Fresh Perspectives on Brand Nigeria
The road to the Promised Land is always bumpy! It is a full of traps and is laden with problems. The people’s resolve is often tested, and their faith is stretched. They meet predators disguised as sheep, and sometimes mistake genuine sheep for predators. They sometimes ‘miss road’, and have to re-start or re-route. The journey is full of twists and turns and is long, tortuous, and draining. Some who started their journeys some seven thousand years ago have still not gotten to the ‘promised land’ in all respects! Some trips, in the journey, are treacherous and inflict heavy casualties, generate crises and chaos, whilst sometimes, along the road, there are also successes. Leaders who started the journeys hardly finished them. Leadership succession was always a problem. Some leaders handed the baton over to shaky successors who dropped the baton. Some dropped the baton before handing over. Others took the baton to the grave. Some leaders were remembered for contributions made to success in their leg of the journey, whilst others are cursed till this day for the havoc created and trauma inflicted on their people.
God has been so kind to Nigeria, but Nigerians have not been that kind to Nigeria. Our country is abundantly resource-rich. Our lands are so fertile that if you plant a finger, a human being can grow. Our long-suffering people are warm, friendly, peace loving, and accommodating.
However, for much of our lifetime we have witnessed:-
’Corrective’ regimes that ended up correcting only their bank balances
Net export of agric produce, degenerating to negative resource exports – human trafficking!
Made in Nigeria becoming Mad(e) in Nigeria , as manufacturing went on life-support
PLCs shrinking to poor little companies, due to economic policy failures
Celebrations of excellence replaced with celebration of mediocrity
Why did post-independence Nigeria become a country spinning on its head, declining-From a ‘blue-eyed boy’, to an international pariah (by the dusk of military rule?)
From Black Hope, to African embarrassment
From an emerging economy, to a submerging economy, due to disastrous economic policies
From pre-independence hope, to hopeless mismanagement of infrastructure (road, rail, power), health, water, parastatals, etc.
From robust purchasing power, to take-home pay ‘that cannot take us home.’
From brain drain, to drained brains, in a totally mismanaged education sector
From decent buses and taxi-cabs, to ‘okada’ cycle crashes, burns etc
From cultured integrity and high respect, to a thousand meters under. Corruption in the head, corruption in the heart, corruption in deed; institutionalizing and celebration of corruption.
From democracy to military, to military, to military, to democracy, to military, to military, to interim, to military, to military, to democracy …, to democracy.. shrines/ cults……?
It is human for everyone to jump on the bandwagon and claim credit when success is achieved; but what happens when things don’t quite work out as envisaged, or when thick, ominous clouds gather, and tempestuous storms threaten? There are different strokes with different individuals –
Some do not even notice the phenomenon at all, until the house falls.
§ some just look the other way
§ Some notice but cannot decode and they crumble in the rubble of the fallen house.
§ some decipher, but continue with their sleep saying, ‘after all, what would be would be’
§ Some get on their knees and pray and fast ceaselessly and do nothing else, saying ‘God is in control’, even though God had already equipped them with brains. He should also come down to mold the block for them?
§ Some moan and belly-ache and blame everybody else, but self, for the situation. They are also very wise after the event. ‘It is the fault of my advisers, ‘the wicked have done their worst.’
§ Some digest and analyze all the facts and data, and proffer suggestions, but sit back saying, “ I have played my part; after all, I have told them what to do ?” Just who will mold your block for you?
§ Yet others take everything in, rouse their comrades, organize resources, mobilize the troops, fix the bunkers, evacuate the roads, strengthen the embankments, arrange the supplies, and work resolutely at preventing, mitigating, or arresting the ensuing problem, whilst still praying fervently for divine intervention.
Which category do you belong to? Whichever it may be, we must accept that building a nation is a collective responsibility.
JETTISON THE BLAME GAME
We must jettison the blame game. First it was fashionable to blame the colonial masters (who left 49 years ago!) for everything wrong in Nigeria . Then when the military first struck everything was the fault of the ‘bloody civilian’ politician. As military started staging coups against themselves (many more than those staged against civilians) military blamed military, destroying ‘esprit de corps’ and all the noble traditions and disciplines for which they were renowned. When the agbada people re-emerged, again it was fashionable to heap all the blame on the military. As every passing year makes military rule history, party blames party, legislature blames executive and vice versa, tribe blames tribe, zone blames zone. Private sector blames public sector and vice-versa. Followers blame leaders, whilst leaders blame followers.
This national pastime has assumed some disturbing, if not amusing proportions. Your undernourished mother dies at the nevertheless ripe old age of 98 years, and you say ‘the wicked have done their worst! You are caught stealing and claim ‘it is the work of the devil’. Your detective structure collapses on innocent passersby and you say ‘it is God’s will’. You did not prepare for your exams and land a 3rd”class, and you claim ‘they gave me third class! (But of course the lingo changes to ‘I made 1st“class, if you did well). The examples are endless.
Everyone blames every one else, plus God, and the devil. No, none blames self! Of course many turn round and then pontificate that ‘ Nigeria has failed us’. Nigeria is not made up of just toads and lizards and mosquitoes. Nigeria is made up of people. We make up Nigeria ! Nigeria has not failed us, we have failed ourselves!
Back To Basis
In order to be able to reposition correctly, we need to correct some misconceptions that have tended to reward inefficiency and penalize effectiveness.
Leadership that stands for nothing is good for nothing
Leadership without vision is like blind leading the blind.
Leadership that bequeaths incompetent succession is a compound failure.
Vision without focus lead nations down the abyss
Goals without goalposts muffle performance, making giants of dwarves, and vice versa.
The only place where strategies are perfect is on a strategy document.
The best strategy documents will still not run a factory; you need good plans that meet best practice.
Manifestoes and ‘Agenda’, no matter how good, are no substitute for good Plans.
Plans never deliver, without process discipline and outcome focus!
Resources are not wealth, without resourcefulness!
Potential remains just that- ‘potential’! it may never be realized.
Growth, without values, will never yield development
Unless Performance Benchmarks are clearly defined, and sanctions/reward systems fully applied consistently, leadership behaviour will remain compromised.
Corruption is neither inevitable, nor insurmountable!
Arresting the causes of criminality is more rewarding long term than arresting criminals.
Poverty should neither be a birthright nor a life sentence. No-one deserves poverty.
Replace ‘Common Sense’ with Professionalism – Common sense takes you thus far, but it is only professionalism that surely gets you there, consistently.
Democracy, because of the choices it offers or should offer, is the best assurance of governance performance.
Democracy, however is not an end in itself, but should benefit the citizenry; otherwise it is a failure!
Democracy that benefits a few is Government of Dem-Dem, by Dem-Dem, for Dem-Dem.
Change or Die. Reform or get swallowed up! However, the challenge in managing change, especially in our impoverished circumstances, is to be able, consistently, to balance long term gain with short term pain.
“Bad leaders are encouraged by good citizens who feel they can’t make a difference.”
Let us stop moaning about darkness, or keep looking for a convenient ‘whipping boy’ to pass the buck to whenever things do not go well. We should light a lamp instead.
CHIEF LUGARD E. A. AIMIUWU (OON) Is the President and Chairman of Council, National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria.
