Leadership in Action: 

Perception Vs. Reality as Nigeria turns 47 years old 

 - Cletus Olebune

  courtesy of nel-mag.org

    It has been said that “great leaders are readers”. If that is true, I would like to thank you for taking the time to read this month’s newsletter article on leadership in action—Perception vs. Reality.

In order to create an evaluation of the skills, competencies and activities in today’s Nigerian environment while searching for leadership excellence in the future, one needs to look at the significance of the proclamations and sloganeering—that Nigeria will become one of the 20 economies in the world in the year 2020, and the present Nigerian leadership’s seven-point agenda—of which education is among the “lucky seven".

One thing the present Nigerian leadership has so far accomplished is the perception of hope in the environment. The appearance of hope has given rise to expectations—we are yet to see signs that these expectations will be sustained as the administration matures and gives way to the next administration, and towards the year 2020—when we shall take stock of our economic accomplishments as to whether Nigeria has become one of the 20 global economies.

Before, the year 2020, another significant year is 2015—the destination goal year for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to which Nigeria subscribes to, this is the year global countries will reach basic education standard. 

Current findings in the Nigerian environment suggest a situation where national literacy is at 57%, with a little over 50 million illiterate men, women, and children, with illiterate women numbering the most, and about 10 million children of school-age neither in primary or secondary school. With this numbers, how can 2015 or 2020 become a reality in a growing global competitive knowledge economy? It seems that there truly is a big difference between perception and reality when it comes to high performance leadership. Perception in proclamations, and reality in numbers. While some of the numbers can be sobering, they do allow us to evaluate the way in which we lead and ask ourselves if we are really leading as effectively as we could. In some cases, a few small changes could result in a huge difference.

What are the implications of these numbers to our economic performance? What these numbers present is opportunity. Opportunity to recognize that there is a need for skill development for various leadership positions, and this is something that cannot be neglected in any way shape or form. With about sixty million adults in Nigeria, of which 85% of them are under the age of 35 years who cannot read or write, the negative impact of this number on the economic growth of the nation can be seen, even by the worst policy maker. If this number is too alarming to contemplate, then for Nigeria to meet 2015 or 2020 goal, there needs to be a “roadmap” for success.

Another proclamation I have always heard is growing the Nigerian economy into a two-digit percent annual growth. Even when achieved, the annual percentage growth won’t last if the gains are not shared by hundreds of millions of Nigerians still mired in isolated, poverty-stricken villages (doesn’t matter whether the villages are in the East, West, North, or South—they are poor, even in glaring view of mansions and mini-mansions owned by retired public officers). If growth rate is 10%, 15%, or 20%, it means nothing to somebody in a village who has no access to clean drinking water, who does not have sanitation, when there is no school in a radius of within 3 miles, with no access to basic medical care, no electricity and no roads. If this remains the situation at a two-digit growth rate, then the growth rate is meaningless.

The “roadmap” and framework to sustainable economic growth is to pull over half the population of the citizenry from deep poverty. The keys are better schooling and improved local infrastructure—something that is much more possible today than ever because of the growing reserve, and soaring oil price. The soaring oil price presents the opportunity to diversify the economy, increase reserve, and revenue volume to allocate more money for the health and education; it gives room to involve private and public sectors players, to provide growth and the liquidity. 

If in our heart-of-heart, we believe that nothing will stop us from reaching the 2020 goal, then we need to completely involve the 60 million Nigerians—those under the age of 35 years. These are working-age population—that will continue to grow for another generation past 2020. The resulting gains in jobs, income and investment should guarantee a steady cycle of growth, as long as we start doing the right thing now—educate them.

Education, with economic freedom and competition is what will lift the masses out of poverty. The heavily rural nature of Nigeria—with more than 70% of mostly small farmers producing what they eat or sell to local markets is a major challenge. There is no organized production of goods and services in the villages, and no market beyond a few miles.

Much of the windfall from oil revenue needs to be invested in rural infrastructure for drinking water and sanitation, better schools and healthcare. Also, training of rural Nigerians in an effort to develop skills for productive manufacturing jobs will have a vast ripple effect on the overall economy.

Nigeria has benchmarked herself among the 20 economies in the year 2020. Hopefully, with the seven-point agenda of the present leadership, and with continued interest in the year 2020, the next leadership be it in the year 2011 or 2015 will come up with an economic growth strategic theme or slogan that will make the year 2020 a reality and not a perception, and 2020 not a destination goal but continuation of economic and democratic growth beyond.

Cletus E. Olebunne

Executive Director, www.nel-m.org

Founding Partner, CEO Management Company, www.ceomgt.com 

Author: The Way It Is: Ideas & Solutions for Entrepreneurs, www.thewayitis-thebook.com 

October 2007

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Together we can build a nation where its economic strength is comparable to its individual citizen's capabilities. A 2020 Nigeria economy where manufacturing is the driving force. We are always glad to hear from you. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Cletus E. Olebunne, Is the Executive Director of Nigerian Entrepreneurial Leadership (www.nel-m.org ) An accomplished scientist, and entrepreneur in the global healthcare product distribution. He is the founder of Eastern Pharmaceuticals (www.easternpharmaceuticals.com), a global distributor of healthcare products based in New Jersey. An active member of Regulatory Affairs Professional Society (RAPS), the global pharmaceutical regulatory body, the American Chemical Society, and the American Management Association (AMA).
The NEL organization seeks to:
1 Support and promote a community of entrepreneurs
2 Promote public understanding of manufacturing entrepreneurship
3 Promote and enhance the role models that reflect the ideals of manufacturing entrepreneurship
4 Be the source for information about best practices in business leadership.

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