Instrumental Leadership Problem in Nigeria

By

Victor E. Dike

vdike@cwnet.com

 

 

Until recently, Nigerians have been preoccupied with the issue of whether or not Chief Obasanjo would vacate office in 2007, as the constitution dictates. While much has been written on the third-term debacle, little or no attention is focused on “instrumental leadership” problem in Nigeria that is the main cause of the crisis. This article, therefore, deals with the issue and its impact on the polity.

 

There are many leadership types, and each has peculiar attributes, but the type of leadership common in contemporary Nigerian politics is “instrumental leadership.” This problem has been with Nigeria for a while now, as some of the leaders are mired in the pursuit of selfish and personal goals at the expense of broader national interests. And given his antecedence (in particular, the third-term plot and misuse of EFCC, ICPC, Police, INEC, SSS, etc) Chief Obasanjo is among the instrumental leaders or what Apter (1960) brands "Consummatory" leader.

 

The "Instrumental" leader uses official power and influence primarily in the pursuit of private (personal, close family, cohorts) goals. Community objectives are secondary to the leader, as the main concern is how to use official position to achieve personal objectives. Such a leader, however, may not be lacking completely in social or community commitments, but overall more considerations are given to self over the interests of the society (Eulau 1963) without minding the disruptive impact.

 

In contrast, however, the "Societal" leader is a public servant first and only secondarily a private person. While the instrumental leader uses official position to promote private and selfish goals, the societal leader subordinates private narrow goals for broader community objectives. Power and influence are important only if they can be used to solve community problems. The societal leader is not ‘power-drunk’ and is likely to resign or make policy changes when it is convinced he/she cannot influence changes to the benefit of the general public. But the instrumental leader likes “absolute power” and would hold on to power, as long as private objectives are achieved (Kofele-Koale 1976). Thus more often than not the ‘instrumental leadership’ creates more social crisis than solving them, at least in Nigerian context.

 

There are many conditions that make ‘instrumental leadership’ prevalent in Africa, including Nigeria. Among other factors is the guaranteed loyalty of the masses to leaders. In Africa, and in deed in Nigeria, the masses through socialization have come to internalize the norms of respect for authority. They find it difficult to criticize or challenge authority (however, this is gradually changing). The title of office (President, Minister, Commissioner, Director, Chief, General, etc.) allows its holder to insist on being treated as thin-god, even if the leader is not performing. And if the behavior of the incumbent leader is similar to that of the past corrupt and ineffective leader, some people could take it as a ‘usual’ behavior (Mazuri 1966), and would not press for change.

 

There is a cluster of factors that breeds ‘instrumental leadership,’ including the symbols of office and ceremonies surrounding the office. In Nigeria and other African states, even the "ubiquitous walking stick" or a "staff" confers respect to the holder (Schapera 1967 and Kofele-Kale 1976). Another factor is seeing the leader as the "first citizen" and or the "Great comrade" the omnipresence and Omnipotence leader. This was demonstrated in Zik and Awo of Nigeria, and Nkrumah of Ghana (Bretton 1967). And recently, many sycophants invoked the name of Chief Obasanjo in a way to get some reward, and some erroneously believe that Nigeria would disintegrate without him. The deeds of African leaders (and in deed, Nigerian leaders) are showered with lengthy eulogies composed during his lifetime by men who recite them in his honor at public gatherings (Schapera 1967). To get their share of the corrupt wealth musicians have a tendency to sing the praises of leaders and men of wealth, even if the riches were ill acquired.

 

Weak or the absence of effective institutional checks and balances are other factors that make  ‘instrumental leadership’ possible (Gardner 1978 and Bienes 1993). The availability of abundant resources to tap and steal is a good factor that breeds instrumental leadership in Nigeria. And African leaders, including Nigerian leaders, take undue advantage of these shortcomings and circumvent the few institutional restraints that are in place. The public treasury looting that has been on going in Nigeria is a good for the checks on power to be kept in working order.

 

A combination of these factors gives the ‘instrumental leadership’ the elbowroom to become corrupt and acquire wealth through questionable means. Under these circumstances, the leader becomes the richest person in the community (Schapera 1967 and Time, August 18, 1975) and, therefore, would bribe his/her way to remain in power forever.

 

The desire for democracy made Nigerians to accept Chief Obasanjo who has betrayed the people’s trust by attempting to hide behind his fraudulent party to remain in power forever. But he was out of luck, as the sledgehammer of the National Assembly knocked him out on May 16, 2006, so as to prevent Nigeria from retrogressing to the dark ages. However, the people’s interest in him started waning when they discovered that he is selfish and fraudulent, an opportunist leading a ‘government of organized fraud,’ and that he is not a ‘born-again democrat.’

 

However, no matter how rich a nation is without the right leaders it is unlikely to progress. Nigeria has not made much progress because the society has been according undue respect to official titles, or as the late K.O. Mbadiwe would say “…over-decorated…” political offices. The members of the National Assembly have been chasing the shadow of money, and some of them lack the integrity and knowledge to perform their basic duties. As Samuel Johnson notes “Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful.”

 

Not everybody has the leadership acumen to lead an organization, not to mention a country, and clearly no society should expect to have an endless succession of great leaders. But as Gardner (1978) notes “no society can function well with fools, rascals, or non-leaders in leadership positions.” It is, however, accepted that human beings are imperfect, but ‘when imperfection is observed in a person in a larger degree than usual,’ as Mahatma Gandhi observed, then the world is apt to blame the person. That is the crux of the matter with the leaders of Nigeria!

 

Good business or political leaders are mindful that the needs and realistic expectations of others in the societies in which they operate, must be satisfied if their own needs and realistic expectations are to be met. But Nigeria is being consumed by the “politics of unreason”, as the leaders do not care about the welfare of the people they govern. Thus the key social forces that have fostered democracy in stable democratic nations seem to be lacking in Nigeria. The ‘instrumental leadership’ in Nigeria is suppressing freedom of the Press and expression, as public criticisms are perceived as disrespect to the leader. And the leader takes liberty at clobbering political opposition.

 

On May 14, 2006 the Africa Independent Television (AIT), an independent TV station was raided apparently for running a program that was against the third-term agenda. It was suspected that the SSS carried out the attack, which it denied.  Sometime in 2005, the Police, on the apparent order of the presidency, stormed the office of the Insider Weekly magazine and the Global Weekly Star. And on February 9, 2005 the village of Odioma in Bayelsa State was bombarded by the federal troops killing hundreds of the villagers. This caused a flashback to the Odi incidence on November 1999 (Daily Independent, March 10, 2005). Worse still, public policies are often made without the peoples’ input. As Robert Jensen (2004) notes “The degree to which a society is democratic ... can be judged by how extensive and active are citizens' attempts to participate in the formation of public policy.” This is just a tip of the iceberg! Such behaviors are expected from a Fascist regime, and not from a democratic leader.

 

For Nigeria to progress, the people should be conscious of the character they would vote for during the 2007 elections.  They should work harder to reclaim Nigeria from the ‘third-term proponents’ by refusing to be bribed and manipulated. Nigeria needs a government that is grounded on democratic principles and respects the rights of the citizens. The National Assembly should revisit the 1999 Constitution that requires some surgical operation and make necessary amendments to lay a good foundation for equity, justice and true democracy in Nigeria. This will reduce the unending social crises in the society. As Mahatma Gandhi notes “A man [woman] suffering from an injustice is exposed to the temptations of having his [her] passion roused on the slightest pretext.”

 

Nigeria needs effective leaders, whose intelligence, skill, and ability to get things done are equal to the task. As Drucker (1993) states “The effectiveness of a modern society and its ability to perform - perhaps even its ability to survive - depend increasingly on the effectiveness of the people who work as executives in the organization.” The leaders of Nigeria should lead from the front, and not leading by hiding behind hordes of sycophants, thus trivializing leadership. True leaders help societies “understand the problems that all must face, to aid in the setting of goals and priorities, to work with others in finding paths to those goals chosen, maintaining public morale, and motivation and nurturing a workable level of public unity” (Gardner 1978).

 

As Chinua Achebe notes "The trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership." This writer would like to add that “instrumental leadership” is the main obstacle to the progress of Nigeria, as lack of selfless and committed leaders have contributed immensely to the sociopolitical and economic predicaments facing Nigeria today.

 

Therefore, the control units must be truly independent and effective because without the checks on power being in working condition the instrumentalists and opportunists would circumvent the laws of the land. They have great appetite for power with which to grab and hoard as much public money as they could without minding the impact on the society. Nigeria needs leaders with good ears and an open mind, consistently truthful and approachable. Nigeria needs leaders who will bring about lasting positive changes in the people, so as to achieve sustained improvements in the society. Building a democratic society under the rule of law should be the main theme of reform for the future leaders of Nigeria. Unless the leaders (and followers) have the indomitable will to endure some personal inconveniences and sincerely get committed to the business of nation building Nigeria’s problems may not be resolved. Thus without the ‘politics of virtue’ a leader may not bring about the necessary changes that would benefit the general public.

 

There is no room for arbitrariness in a democracy; policies must be debated, and exhaustively too, before they are adopted and implementation. It requires a good moral force and proper philosophical foundation to build and sustain a nation. Nigeria needs leadership change at the federal, state, and local governments to a genuine and stable political democracy. And to achieve this the people should tackle the instrumental leadership problem in Nigeria by keeping an eagle’s eye on those who are out to push back the ticking clock of democracy in Nigeria. Those who defeated the third-term plot have opened a new chapter in the political history of Nigeria. They have written their names in gold for contributing to the development of democracy in the society. Long Live Nigeria!

 

 

Victor E. Dike, CEO, Center for Social Justice and Human Development (CSJHD), in Sacramento, California, is the author of Fraud or Democracy? The Presidency of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, 2003-2007 (Forthcoming 2007)