How to win Change in Nigeria
(Contribution to the Webinar organized by Nigerians in Diaspora on 25th of January 2024 in London.)
By Charles Oladipo Akinde Ph.D.
What is Change and how does it affect us politically?
Nothing is more constant than change. Anything that comes into existence must
experience change in one way or the other. But in order not to talk abstractly, we must link what we mean by change with something; here I think the organisers mean political and for that matter, economic change.
While political change is desirable, it is the most difficult to achieve, why? Because it deals with human beings with different ideas and social orientations. In a country like Nigeria with several cultures and traditions to deal with, it makes it the more difficult to fathom out any reasonable change; because we have many huddles to cross to get to desired goal. We have cultural pluralism with it’s attendant inertias, we have religious huddles to cross, we also have educational huddle above all.
Let me be clear about these, I mean by cultural iniatia, cultures that are likely to resist change; the meaning of religious huddle is obvious because we are experiencing it already in Nigeria today.
Educational huddle is not whether one posseses a certificate or not, here I mean that with many of us who have traveled and studied in different countries, we will definitely imbibe some of their political systems, when such people come together in a political system like Nigeria that has no political standard or model of its own, conflict may occur because of the misunderstanding that differences in our outlook tends to generate.
It follows that you can not have a political change without an ideology whether socialism, capitalism, liberalism or pragmatism. these “isms” would make sense if we are talking to the elements of 1950s and 1960s; today’s breed of politicians will not care about any “ism,” but to get what they want by any means. If I can link these stance with a theory, It is Machiavellianism, the belief that the end result will justify the means used. Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527) was an Italian diplomat, philosopher and writer, who propounded the theory in his book “The Prince”. In the book he discussed the pragmatic principles of leadership and governance, It denotes “cunningness,” or the ability to be manipulative, and a drive to use whatever means necessary to gain power. Sometimes this kind of attitude may turn political atmosphere to chaos
and near anarchy.
In Nigeria there is no known philosophy that guides the modern political movements. that is why a politician can belong to one party today and change tomorrow to another which he or she was condemning yesterday without any qualms. It is normal in Nigeria for one to belong to one party in the morning before the sunsets, you will see him or her dinning and dancing with the
so-called opponents celebrating his “decampment.” or crossing over to another party.
Can we compare political movement today with the time of Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s Action Group which propounded Democratic Socialism, or Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe’s NCNC, (the first President of an independent Nigeria) who pronounce Pragmatism or Dr. Tunji Otegbeye and his group who propounded Scientific Socialism? This is not to say that one is more correct than the other it is to say that these political movements had laid out policies that followers must follow diligently.
There is no political movement without an underlying belief. Whether the belief if pronounced overtly or covertly. But the politicians of today are pursuing individualistic ideals employing the philosophy of Machiavelli where and when necessary.
Now let us come to the title of this webinar, “How to win change in Nigeria”. First what is change? To change is to alter or transform something, in this sense political and economic atmosphere.
Change refers to the process of becoming different or altering in some way, in other words it implies a departure from a previous state. Let us put at the back of our minds that change is double-edged, in that it can be positive or it can be negative. But here I have assumed that we mean change in a positive way rather than the other unpleasant one.
To effect change it involves people, people with a set characters, honest and incorruptible people must be at the helm of affairs, people who posses the qualities that make positive change possible.
Apart from incorruptible character there are other things involved which leaders as well as followers must have in order to make positive change achievable which I will briefly mention here for clarity, we can then view them against the backdrop of what is lacking in Nigeria that makes positive change impossible.
There are two sides to change, the leaders who shape and formulate the policies and the followers whose patronage is essential to make policies workable.what kind of leaders that can effect a positive change? Both leaders and followers play crucial roles in winning a change, but their importance can vary depending on the specific context and circumstances of the change initiative.
Here’s a breakdown:
*Leaders* : Leaders provide direction, vision, and guidance during times of change. They are responsible for initiating change, communicating its purpose, and setting the tone for how it will be implemented. Effective leadership can inspire confidence, foster trust, and rally support from followers.
Leaders also play a key role in overcoming resistance to change and navigating obstacles along the way.
Followers on the other hand, are the individuals who implement and execute the changes proposed by leaders. They are essential for translating vision into action and driving change at the ground level. Engaged and committed followers can contribute valuable insights, ideas, and feedback to improve the change process. Their support and cooperation are critical for the success of any change initiative. Thus, while leaders provide direction and drive change, followers are essential for its execution and sustainability. Both are equally important, and their collaboration is necessary for winning a change effectively. Leaders who inspire positive change typically possess a combination of personal qualities and leadership skills that enable them to effectively motivate and mobilize others. Some essential qualities include:
*Vision* : A clear and compelling vision of the desired future state inspired others to rally behind a
common purpose and direction.
*Courage* : Courageous leaders are willing to take risks, challenge the status quo, and confront obstacles in pursuit of meaningful change.
Empathy: Empathic leaders understand and appreciate the perspectives, feelings, and needs of others, fostering trust, collaboration, and inclusivity.
Integrity: Leaders who act with integrity, demonstrate honesty, authenticity, and ethical behaviour, earning the respect and trust of their followers.
It is important to underline the quality of inclusiveness which according to the Oxford Dictionary is “the practice or policy of providing equal access to opportunities and resources for people who might otherwise be excluded or marginalized such as those having physical or intellectual
disabilities or belonging to other minority groups”,
While there are other qualities that a leader must posses in oder to effect positive change, I would like to emphasize the issue of trust and integrity. Integrity is the quality of being honest and having a strong moral principles. It is this singular quality that is lacking in Nigerian politics that almost destroyed the country today. In this article I have been careful not to apportion blame to individuals or groups since the purpose of a gathering of this nature is to educate ourselves illustrating where necessary to make allusion to individuals and groups; this is because I believe that it is in this kind of webinar that people learn from each other whether as politicians or followers. In other words, a webinar of this kind is for learning purposes not only for political agitation but also for political education.
What I deduce from this webinar is the wish that Nigeria will one day become a democracy like in other countries whose pillars rest solidly on the observance of human rights, to a society guided by the principles of justice, equality, participation and accountability; with a
focus on addressing pressing social, political, environmental, and economic challenges such as mass poverty and mass illiteracy.
*Lessons in Integrity*
A public office holder must have a standard to look up to, to emulate and fashion his or her actions upon, call this ideology or any name, here is one of them, while I was preparing this paper, I came across a post in one of the platforms, the speech of the Prime Minister of Singapore, a country in South East Asia; he is also the leader of PAP, the current ruling Party in that country, I don’t on which occasion he was speaking but the speech went viral on the internet.
In that speech said, “keep our system clean”. No matter which level of government you are remember, to keep our system clean. He also confidently said that “we cannot have corruption in
Singapore.” Can we give such assurance in Nigeria? I doubt. He said that everything, including reputation is temporary but character is permanent. He also said that “we need politicians who are honest and clean so also we need the voters who can spot the difference between people who are clean and honest, therefore as much as we need good politicians, so much so that we needvoters who can uphold the ideals of good governance.
Prof. O. O. Akinkugbe (Emeritus Professor of Medicine, University of Ibadan Nigeria,) gave a speech in FUTA (Federal University of Technology Akure) on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the death of High Chief Gabriel Akin-Deko, the late Lisa of Idanre, he made allusion to among others, the corruptible judge I quote, ” I once stumbled in an American bookstores into a fascinating book store a book titled, “the finest judges money can buy” It is an account of all the corrupt judges in the US history. One of them, Justice Douglas asserted early in the 20th century “I receive equal amounts of money from both sides so that my judgment will not be biased”!
Professor Akinkugbe had many real life anecdotes on public morality he said that “Our past heroes were careful to the extent that they knew their followers would constantly monitor their moral integrity at various levels. Peer and societal sanction were in place and severe.
A prison sentence was a tragic blot on the family name and we were often at school always warned to remember the homes and families from which we emerged”
He advised that “we need to go back to the drawing board in Nigeria and examine how our culture has been so brutalised in recent decades that we are now over-dazzled by the gospel of wealth at all cost.” (quoted from “Honouring past heroes (with a Note on the Burden of integrity”, Guest Lecture at FUTA Akure Friday 07 December 2007). The bottom line in all these is to draw our attention to the value of being honest.
People are today clamouring for separation because we are too big as a country, some say restructuring, some say total disintegration or separation into Regions, Rightly or wrongly if you cannot produce honest and incorruptible politician and the clean and understandable voters who can differentiate between honesty and it’s opposite, but politicians whose only ideal is to amass wealth and more wealth be any means possible, even if you break up Nigeria into as small as family units, I assure you that you cannot have a good government. The attitude of honesty is not that inborn it could be cultivated through education and practice, that is where I rest my case for now.
The End.