features of the chieftains we like as leaders, we look carefully at the size of their wallet and how free they are with its contents. In effect the more corrupt you are, or are perceived to be, the more your appeal in the politics of twenty-first century Nigeria!
As we step into 2011, we need to re-consider the qualifications for leadership in this country. We do not want scoundrels and men that lack integrity as our leaders. Why can’t that principled and honest school teacher be the local government councillor? Why can’t we encourage the kind doctor who established a hospital in the community and oftentimes treats poor people free-of-charge to be the local government chairman? Why can’t that virtuous lady who serves as usher in the church or mosque be a member of the House of Assembly? Why can’t the local Bar or Medical Association Chair or the Company Accountant be a federal legislator? What is wrong with the Dean or Professor in the University becoming a Senator? Why must we assume that these types are not “rough” enough to be leaders? Why can’t an intellectual or university lecturer be a President? Why must the servants ride on horses while noble men walk as servants?
That is the story of Nigeria! The New International Version Bible says “…Fools are put in many high positions…Woe to you, O land whose king was a servant and whose princes feast in the morning. Blessed are you, O land whose king is of noble birth and whose princes eat at a proper time-for strength and not for drunkenness.” We do not understand that leadership is a calling and have elevated many who lack the nobility to serve and to lead into positions they are scarcely prepared for. For some time now I have reflected on this tragedy of our nation. There are some positions which are fundamental to a nation’s future-its leaders, teachers, doctors and healthcare workers, priests and judges. The more I reflected on these positions and their critical role in a nation’s destiny, the more it was clear to me that all of these positions are positions to which men are called.
The problem in Nigeria is that we have despised virtually all of them and elevated people into them with neither inner desire nor anointing for these offices. So many are promoted into priestly positions as routine postings and appointments; graduates who can’t get other positions become teachers a position they positively hate and visit their grievance and anger on their unfortunate students who embody our future; our medical workers are poorly treated and are always on strike, evidence that when they are not on strike, they do the work with disdain and unhappiness; and corruption has crept or perhaps strolled boldly into the honourable sanctuaries of justice. The price we pay for these evils under the sun of our nation is the state our nation is in today!
Of course the greatest error is in terms of those we have allowed to become leaders over us. Or in fact that might well be the foundational error i.e. perhaps the reason we are building dysfunctional education, administrative, judicial, medical and religious systems is because we have allowed misfits become our leaders. Our leaders have been servants, soldiers, customs officers, police officers, dishonourable men and women, cheats and fraudsters, thieves, street fighters and thugs. Essentially a coalition of all the wrong people lead while honourable people occupy lowly positions. When we see a gentleman who seeks leadership and/or who leads with consideration and humanness, we begin to despise him. Like the woman who prefers the man who ill treats her to one who respects and honours her, we are masochists who assume that only brigands and “chieftains” are good enough for leadership in Nigeria.
Unfortunately leadership is a calling and when servants rule, there is woe in the land, and the nation decays. When God would choose a first king for the Jews, he sent Samuel specifically to Saul and asked him to anoint him king over Israel. When God would replace Saul with David, he sent Samuel this time to the house of Jesse and told him to “Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man look on outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.” In Nigeria, worse than looking at the intimidating features of the chieftains we like as leaders, we look carefully at the size of their wallet and how free they are with its contents. In effect the more corrupt you are, or are perceived to be, the more your appeal in the politics of twenty-first century Nigeria!
As we step into 2011, we need to re-consider the qualifications for leadership in this country. We do not want scoundrels and men that lack integrity as our leaders. Why can’t that principled and honest school teacher be the local government councillor? Why can’t we encourage the kind doctor who established a hospital in the community and oftentimes treats poor people free-of-charge to be the local government chairman? Why can’t that virtuous lady who serves as usher in the church or mosque be a member of the House of Assembly? Why can’t the local Bar or Medical Association Chair or the Company Accountant be a federal legislator? What is wrong with the Dean or Professor in the University becoming a Senator? Why must we assume that these types are not “rough” enough to be leaders? Why can’t an intellectual or university lecturer be a President? Why must the servants ride on horses while noble men walk as servants?
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
A New Banking Paradigm
I have often wondered about our tendency in Nigeria to forget the essential purpose of things and to carry on activities in a manner that tends to be a corrupted or even perverse version of the original such that at the end of the day we end up with the opposite of what the creators of those activities intended. Nigeria is the country in which risk-takers and entrepreneurial people go into politics rather than business; idealistic and high-minded types who ought to be in politics and government end up in journalism, academics or NGOs and spend all their energies criticizing the actions or inactions of politicians; most of those trained as engineers end up seeking employment in banking (and now telecommunications); and most computer science graduates are hardware or software importers and salesmen rather than software engineers or programmers. And yet everyone wonders why the country in not fulfilling its potential!!!
In the last few years, hundreds of microfinance banks (MFBs) were licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) under its policy requiring erstwhile community banks to be converted to MFBs and new ones given regulatory sanction. What was the fundamental motivation of the promoters of these institutions? Were they like Muhammed Younis of Grameen Bank driven by a concern about poverty alleviation through micro-lending? Prior to their decision to obtain these licenses, had they ever been burdened by the problem of widespread poverty and the denial of access to credit to the seventy percent of our people who live in poverty or semi-poverty? Of course we would not be surprised to find that perhaps only a tiny minority of these people ever reflected on these matters. Instead what you had were MFBs whose promoters and managers thought they were mini-commercial banks and behaved as such, buying jeeps and opening glassy offices in urban high streets, alleviating no poverty and many of them duly failing in short course.
The banking system itself had also shown signs that it forgot its central purpose-economic development. Banks were created in order to mobilise savings and through their intermediation role to channel such savings to investors who required financing for productive activities which would result in economic development. Of course in performing this role, it was inevitable and just that the bank or banker would make a profit, but it would be a perverse outcome if the banker made a profit without generating economic development. Many Nigerians have (especially since the banking liberalisation brought about under the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) from 1986 to 1990) viewed banks in this manner, not without some justification.
Which is why I am excited about recent noises emerging from the Bankers’ Committee (the group which brings together the CBN Governor, Deputy Governors and CEOs of Deposit Money Banks) about a new focus on economic development. Apparently the Bankers’ Committee has set up a sub-committee on economic development headed by respected Access Bank CEO Aig Aig-Imoukhuede in furtherance of a desire to provide funding to critical sectors of the economy and ensure sustained economic development in the country. The initiative seeks to encourage focus on power, agriculture, transportation and small and medium scale enterprises. I am usually sceptical about apparently lofty initiatives which emerge from government or quasi-government bodies especially when it culminates in the formation of a committee! But perhaps not surprisingly (given its headship by Aig-Imoukhuede an execution-oriented banking strategist), this committee is turning out to be different.
The committee reportedly organised a three-day retreat focused on the role of the banking system in economic development where all the banks admitted that credit had previously been dominated by financial market operators, importation and oil market traders and affirmed an intent to begin to refocus finance to critical areas of the real sector and SMEs. The banks agreed to channel bonds to these sectors and to package structured infrastructure financing and other activities towards revitalising the productive economy. The banks also decided on some advocacy initiatives targeted towards redirecting pension funds towards these sectors and reducing the cost of incorporation of companies at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC). Happily an action plan was developed to ensure implementation of agreed initiatives which the CBN was charged with monitoring.
The sub-committee has followed up on the action plan through interactions with several state governments, the Ministry of Power, National Pension Commission and the Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission. The CBN has supported this new focus with several funds targeted at manufacturing, SMEs, power and aviation and designed new prudential guidelines to encourage real sector and infrastructure lending. I hope these activities represent a sustained commitment to the real sector and recognition of the essential purpose of banking which is to foster economic development. Incidentally the banks will be one of the greatest beneficiaries of a real sector based economy except that then no one could grudge them their benefits.
In the last few years, hundreds of microfinance banks (MFBs) were licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) under its policy requiring erstwhile community banks to be converted to MFBs and new ones given regulatory sanction. What was the fundamental motivation of the promoters of these institutions? Were they like Muhammed Younis of Grameen Bank driven by a concern about poverty alleviation through micro-lending? Prior to their decision to obtain these licenses, had they ever been burdened by the problem of widespread poverty and the denial of access to credit to the seventy percent of our people who live in poverty or semi-poverty? Of course we would not be surprised to find that perhaps only a tiny minority of these people ever reflected on these matters. Instead what you had were MFBs whose promoters and managers thought they were mini-commercial banks and behaved as such, buying jeeps and opening glassy offices in urban high streets, alleviating no poverty and many of them duly failing in short course.
The banking system itself had also shown signs that it forgot its central purpose-economic development. Banks were created in order to mobilise savings and through their intermediation role to channel such savings to investors who required financing for productive activities which would result in economic development. Of course in performing this role, it was inevitable and just that the bank or banker would make a profit, but it would be a perverse outcome if the banker made a profit without generating economic development. Many Nigerians have (especially since the banking liberalisation brought about under the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) from 1986 to 1990) viewed banks in this manner, not without some justification.
Which is why I am excited about recent noises emerging from the Bankers’ Committee (the group which brings together the CBN Governor, Deputy Governors and CEOs of Deposit Money Banks) about a new focus on economic development. Apparently the Bankers’ Committee has set up a sub-committee on economic development headed by respected Access Bank CEO Aig Aig-Imoukhuede in furtherance of a desire to provide funding to critical sectors of the economy and ensure sustained economic development in the country. The initiative seeks to encourage focus on power, agriculture, transportation and small and medium scale enterprises. I am usually sceptical about apparently lofty initiatives which emerge from government or quasi-government bodies especially when it culminates in the formation of a committee! But perhaps not surprisingly (given its headship by Aig-Imoukhuede an execution-oriented banking strategist), this committee is turning out to be different.
The committee reportedly organised a three-day retreat focused on the role of the banking system in economic development where all the banks admitted that credit had previously been dominated by financial market operators, importation and oil market traders and affirmed an intent to begin to refocus finance to critical areas of the real sector and SMEs. The banks agreed to channel bonds to these sectors and to package structured infrastructure financing and other activities towards revitalising the productive economy. The banks also decided on some advocacy initiatives targeted towards redirecting pension funds towards these sectors and reducing the cost of incorporation of companies at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC). Happily an action plan was developed to ensure implementation of agreed initiatives which the CBN was charged with monitoring.
The sub-committee has followed up on the action plan through interactions with several state governments, the Ministry of Power, National Pension Commission and the Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission. The CBN has supported this new focus with several funds targeted at manufacturing, SMEs, power and aviation and designed new prudential guidelines to encourage real sector and infrastructure lending. I hope these activities represent a sustained commitment to the real sector and recognition of the essential purpose of banking which is to foster economic development. Incidentally the banks will be one of the greatest beneficiaries of a real sector based economy except that then no one could grudge them their benefits.
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