Distrust, money politics causes of ineffective leadership in Nigeria – Don
A university don, Dr. Eke Donatus, has described leadership insincerity due to lack of knowledge, followers’ distrust in their leaders and money politics which disallows followers from choosing leaders that they want, as the reason behind ineffective leadership in Nigeria.
Addressing the Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM) Kaduna state chapter maiden Seminar in Kaduna with the Theme: “Leadership and Resources Management: Challenges and Solutions in the 21st Century”, Dr. Donatus, who is the Head of Marketing Department, Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT), Kaduna, urged Nigerian leaders to understand their inadequacies and be sincere and open to their followers, to enable fruitful collaboration between the leaders and the led.
“Looking at leadership challenges in Nigeria, our leaders are not sincere with their followers and therefore there is a distrust by the followers in their leaders. Most of the leaders do not have requisite knowledge or they failed to believe that they do not have and so they do not expose themselves to trainings that they required to lead. If leaders understand their inadequacies and are sincere and open to their followers, then there would be a collaboration between the leaders and the led. The moment that distrust is removed, there would be effective leadership and good followers.
“Money politics in our system is not helping us because it doesn’t allow the citizens to elect leaders of their choice. In Nigeria if you don’t have enough money to pick up nomination form for election, to bribe your way through, you cannot contest election no matter how good you are. This leads to situation of moneybag politicians and does not augur well for the people. So leaders must be trusted by their citizens, they must take actions that would ensure the welfare of the people they lead. They must be sensitive to the yearnings and aspirations of their followers.”
Chairman Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM), Kaduna Chapter, Dr. Adamu Bala said the inaugural seminar was aimed at building the knowledge of leaders in the state. “The world is changing, so we thought to have a paradigm shift to be resourceful to our members and non members and to have more revenue base for our chapter. The seminar is about leadership and resource management and from the look of things the participants are happy because they have gained value. They have improved on certain skills to enable them achieve the goals to lead well.”
Also speaking Secretary Nigerian Institute of Management, Kaduna state branch, Mr. Hermann Olanrewaju says over 80 participants took part in the seminar. “They are drawn from office of the head of service, Kadgis, National Eye Care Center, the military, NGOs, Kadfama, National Steel Raw Materials Exploration Agency, NBA. It’s a leadership course, they do part of what we do, so we can improve them in knowledge. We came about the participants through the distribution of fliers after paying courtesy visitation to organisations which are led by leaders and managers. It’s quarterly do the next one is likely to be in September with more participants.”
Another Resource Person, Engr. Kabiru Rumah, who spoke on emotional intelligence said once Nigerian leaders learns their emotions and put it to advantage, it can help them have effective leadership instead of being a weakness to them. “My presentation was on emotional intelligence. It is one of the vital skills that we need in Nigeria. It’s about people learning to know their emotions and leaders to put it to advantage instead of allowing it to destroy them. It is one of the vital skills for leadership. If our leaders know them it can address inter-personal conflict and inter-personal crises.”
