My recent participation as a Fellow at the Democratic Leadership Training Workshop (DLTW) which was held at Ota between 13th to 19th February, 2005 under the auspices of the African Leadership Forum (ALF) has beyond doubt helped me to re-discover Nigeria and better appreciate the challenges confronting it as a nation-state.
Being a professional in the financial sector I went to the workshop with mixed feelings, wondering how I will fit in, in an environment where politics was going to be the order of the day. The workshop in order to give it, the fast becoming standardised Nigerian definition of full representation of all views, drew representation from youths in the public and private sectors from all the six geo-political zones of the country.
The workshop which is part of an outlined series according to the organisers was necessitated by the outcome of an empirical research, which concluded that the most grave problem facing most African countries, is the absence of a frame work for grooming, nurturing and empowering the next generation of leaders intellectually with knowledge about emerging paradigms and global practices in Leadership, Democracy and the Rule of Law
Unlike the on-going dialogue in Abuja, the mock confab at Ota had no go areas. Participants were given the liberty to discuss anything under the sun from the unity of Nigeria, Resource Control, Federal Character, Self Determination etc. In discussing sundry issues that bordered on Federal character, corruption, rule of law, values, ethnics, justice and fairness, good leadership, globalisation etc, most of the participants being youths exhibited exuberance, zero tolerance for poor performance and expectation for a swift change in leadership and societal values.
It is instructive to emphasise that despite the sometimes heated nature of debates, which were often moderated by experienced resource persons from the academia and the civil society, it became apparent that the unity and indivisibility of Nigeria is not in anyway threatened by our discussing it. Rather the wealth of intellectual resources that facilitators at the workshop availed participants proved beyond dispute that the problem with the Nigerian State is not its diversity or plural complexities.
Challenges are Identified
The consensus at the end of the workshop among participants and resource persons was that the average Nigerian, irrespective of his or her faith, ethnic group, social stratification or immediate milieu, face similar challenges of poor infrastructure, poverty, unemployment, bad leadership, corruption, bureaucracy, ineptitude etc. Deliberations and passionate views expressed by participants at the workshop was recurrent in concluding that the ethnic and cultural plurality of Nigeria, though real is often exaggerated by the political elite as a burden, as against being an untapped strength .
In the video clip of an interview with Dr Boutros Boutros Ghali, which was played at one of the sessions of the workshop, the retired diplomat averred that the current shift in the world politically and economically is towards consolidation, as against isolation. This according to him is what recommends multi-literalism, as against unilateralism as the best protection for all macro and micro political and economic interests all over the globe.
The postulations of Boutros Ghali and references on how dominant countries in the world such as the USA, China, India, Brazil, Malaysia, and Indonesia have transformed their diversities to prosperity continue to disprove the notion that the problem of Nigeria is ethnicity, resource control, quest for self-determination, federal character etc. The real problem of Nigeria as most participants later reached an agreement on, is the regrettable absence of a leadership that is credible enough to command informed followers. The absence of credible leaders has concurrently created scarcity of informed citizenry that are capable of showing resolute commitment to the development and competitiveness of Nigeria in the global world.
Most leaders that have had the privilege of holding public office at various levels of government have shown greater commitment to protecting the micro interest of the social or political groups(s) that produced them. The allegiance of most public office holders to the interest of the exploitative critical mass in the society, is the greatest obstacle to the development and sincere implementation of people and development - driven policies that are in the interest of the common good. This is to a very great extent accounts for why the spirit of accountability is low among most people in positions of leadership in Nigeria and most African countries.
Deliberations at the workshop also exemplified the axiom that there are always two sides to a coin, by objectively concluding that the leadership problem plaguing the nation has also been made worse by the absence of politically discerning and assertive citizenry, who are conscious of their rights and willing to demand them always. The entire citizenry has and continues to fail the nation by relegating to the background their civic responsibility of engaging those in leadership positions when they derail. Average citizens have also shown poor commitment to ensuring that all public policies are driven by the interest of the common good, in preference for self-serving ethnic, sectarian, partisan and ideological considerations.
Some other topics that generated heated debate at the workshop which unknowingly turned into a mock national dialogue, were the issues of equal representation for women in the polity, proper definition of Nigeria’s national interest, endemic corruption, sustainable development vs. civilization, unilateralism vs. multilateralism, pandemic spread of HIV, and deliberative democracy.
One major revelation at the workshop that must be stressed with emphasis, is that our failures as individual citizens and as members of micro family units, also mirrors the many deficiencies and things we dislike about our country. The highly interactive mood at the “mock dialogue” made it possible for participants to honestly share their personal experiences about moments when they were turn between achieving personal goals and compromising the timeless values of honesty, integrity and fairness.
The confessions of some participants which were freely volunteered, about instances when they had cause to compromise personal values, helped the entire house to appreciate the enormous challenges and temptations that public office holders contend with. Participants agreed that those in leadership positions are often pushed to compromise established values because of in-ordinate or self-centered expectations of members of their constituencies or major stakeholders in the society.
While the challenge of managing expectations is real and very Herculean, the confab resolved that it should never be rationalised by current and budding leaders as justification for bad leadership and poor implementation of well-intentioned public policies.
Reflections
The African Leadership Forum (ALF) and its principal staff deserve commendation for exhibiting uncanny creativity in designing constituent programmes of the 5-day workshop. The ALF being conscious of the fact that most participants at the workshop were less than the age of forty, built into the programme a session for interaction between reference personalities in the public and private sectors. The mentor chat as this session was labeled provided a forum for invited personalities to share their experiences, and most importantly convince the next generation of leaders that they can influence and transform Nigeria for greatness without compromising the honoured value of integrity.
On reflection I am tempted to believe that the exclusive choice of two women as mentors at the ‘’mock dialogue’’ was a deliberate move to position the integrity and achievements of these women as enviable reference for the Nigeria society, most importantly men. The informed choice of female mentors is in tandem with the issue of gender equality which was recurrent in all workshop syndicate sessions.
It should be placed on record that the two mentors namely Mrs. Joy Ogwu, the Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (N.I.I.A.) and Mrs. Bisi Olateru-Olagbegi, a renowned lawyer and women’s rights advocate, displayed rare humility and infectious sense of responsibility. These women readily admitted that their generation which has produced the present crop of leaders has failed the nation. They sincerely apologised on behalf of this generation for failing to provide good leadership that is worth emulating by the next generation of leaders that the ALF workshop seeks to create.
Participation as the last ALF workshop is a privilege I cherish greatly and would gladly wish any young professional in the public or private sector. It is instructive to emphasise that all participants at the workshop beyond coming from different professional backgrounds, also came with lots of bias, stereotypes and strong opinions about what they assume is wrong with Nigeria as an entity and as member of a fast emerging world without borders.
The methodology at the workshop focused on encouraging a deliberative forum, an approach that is totally strange to the antagonistic culture of debate, that we are all properly schooled in from infancy to adulthood. We all discovered to our chagrin at the end of the workshop, that reaching a consensual agreement about the way forward for Nigeria was not as difficult as we all thought.
At the end of the intellectually rewarding dialogue, participants collectively resolved to embark on deliberate repositioning of themselves as agents of change and transformation. This challenge, though Herculean, is a clarion call that every Nigerian citizen, particularly those in leadership positions must heed before the sun sets on our collective dreams as a nation.
Olumide Idowu is a Lagos based Banker, Poet and commentator on public issues.
« return.