It’s not easy to have five former heads of state sit together at one forum; have them sit patiently through about four hours of speeches, and thereafter, with their best smiles in place still, pose for photographs. No, not in these climes, unless you are Kenechukwu Nnamani. No, not unless you are that freshman legislator, who became Senate President after only two years in the upper chamber of Nigeria’s National Assembly, and presided with dignity and integrity, over the death of one the most devious, most devilish enslavement tools dressed in legislative garb, anyone ever conceived. They called it the constitutional amendment bill of 2006, but you and I remember it as the third term project.
Yes, the public presentation of the Ken Nnamani Centre for Leadership and Development proved one thing that’s most heart-warming. It confirms what I have always known; that Nigeria is a nation in search of true heroes, and that Nigerians will rally round them wherever and whenever they manifest. That explains why Alhaji Shehu Shagari, Second Republic President; war-time leader, General Yakubu Gowon; military president, General Ibrahim Babangida; his successor, Abubakar Abdulsalam and erstwhile Ghanaian Head of State, Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings led the cheer at that Tuesday May 6, 2008 event. That explains the overall quality of the audience.
And so, the International Conference Centre venue of the Official Launching of the Centre and fund raising for its N3.5 billion Resource Centre Facility turned out to be a coronation ground of sorts for this politician of a different hue, an endorsement of the man and his vision.
The vision! Sitting in the audience with Rev Gabriel Ifeanyichukwu Irokwe, a member of the organising committee of “The Great Company Luncheon”, an event we are working on, I couldn’t but wonder about the vision. Couched in the pay-off line, “creating transformative leadership, improving lives”, the vision is simply saying we have identified the dearth of leadership materials in our land and we are set to do something about it. And I found myself wondering: what have we been thinking all these while! Why did it take this long before we realized the need to deliberately groom leaders…outside of the military, that is?
For a while, I lapsed into a reverie. In my mind’s eye, I could see one of those dinner settings in the late eighties or thereabout, where the likes of Dr Mike Omolayole, the management expert and top corporate player, used to regale select audiences with thought-provoking after-dinner speeches. I could virtually hear him render an anecdote that went somewhat like this: Representatives of several nation-states bordering Nigeria were said to have led a delegation to God to discuss a matter of urgent regional importance. Face-to-face with the Creator, they were said to have complained about the inequity of the distribution of natural, mineral and human resources in the region. You have given Nigeria much more than all of us put together, they were reported to have complained. "A huge population, vast arable land, variety of agricultural produces, access to the ocean and now even oil and gas" they protested. "But look at us; puny by comparison. Why, God, why?" As the story goes, the Creator was said to have looked at the delegates, a glint of amusement in his eyes and said: “yes, you are right; I gave them all of that; but have noticed the kind of leaders I gave them?!” I could see the audience burst into laughter, as they live out the words of the title of that satire by Peter Pan, “you gotta laugh to cry.”
Nudged back to the present by Pastor Gab who wanted me to join him as he acknowledged a smiling and waving General Gowon, as he came in to chair the day’s event, I wondered: if the leadership challenge had always been there, why had it not been addressed until now?
Finding solace in the saying, ’it’s better late than never’, I settled down to enjoy the privilege of being there to witness history in the making, and to benefit from a variety of insights I anticipated was going to be available. I was not disappointed. From the opening prayers to the very last word, there was something to glean, something to ponder. Venerable Okagbue, who led the Christian prayer, for instance, prayed God to "deliver our nation from cynicism and distractions". Make what you will of that. A former Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives, Alhaji Ghali Na’aba, who led the Moslem prayer, didn’t need any decoding. He acknowledged Dr Nnamani as the man God used to "save Nigerians from slavery".
Intellectual sparks soon began to fly. The host set the tone with a roundly applauded welcome address during which he gave the rationale for the establishment of the Centre of his vision as “leaders make the difference.” He recalled his experience as president of the senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria from 2005 to 2007, during the period which he described as memorable and daunting, he said he “longed for organised support and structured resources to help me cope with the burdens of leadership of the legislative branch of business, I did not find much institutional support outside the senate….” This experience, he said convinced him of the “extreme urgency and importance of a vibrant centre for leadership.”
Nnamani went on to defend the thesis contained in his one-sentence raison d’etre of his effort, namely that “leaders make the difference.” His words: “…How does leadership make a difference? What matters most, the leaders or the followers? What makes the real difference in human history: the great man of history, congenial moment or environment? There are so many questions on leadership begging for answers. But it is incontrovertible that leadership makes the difference whether in the public or private sector. The quality of leadership sets countries and institutions apart. Some of the countries that model innovation and prosperity in the modern world are young nations founded and nurtured by great leaders.” He went on to cite the examples of Sir Seretse Khama in Botswana, Lee Kuan Yew in the tiny city-state of Singapore, and Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings in next door Ghana.
He drew from the experiences of the so-called Asian Tigers and Dragons; examined variables other than leadership identified by some as contributory to the prosperity of those nations but was unshaken in his stand. Buttressing his position with references to the works of a number of scholars, he concluded with finality: “Without great and persuasive leaders, the citizens of these prosperous countries would not have accepted those bitter pills that go with economic reforms. Without good leadership, good policies may not avail much. We need great leaders to lead positive changes.”
Three others had speaking roles at the event: General (Dr) Yakubu Gowon, chairman; Mr Howard Jeter, a former United States Ambassador to Nigeria who considers Nigeria as his home, Guest Speaker, and Flight Lieutenant J.J. Rawlings who delivered the Keynote Address. And all agreed almost completely with the “leadership matters” thesis; all except Rawlings who had a thing or two to say about the role of followers in the shaping of leadership. I shall return to this later.
General Gowon, in his Chairman’s Remarks lent his weight to the thesis. He attributed “the growing discontent by our citizens at the harrowing state of affairs in almost all the countries on the continent” to the fact that “…our leaders continue to engage themselves in endless, yet futile battles for supremacy in greed and destruction.” In his opinion ”at the heart of Africa’s problem lies the key issue of leadership and governance. The leadership question, particularly the lack of committed and selfless political leaders on the African continent, is largely responsible for ther slow pace of development and growth.”
General Gowon, conceded that 30 years of military dictatorship “did not deliver the much needed development and transformation of our continent”, but lamented that “vestiges of our authoritarian past still loom large on the continent. While Africa embraced democracy as a form of government, it is sad that African leaders have been les than democratic in their commitment to their citizens…Our citizens often have become hostages to a class of sit-tight, crafty/foxy pseudo-democrats with proclivity for looting, greed, corruption and maladministration."
He admitted that sustainable, all round growth and development requires the right atmosphere, one “devoid of tension and acrimony”. But he was quick to point out that only the right leadership can bring about this atmosphere. Such leadership, according to him, has to be “God-fearing, honest, visionary, transparent, accountable to the people…” (Continues next week)
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