‘’Perhaps, if Nigerian state institutions can learn, they did build a prize winning culture, if not country’’
TUE, MARCH 17 2020-theG&BJournal- We don’t have much insight into the ways and means of Channels Television. But one thing can be surmised about her, even from a distance. It is that Channels’ human resources recruitment regimes are top notch.
This is evident from a largely observable fact. No one has for instance encountered any Channels’ anchorman or lady who may easily be dismissed as professionally below bar. One and all, they seem to be good hands and voices to match. Yes, one may have issues with their manners or guiles, but it is difficult to question their above-average competences. This is not necessarily so with so many other television stations.
What this suggests is that the Channels organization has grown above nepotism, cronyism etc. in her headhunting manoeuvres. This is at least so in the line-up of those who wear the face of Channels before the larger public – the anchor kids and reporters.
While Channels, an authentic Nigerian institution by the way, may have gotten her hiring programs right, nearly all Nigerian governments, repeat, nearly all Nigerian governments, have gotten theirs wrong.
Nothing brings this to the fore once again than the Lamido Sanusi dethronement saga. A cognate report quotes the sacked Emir:
”The truth is, if I had wanted to go back, the dethronement letter was so badly written, it was not done professionally. The easiest thing is just to go to court.” https://punchng.com/gandujes-dethronement-letter-poorly-written-sanusi/
But let’s not ‘isolate and criminalize’ Kano state. The same level, or even worse, of sloppiness, has afflicted governance all through Nigeria. Virtually, the Nigerian state, at all levels, is under, not just elite but mediocre capture.
For a counter historical example, America was once in the vice-like grip of the WASP capture. And that was from her start-up years till President Barak Obama. J. F. Kennedy was WASP, but with the ”C” playing placeholder for the ”P.” It’s not just that these men were all Brahmins, the results showed and show. These WASPians ”alone” conducted America into being the greatest nation on earth. Historically thus, it is not the capture that fails, but the quality of the bandits exercising the capture. That is, are they elect Brahmins or irrevocable thugs?
Of the Nigerian experience, from Calabar to Sokoto, and anywhere in-between, mediocrity is the overruling sentiment, the overarching agency of capture. The question to ask is, why. The answers are meshed, but there are two major strands.
The first is the twin of nepotism and cronyism and their related ”acts and scenes.” The other, more foundational, is poor educational infrastructure at all levels. With nepotism and cronyism etc. one awards offices to relatives etc.
It is not that those are not qualified, in most instances they are, at least on paper. The ensuing problem is that because of a faulty educational system, these favored ones on hire, generally know and deliver less than their paper qualifications suggest. This comes from the attendant tragedy that their betters, who are out of favor, can’t be hired.
In the end what do you get? Poorly articulated memos. It is not that poor writing skills are in themselves ”nuclear dangers.” It is they are pointers to nuclear catastrophes in waiting. For instance, poorly articulated governance missives are invariably indicative of a badly visioned government in praxis. This is because, a great part of governance is in her dramas. And the finest governance dramas are pure thoughts made flesh, materially communicated, aka the good life for citizens etc.
Alas, as you can be sure, the virus of ”poorly written thoughts” has infected even the presidency. Of course too many evidences abound. For instance, there is one Farooq Kperogi. The guy was once was a campaigner and lover of Mohammed Buhari, the presidential candidate. Today, according to him, he has turned against his hero. Every once in a while, Kperogi lets us in into his privileged access into the Buhari presidency.
Of sloppiness, etc., Kperogi, a professor of communications, have had to out several plagiarisms committed by the Buhari presidency. More importantly, Kperogi has had to point out grammatical blunders from the same presidency.
So, how does one explain that a president that can retain the best hands in the word business, can’t hire competent proofreaders? The answer is in nepotisms, etc.
However, before we conclude it is meet we give a full and rounded picture of things. And part of it is that Sanusi himself is not exactly free of the unprofessionalism and poverty of mind he levies upon others. Perhaps, as an orator, Sanusi is a prize winner. But on his job, as he exhibited in one critical instance, he is as bad, if not worse, than the Ganduje administration he berates.
In other words, judging from the Sanusi book of wisdom and practice, it may be safe to say as follows: Nigeria is a commonwealth of mediocrities, both of the accused and the traducers. By the way being an orator is not being a genius. In fact, that may point to one being a genii, a Hitler, a Mussolini and all such thugs.
To illustrate the Sanusi ”poverty of delivery” saga, we may quickly recall that Sanusi as a banker, not a citizen, not just an economist, but as a Central Bank Governor, deposed to a charge of corruption against President Goodluck Jonathan.
What happened? Sanusi was not sure of his figures. He flipped and flopped from one figure to another. Suddenly, he was dancing on a shifting ground of claims and retracted claims, on sums asserted and sums withdrawn. A Central Bank Governor in doubt of his own figures? Only in Nigeria. Finally, or so, the government proffered that nothing at all was lost. At least, that much was affirmed in the estimation of one of the big five audit firms hired to scan the said finances. Boy, it is been many seasons ago that we lost paradise, and Sanusi was a willful part of that routing.
Simply put, such inconsistencies of figures are not associated with professionalism of retail, not to speak of central banking. The matter of banker’s fidelity is so much that if a banker gives you an IOU, it is as good as gold. In British jurisdiction it is called draft. The Americans call it a cashier’s check. It’s meaning is that on receipt you have gotten pure and non-recallable instrument. In fact, matters are so much that a banker’s word is superior to a sovereign note, across nations.
But, Sanusi unprofessionally ate his words and figures, only to vomit less than he swallowed. And later it was all found to be scum.
If you asked, we did conjecture that the following happened. Sanusi would have outsourced or seconded the job order to his nepotistic etc. elect minions. Their brief was to fish out data for him to nail Jonathan. And he being a man for ”trust” not competitive competence, he believed his sleuths. The result? Sanusi took the sublime reputation and sterling integrity of [Central] Banking to the low gutters. Today, can one countersign, on face value, any paper initialed by Sanusi? Not too easily. In banker’s lingo, Sanusi has overdrawn an open cheque.
Yes, it is easier to accuse others than to deliver on one’s words. All of Sanusi, Ganduje and the presidency etc. have routinely failed their nation on this, in small and in mighty things. We wish them all well.
Finally, is it is not our brief to praise Channels. But we can say this much. Perhaps, if Nigerian state institutions can learn from John Momoh and Channels, they did build a prize winning culture, if not country. In the end, all will be richer for it. If in doubt, just have this for your desiderata: it is human capital, stupid!
The age of hope?
So far the governor in Imo has done well. But it is our duty to remind him and all his team that governance is a marathon, not a dash. In other words, having won the laurels for getting out of the blocks, they should gear up further for stamina. And if you asked, for genius.
Not known to many, Christianity’s message is simple: Only Christ can save and that is the entirety of the scriptures. But, that is held only to religious standards. The same Christian message interpreted this-worldly, into more secular idioms, translates: Only genius saves. In other words, for those who wish to make heaven they must follow Christ [or His equivalents]. However, for those who may additionally wish to build a great haven, perhaps a paradise, upon God’s earth, they must call to genius, or perish. This is the iron lore. All else is in humor. Shalom.
Thinker’s corner.
The problem is that nobody is thinking [in Nigeria]. People are deluded you can run a country with drama. Mother A’Endu.
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