I thank the organizers The Venerable Henry Johnson Foundation for the invitation to contribute to this symposium on such a thought provoking topic.

Transcription

1 FOLLOWERSHIP: An Antidote to a defective leadership 1 - The Venerable Henry Johnson Foundation 24 th January 2018 Protocols I thank the organizers The Venerable Henry Johnson Foundation for the invitation to contribute to this symposium on such a thought provoking topic. It is particularly apposite for Nigeria and more so at this time in the nation s history. It is arguable that while as a nation as a colony or as an independent country, the nation s chief executive leaders have changed eight colonialists and 15 post-independence. It is something of a national past time to assess past and present sometimes with nostalgia, sometimes in the most abusive and condemning language. From student s common room to beer parlours, most Nigerians have view on the performance of the former this and the former that. By any poll whatsoever, on the average, Nigerians will generally score its leaders well below average. Interestingly what is not a past time that Nigerians are either fond of engaging in is the rating of the followers of the leaders - the citizen. This is the prism from which I recommend this symposium to examine - the citizen follower and the role that the citizen ought to play as antidote to defective leadership in the polity. We shall examine the duties of the citizen and then rate the Nigerian citizen in selected areas of patriotism. Many duties abound but significant amongst all because of its nature is the relationship of the Nigerian with the law. A famous legal figure for the non-lawyers by the name of Sir Alfred Denning once said The people of England do not obey the law simply because they are commanded to do so nor because they are afraid of sanctions and punishment must be inflicted...they recognise that they are under a duty to obey it. 2 The duty of citizens arises from the common obligation deriving from the fact of being a Nigerian and the legal requirement of Nigerian law. In the past, nations were jealous and possessive holding citizens exclusively bound. It was impossible to serve two nations but nowadays you find people who are citizens of more than one country leaving a curious possibility of conflicting duties but that s not our main concern right now. 1 Olasupo Shasore SAN Partner at the leading law firm ALP Lagos Nigeria 2 The Road to Justice; Sir Alfred Denning

2 As regards his fellow-citizens, it is the duty of the citizen to live friendly and peaceably with them, to show himself obliging and good-natured, and not to make trouble by peevishness or obstinacy; not to envy the advantages of the others, or to deprive them of the same. The Constitution: It shall be the duty of every citizen to (a) abide by this Constitution, respect its ideals and its institutions, the National Flag, the National Anthem, the National Pledge, and legitimate authorities; (b) help to enhance the power, prestige and good name of Nigeria, defend Nigeria and render such national service as may be required; (c) respect the dignity of other citizens and the rights and legitimate interests of others and live in unity and harmony and in the spirit of common brotherhood; (d) make positive and useful contribution to the advancement, progress and well-being of the community where he resides; (e) render assistance to appropriate and lawful agencies in the maintenance of law and order; and (f) declare his income honestly to appropriate and lawful agencies and pay his tax promptly. Naturally I have my favourites amongst these duties (and the last one is not one of them) but lets examine them as they relate to the question of followership in Nigeria. The Constitution and its ideals The central ideal in Nigeria s constitution is accountability it covers human rights to financial probity to the rule of law. Socio-eco rights The constitution gives we the citizens certain rights that equate to duties. By creating certain objectives as binding on the government to attain. The constitution effectively gives the citizen the standards with which to measure the performance of government. It gives the citizen the standards to hold the leaders accountable to. Every citizens welfare shall be on the basis of social welfare; with a right to participate in every aspect of the economy; the citizen has the right to expect that the economy will be balanced and planned without the concentration of wealth in a few hands; the citizen can expect shelter, food, a reasonable minimum wage and old age pension, medical facilities and equal pay irrespective of sex, free primary and university education and protection by the state against harm to children.

3 This is ample provision for accountability. The citizens duty. Power and prestige of Nigeria A good citizen s duty towards the State and his fellow citizens is to meet the call of duty however arising. This is a call that is ingrained in Israeli, Australian or German teenagers before and as they leave school. This is the soft power of the state. The citizen, for the love of flag or country must be able to wait for it- offer his life, property, and fortunes freely for the preservation of the country and its fortunes. Register to vote as pre-requisite to the exercise of the civic duty to vote. All too often the aware and unaware are called to action to vote only at the ballot box ignoring the more insidious and unassuming responsibility to present oneself for the almighty voter s register. Voting only candidates that will advance Nigeria: stomach infrastructure entered our national lexicon three years ago, but the practice of building people s hopes through the bribed voting process has been around much longer. It is often thought that duty lay only to vote on election day. But the actual duty is to vote only candidates that can advance the idea of Nigeria as a success not the carpetbaggers whose only mission is to seek gainful advancement for themselves and their cohorts. Participating in governance: the assumption that public sector or political activity is reserved for people who could not make it in the private sector was not always the prevailing belief held by the Nigerian citizen. But it is now. The social historian in me tells me that this attitude first took root following the mass purge of trained civil service in the aftermath of the July 1966 military coup where both consciously and unconsciously the security that civil service held was destroyed leaving a strong impression that the higher performing people should seek security elsewhere. Whatever the timeline the result has been an abdication of participation outside of activism. Citizens have a duty to participate in government particularly form their private perch. Bills are designed to be passed only after public hearings; legislators are subject to the power of recall as we are seeing in Kogi State. This must be the rule not the exception. Exercising the power of censure: a public the office of the citizen in Nigeria has chosen to remain silent passive of merely non-committal. Whether the silence is contrived by conspiracy of just common malaise is for scientists to discover. As we learnt as far back as 1972 The man dies in all who keep silent in the face of tyranny 3 The tyranny shown in defective leadership and its tyrannical effect on the citizen is more violent than many unlawful arrests. 3 The Man Died: Oluwole Akinwande Soyinka

4 Citizens have a duty to censure public office holders - this is the essence of accountability. As students we learnt the power of protest. The arena of protest has been all but abandoned as the exclusive preserve of the labour organisations who don t necessarily represent the people. They embark on periodic announcements that surprisingly get called off either on the eve of the protest or after the first showing without tangible achievement. As a result, leaders do not feel threatened by the public. In days gone by, the public, especially the student population were public spirited, socially conscious and selfless. Right from the Lagos Youth Movement later the Nigerian Youth Movement in the 1930s; the call for self-government in the 1950s; Ali must go; Adekunle Ojo in the 1950s; June 12 and pro- democracy demands in the 1990s were all student/public led protests against wrong, oppressive and unconstitutional actions of government. They all sought to hold government accountable. Accountability is demanded on behalf of the people - my personal favourite is chapter 2 of the Constitution The Rule of Law It is the duty of every citizen to protect the rule of law. By this doesn t mean the Rule of Law phrase used by former administrations in this country for political correctness or the abuse of the phrase by others to mean an excuse for battering the people to submission. But rather the upracy of an orderly society above all else and the need for the citizens to protect this order. The rule of law is the true wealth of a nation. It is often missed in significance because of our fixation for tangible capital against intangible capital. According to the World Bank, the total economic value of natural assets was $44 trillion worldwide, or $7,000 per person on average, while intangible capital accounted for the greatest component of total wealth worth a massive $540 trillion worldwide in Developing nations of sub-saharan Africa especially, have historically viewed wealth as purely natural capital. In truth natural capital is useful and will contribute to increasing wealth but it is not the be all and end all otherwise we wouldn t have success stories such as UAE and Singapore who became great economies on the back of very little by way of natural capital there is not oil or gas to speak of in either country. The totality of the wealth of a nation has 3 key inputs; the nation s produced wealth (e.g. infrastructure), natural wealth (e.g. oil and gas) and intangible wealth (e.g. human capital and quality of institutions). Worldwide, natural capital accounts for 5% of total wealth, while produced capital 18 % and intangible capital accounts for 77% of total wealth.

5 The richest countries of the OECD are characterized by high intangible capital and low natural capital, while the poorest countries of sub-sahara Africa are characterized by high natural capital and lower intangible capital 4. No nation with high productivity such as Norway has low Rule of Law compliance. All low performing countries such as Nigeria and Afghanistan have low Rule of Law compliance. Citizen s Scorecard Results: We must be honest. We the citizens must submit mea culpa NIGERIA WE FAIL THEE!! In truth, the reason why there could be any perception of defect in leadership is that the office of citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has failed (fortunately the occupants cannot be impeached). Citizens have let each other and themselves down. The followership is as culpable if not more so as the leadership in the life of a nation. We are losing 2-0 and time is running out. But we the people are at home and it s not too late to change the game around!!!! We need to change the strategy of complacence for a positive engagement and participation. Accountability is the antidote for defective leadership and office of the citizen is responsible for ensuring its reign in a firm and effective manner. In the Vision 2010 papers it envision that Nigeria would become A united industrious caring God fearing democratic society committed to making the basic needs of life affordable for everyone and creating Africa s leading economy I leave with an admonition: If the misery of the poor be caused not by the laws of nature but by our institutions great is our sin 5 4 Institutional Strengthening and Sustainable development in Nigeria: The Rule of Law imperative; Olufemi Olarewaju PhD 5 Voyage of the Beagle; Charles Darwin (even though much of his work is now seen to have been borne out of racial prejudice)