Every day, it seems, these days, I am telling one group or the other that leadership is other - centred behaviour. Obsession with self, the prevalent narcissism, I say often, is part of the reason we have a dearth of leaders. So, is there a select group of the altruistic from whose ranks true leaders can emerge? Not at all, to my mind. Service to others is not masochism or less love for self. Indeed for the really enlightened, it is the highest form of selfishness.
Does this sound like a confusing paradox? Not at all. Think of this. Two Governors start out. One of them just keeps thinking of No 1 because, as he read in one of Chinua Achebe's works, the person who has escaped the rain into shelter does not want to get back there. So, determined to assure his future, after this temporary stay in public office, he abuses public trust with recklessness, piling up material goods abroad to take care of the rainy day. He does not want to imagine a time in old age when he cannot afford medical care and current wisdom is that medical care is better taken care of abroad.
The other, a very selfish Governor, knows many who lost their lives in accidents and is so protective of his good health he decides to spend money on good roads and builds a world class Trauma Hospital. The inevitable happens after they leave office. They are both in road mishaps. The first Governor, given his chunk of wealth abroad, can afford an air ambulance evacuation and it is all quickly activated. But as we know from the case of one former minister of works who also served as Military Governor, he did not make it to the hospital abroad. The other governor who left office with no savings but had done the roads and built a trauma centre is saved in the surgery of the Theatre he inaugurated. Who was more selfish?
My reference to other – centred behaviour as the heart of the leadership phenomenon is really self interest defined in an enlightened manner. The enlightened self-interest as living selfishness in deferred gratification is a concept I have long argued needs to enter school curriculum very early. This is one part of an array of soft skills that can drive up the quality of life in our country if education planners are ready for completely rethinking education in Nigeria. I find so often that many people who have the energy, know – how and know – why of their specialties are unable to get the cooperation of others to work together to solve problems that challenge us in community. There is emerging a number of initiatives on finishing schools aimed at helping bridge social skills gaps but more needs to be done to fill so many gaps that reduce our effectiveness.
Just as these missing skills are debilitating of leadership so does the problem of an unreliable self-seeking, low morale, poor soft-skilled civil service.
Everywhere in Nigeria, politicians are being called names for failure to deliver. Often, it is deserved because of the absence of a clear vision and passion that can bring out the best in stakeholders. The truth, however, is that even with the best of intentions politicians will have difficulty delivering. The capacity situation in the civil service, across the country, is a frightening national emergency. Unless we deal with this urgently, the story may not change.
Nigeria is hurting because the educational system much praised in the early 1960s had gone South as Sir Eric Ashby said to Prof. Akinkugbe at Oxford just before Ashby's death. Finding creative ways of bridging these gaps is of utmost importance if we are to save the future.
Right now, we say these challenges to execution of projects happen because of a corrupt civil service. I have given enough thought to the fact that a misconception of self love is responsible partly because these civil servants do not realise that abuse of the system for self-aggrandisement ultimately hurts them more. The ultimate gift would be to teach them to so know.
•Prof. Pat Utomi is founder of the Centre for Values in Leadership
