Over the
weekend, I went for a business presentation with my boss to the management of a
steel manufacturing company. As the meeting commenced, I noticed we were the
only Nigerians in the room. All the top management of the company were Indians
and it got me thinking about Nigeria and the situation with the lingering political
appointments.
For a company
that has done business in Nigeria since the late 1960s, why is there not even a
single Nigerian on their top management. The answer however was not far-fetched.
Most successful businesses in Nigeria are run by people with a common
understanding, commitment and trust. Take a critical look at the longest
surviving business empires in Nigeria, and you will understand this better.
Trust is
something that comes by default when someone is considered as family. Like the Ibos
will say 'you can't kill someone that you would also have to bury’. That
clearly defines the power that trust possesses. Talking about the Ibos, they have
a tradition of running businesses along family lines just like the Indians or
Japanese. Their businesses always have the appendage “and Sons” depicting the
reliance on family interest for its survival. If you take a close look at some
businesses owned by Ibo men that went under, you will discover that they were
taken over by apprentices who ended up embezzling and eloping with their benefactor’s
funds. That in itself can be likened to the microcosm of corruption that has
largely eroded the Nigerian space.
Trust and commitment
are very important ingredients for success in any human relationship or
endeavour. When you take away the trust element, then you are exposed to
enormous risk and a high possibility of failure. Commitment implies a
willingness to make short-term sacrifices to realize longer-term benefits.
For a game as
precarious as politics, you would want to play with your most trusted players;
family members and friends. President Buhari in my observation has resolved to
work with people who are highly competent and very trustworthy. The former is a
huge factor in a country laden with more stomach
politicians than seasoned technocrats. And the former is important for the same
reason and for the President's integrity.
Every good
leader should surround himself with people who will betray his trust. If
President Jonathan had taken this into account, maybe he would have still been
the President of Nigeria and on his way to becoming the best President Nigeria
ever had. Unfortunately, he didn’t speak the same language with members of his
kitchen cabinet.
In my opinion,
the biggest concern for Nigerians should not be whether the President is giving their ethnic group a sense of belonging with key
political appointments. They should rather focus on what he is trying to
achieve. Nigerians should pay more attention on the change we have been
promised rather than in the instruments of the change. For instance, after all the appointments from the South East
in the last administration, were they (Political Appointees) able to deliver
the all-important Second Niger Bridge
or any landmark development? The ayes have it!
Fellow
Nigerians, let us face the reality. Appointing our kinsmen into the highest
offices in the land is not an indication that your land will be redeemed. I am
sure most of us don’t know where the person in charge of power comes from and
we honestly don’t care as long as we have electricity for most hours of the day
in our homes. We want a better life and whoever is going to give that to us
becomes our brother, sister or family.
Some of you
would like to argue that the President is trying to northernize Nigeria and
marginalize the South for not voting for him overwhelmingly at the polls. I
would like to hear your opinion on this issue as it’s critical to our
development as one big happy indivisible family called Nigeria. Long live the President
and Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
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