What You Do Speaks So Loud, by Tony Osakpamwan Agbons

A lot has been said about the human capacity to create and innovate. What would life have been today without electricity, cars, aeroplanes, medical imaging and more recently mobile telecommunications. Inventors have made and are continuing to make huge contributions to humanity. As I write this, I recall with great nostalgia in my teenage years reading the classic book, Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. A famous line from the book that has lived with me for decades is the evergreen words, “whatever the mind can conceive, the hand can achieve”.  To say that book was one of the epic notes that inspired me is an understatement. The point I am making here is that the mind is a magical box capable of the unimaginable.  Tim Berners-Lee, a British scientist, while working for CERN invented the World Wide Web (WWW) in 1989. CERN is derived from the acronym for the French words “Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire”, or European Council for Nuclear Research. It`s a provisional body founded in 1952 with the mandate of establishing a world-class fundamental physics research organisation in Europe. The Web was originally conceived and developed to meet the demand for automated information-sharing between scientists in universities and institutes around the world. Thirty-five years on, Tim Berners-Lee could not have imagined how his noble invention will change the world. Such is the creative power of the human mind.

I am surely going somewhere with this drive. So, dear reader keep your seat belt on. Over the years, leaders have emerged in different sectors of society – business, politics, science, medicine, finance, I.T et al. and revolutionised established norms. These game changers have altered the direction of travel of knowledge application, their landscape and wellbeing of their people. It is however expedient not to harangue you with a compendium of the names of these world changers. They are legion. What is of import in this discuss is that a creative mind(s) can aggregate the collective aspirations of a nation state. Take a thought picture from Africa, the Americas, Middle East, Europe, or Asia, and you will see where exactly we are headed in this express journey. In navigating the high bumps on the way, these creative leaders were able to galvanise their people towards a renaissance and egalitarian posterity. Note the buzz word – posterity, not prosperity. The Oxford English dictionary defines posterity as all future generations. Prosperity on the other hand is referred as a successful, flourishing, or thriving condition.

Make no mistake, it takes a deliberate, concerted effort to transform a society. It is not a sprint but a marathon. The marathon must be situational, directional, positional, well mapped out and followed through. Nigerians are one of the most creative minds on the planet. Everywhere you go, they are excelling with a Midas touch in various fields of human endeavour. The lexical capacity of this piece will not be sufficient to dissect the countless and boundless energy of the Nigerian spirit. It is therefore worrisome that these energies have not translated into a better life for the teeming population. The knock back effect is that the latent creativity needed to accentuate a steady, speedy development of the country is unutilised, albeit deliberately by successive members of the ruling political, business and elite class. A dangerous culture has therefore been built over time in Nigeria as honesty, integrity, compassion, and empathy for the vulnerable amongst us have been thrown in the sink. Placement and positioning at all levels of society is now based on dishonesty, cutting corners and corruption-knowhow. Many observers have been `storming`; How on earth did we get here? What exactly is it that is wrong with us a people?

Analysts believe that in both organisational and societal settings, culture is a `sine qua non` for wholistic developments. Legendary management expert and writer, Peter Drucker is attributed to have said; “Culture eats strategy for breakfast”. To be clear he didn’t mean that strategy was unimportant, rather that a powerful and empowering culture was a surer route to organisational cum societal success. Culture would always eat strategy for breakfast no matter how well intentioned the strategic framework is. Therein lies the bane of Nigeria`s social, economic, and political development. For our country to grow, both the leadership and followership have to find a way of creating an enduring culture that is first, humane, second, innovative and third, one wherein individuals take responsibility for results – moving away from bureaucratic silos where formulaic approaches dominate.

Johnson and Scholes (1999) in their published work, The cultural web identified six linked elements that make up culture. They are stories and myths, rituals and routines, symbols, organisational structure, control systems, and power structures. Literary space will fail me to expand on each of these themes in this piece. Importantly, they didn’t try and specify any one best culture. Instead, they argue that by analysing each element, any domain (organisation or society) can decide if the current approach helps to deliver their vision and mission or hinder it. For Nigeria, the simple pathway will be; what are the stories and myths colouring our landscape? What are the rituals and routines hindering our growth as a nation? In the same way, what are those symbols, organisational structures, control systems, and power systems impeding our acceleration as a society. The answer I am sure again, are obvious and legion. However, a few solutions would suffice.

Firstly, we must admit the current system is not working. I am sure you will agree with me on that. It is same of the same, year in, year out. A few motion here and there, without movement, then zip, stuck in the mud. Four years later, litany of promises and colourful speeches pouring all over, another general election and the cycle continues. The system certainly needs a total rejig. It is time for decentralisation of the power system. Leadership at all tiers (federal, state and local) must be held accountable for their actions. This is not to hold brief for anyone, the current federal system as practised in Nigeria is over bloated, bogus, wasteful, and economically unsustainable. It needs to be trimmed to the barest minimum. Nigeria really has no business having a bicameral legislature. A single house of senate is enough. Three senators or representatives from each state is enough. At the Executive arm of government, 18-20 federal cabinet ministers are sufficient. The requisite amendments should be fast-tracked to facilitate this. As practised in other climes, executives at the federal and state levels should take care of their personal expenses – food, drink, guest etc. All those retinue of aides – SSAs, SAs (senior special assistants, senior assistants) should be cut off or at best reduced. All these measures should be replicated and cascaded to the wire at the sub-national (state) level. The cost of governance has to go down. All who are seeking political office must have the mindset of coming to do sacrificial service and not to be served.

Secondly, vital institutions that carries the cardinal points of nation building must begin to function and in sync with global best practices. The Judiciary/Rule of law, Police, National Electoral Commission, Political parties all have to answer their real names. The Civil service, Private sector and ancillary units just have to be above board. Anything less is simply an invitation to anarchy. A culture of respect for unquestionable display of opulence and affluence has to stop. Thank God, culture is dynamic so we can let go of the not so good traits and integrate better ones. The question is, are we going to continue doing things the same old way and get new results? Or are we going to explore the dynamism of culture, infusing better options for optimally shared quality of life. The late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo once counselled, “the pursuit of wealth is not a bad thing in itself because without the food and comforts which wealth provides, life will be penurious and drab. But always remember that any wealth accumulated on a selfish basis, at the expense of the state in defiance of social justice helps to create a disorganised society in which everybody will eat everybody, and no one person can be safe”. Governance in a nutshell should be for the happiness of the majority and not just a few. Let all those in position of authority in Nigeria hear succinctly the words of Ralph Emerson, “Who you are speaks so loudly, I can`t hear what you are saying”. End of quote.

Dr Agbons is Lead, Institute of Leadership and Good Governance @www.twin2.org