Bishop Kukah on accidental leadership, By Dakuku Peterside

In reflecting on Nigeria’s management journey, Bishop Matthew Kukah, a Catholic priest, activist, and thinker, delivers a searing remark: “Nearly each chief who got here to energy did so by chance.” With these phrases, he stirred an hornets’ nest, igniting a spirited discourse on the nation’s perennial wrestle with management.

Kukah’s critique strikes a resonant chord with voices like former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who has lengthy lamented the opportunistic nature of Nigeria’s management choice. It additionally echoes the trenchant knowledge of Chinua Achebe, who famously identified the nation’s ailment in The Hassle with Nigeria: “The difficulty with Nigeria is solely and squarely a failure of management.” Achebe’s phrases, although many years previous, nonetheless carry the burden of an unheeded warning, underscoring the cyclical nature of Nigeria’s governance woes.

This column seeks to interrogate Kukah’s provocative idea, dissect its implications for governance, and chart pathways to reform the nation’s management recruitment course of. On the core of this evaluation lies an pressing crucial: to confront the systemic failures that perpetuate unprepared leaders and to domesticate mechanisms that nurture visionary and succesful stewards. For Nigeria to transcend the quagmire of unintended management, the nation should embrace deliberate, transformative change — one which prioritises competency, character, and a transparent sense of goal over happenstance.

A shared understanding of an unintended chief can be useful within the interrogation of what the bishop mentioned. An unintended chief, from base understanding, is one who got here to the workplace with out requisite coaching or essential preparation. It refers to a situation the place people ascend to energy with out enough preparation, expertise, or strategic imaginative and prescient. This phenomenon is just not distinctive to Nigeria however is especially pervasive in its political panorama, the place political actors typically emerge by means of circumstantial alternatives somewhat than deliberate grooming or merit-based processes. These leaders continuously lack the elemental abilities essential for efficient governance, leading to poor decision-making, reliance on slender circles of affect, and an incapacity to deal with important nationwide challenges. For example, between 1999 and 2023 beneath the current democratic period, Nigeria skilled important challenges beneath leaders like Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, who, regardless of his integrity, struggled with well being points that hindered governance, and Goodluck Jonathan, who admitted he was unprepared when he unexpectedly turned President following Yar’Adua’s dying. Similar goes for President Buhari.

Unintentional leaders differ considerably from ready leaders in a number of methods. They typically lack a transparent imaginative and prescient, function and not using a coherent technique or strategic plan, and wrestle with efficient execution. Their data is restricted, they’re indecisive, and so they hardly ever take duty for his or her actions. These leaders sometimes have a slender circle of affect, and dishonesty can additional undermine their management. Within the particular context of Nigeria, unprepared leaders are inclined to exhibit unpatriotic and nepotistic tendencies. Their shallow understanding of the nation’s challenges typically results in misguided options to important developmental points.

Governance beneath such circumstances typically ends in short-term pondering, nepotism, and an indifference to the broader nationwide curiosity. These outcomes are mirrored in Nigeria’s incapacity to fulfill key growth indicators. For instance, as of 2024, over 40 per cent of the inhabitants lives under the poverty line, and unemployment hovers at 33.3 per cent, in accordance with the Nationwide Bureau of Statistics. These figures are additional compounded by insecurity, with over 10,000 individuals reported killed in banditry and insurgency-related violence yearly lately. Such statistics reveal the broader implications of unintended management: leaders unprepared for the calls for of workplace typically fail to sort out systemic points or set up the situations essential for sustained nationwide progress. This not solely hampers financial growth but additionally undermines social cohesion and nationwide unity, perpetuating a cycle of underdevelopment and instability.

Against this, ready leaders with prior publicity to governance, management roles, or structured mentorship are geared up with clear objectives, strategic imaginative and prescient, and the capability for efficient coverage execution. These leaders encourage confidence and concentrate on long-term nationwide growth, providing a beacon of hope for the nation’s future. Inspecting world management recruitment methods highlights the significance of grooming leaders systematically. For instance, the UK’s parliamentary system emphasises years of expertise in decrease workplaces, enabling figures like Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair to rise with confirmed credentials and a document of coverage achievements. Equally, Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew reworked his nation from a struggling island to a world hub by means of many years of planning and visionary management. In China, the Communist Social gathering systematically grooms leaders over many years, requiring them to serve in numerous regional and nationwide roles earlier than ascending to prime positions. Xi Jinping, as an illustration, served in provincial management for years, gaining expertise in administration, coverage formulation, and implementation earlier than turning into president. These methods distinction starkly with Nigeria’s, the place celebration loyalty and opportunism typically outweigh competence.

In Nigeria, the historic trajectory of management since 1999 reveals a sample of unintended leaders propelled to energy by probability, opportunism, or exterior affect. The outcome has been inconsistent insurance policies, failure to diversify the financial system, and an incapacity to sort out urgent points reminiscent of unemployment and insecurity. President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration (2015–2023) is a living proof: whereas his preliminary election was greeted with optimism, delays in forming a cupboard and an absence of clear financial route within the early years of his presidency hindered his administration’s means to sort out urgent points. On the state degree, governance mirrors this development. Many governors have been criticised for prioritising political survival over developmental objectives, exacerbating native challenges. These failures manifest in poor coverage formulation, useful resource mismanagement, misplaced priorities and an absence of continuity in governance.

Ready leaders globally, reminiscent of Mahatma Gandhi, Lee Kuan Yew, and Nelson Mandela, exemplify how strategic preparation, mentorship, and clear imaginative and prescient can remodel nations. Gandhi’s nonviolent resistance and imaginative and prescient for a unified India, Yew’s emphasis on meritocracy and strategic governance that turned Singapore into an financial powerhouse, and Mandela’s post-apartheid management that emphasised reconciliation and institution-building, making a framework for South Africa’s fragile democracy, are all highly effective examples. Joe Biden’s many years of expertise in US politics ready him to deal with complicated governance challenges, together with navigating the post-COVID-19 pandemic financial restoration. Conversely, unintended leaders typically produce short-lived insurance policies, foster corruption, and exacerbate socio-economic instability. Haiti, as an illustration, has suffered from a cycle of unintended management, perpetuating political instability and underdevelopment. These world examples underscore the necessity for Nigeria to systematically groom leaders who can navigate complicated governance challenges and construct long-term resilience.

The management disaster in Nigeria is rooted in systemic and structural points. Social gathering buildings prioritise loyalty over competence, and electoral processes typically reward reputation somewhat than advantage. Within the 2023 elections, many elected officers had been chosen primarily based on celebration endorsements somewhat than competence, unbiased credibility or a observe document of public service. Weak establishments additional fail to carry leaders accountable, and divisive ethnic and non secular politics prioritise sectional pursuits over nationwide unity. These elements are compounded by public apathy: a 2023 survey by Afrobarometer revealed that solely 34 per cent of Nigerians imagine their votes affect governance outcomes, highlighting an absence of religion within the political system. This disconnection fosters a cycle the place residents disengage from political processes, lowering accountability and enabling the emergence of incompetent leaders.

It’s established that there exists a powerful correlation between management preparation and efficiency. Going by this measure, it’s not in dispute that almost all of our elected and appointed leaders haven’t carried out in workplace. How can we enhance the standard and preparedness of those that attain public workplace? This needs to be our preoccupation for now. Does Nigeria have skilled or ready leaders? The place and when do leaders practice for his or her position?  Are they motivated? These questions advantage critical consideration.

To handle these challenges and create a system that produces ready leaders, management coaching and growth should turn out to be institutional priorities. Establishing management academies, such because the proposed Nationwide Institute for Management Improvement, may assist construct competence. Incorporating management schooling into college curricula and creating mentorship applications may construct a pipeline of expert leaders. Institutional reforms are important, together with strengthening electoral integrity to prioritise merit-based choice and enhancing transparency mechanisms to guage leaders’ preparedness and efficiency. For example, adopting a major debate system like these within the US may assist assess candidates’ coverage depth. Citizen engagement is equally very important; educating the general public on the significance of management high quality and inspiring energetic participation in political processes can drive demand for visionary management.

The talk on whether or not management is an innate or a ability that may be discovered underscores the significance of structured coaching. Whereas some argue that management is a pure trait, examples from world methods reminiscent of Singapore and China’s meritocratic mannequin, and Britain’s parliamentary system recommend that systematic preparation enhances governance effectiveness. In Nigeria, most leaders lack innate qualities and formal coaching, perpetuating systemic failures. Growing platforms for systematic management grooming, reminiscent of state-level coaching applications for younger politicians, is important.

Bishop Kukah’s assertion about unintended management underscores a elementary subject in Nigeria’s governance: the prevalence of leaders rising from flawed recruitment processes that favour expediency over competence. This phenomenon has entrenched systemic challenges, as unprepared management typically results in poor governance. Against this, world examples illustrate the transformative impression of well-prepared leaders. For Nigeria to progress, it should prioritise management growth, reform political buildings to worth competence, and actively contain residents in cultivating visionary leaders. Addressing this management vacuum is important for the nation to understand its full potential.

Dakuku Peterside is a public sector turnaround skilled, management coach, public coverage analyst and columnist.