Prospects of a Servant

Prospects of a Servant-Leadership Model

Anie Udoh

“The public does not ask their public officials to be perfect. They just ask them to be smart, truthful, honest and show a modicum of good sense.” -- Ann Richards

President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, Nigeria’s new leader, launched out early from the podium with what may well be a notable quotable quote. Hear him: “I offer myself as a servant-leader. I will be a listener and doer, and serve with humility. The challenges are great. The goal is clear. The time is now.” Good prose and very presidential! But the president seems not able to walk his talk with the golden opportunity offered him to redress the vexing fuel crises consequent upon the arbitrary last minute price hike, an obnoxious parting gift, from his benefactor and predecessor. Yar’Adua failed to cease the moment to gather a needed momentum for the take-off of his administration missing perhaps his finest hour.

The president’s silence and inaction on the worsening fuel crises is robbing his administration of critical public goodwill and sends frightening signals as to what manner of president he intends to be. He seems to be unduly restrained by some invisible hand perhaps the fear of PDP (read Obasanjo!). It is about time we all debriefed ourselves of the fact that Baba’s era has ended and for good. Effective 29 May 2007 Obasanjo ceased to have the legal authority to direct the affairs of Nigeria and by extension rule over our lives. That authority has been constitutionally transferred to Umaru Yar’Adua and Nigerians expect him to exercise that authority responsibly and in the best interest of the Nigerian people.

President George W. Bush of America ceased his moment on September 2001 when he came down from his presidential heights to ground zero on the rubble of the famous World Trade Centre (WTC) in New York. Dressed in casual wares and with a megaphone in hand, Bush identified with the pains of a nation in mourning as he addressed a crowd of tired and despondent firemen, professional and volunteer relief workers and mourners at the site of the ruined WTC. It was a defining moment for Bush, a former governor of Texas who until then was wobbling along in a drab Whitehouse against the backdrop of a tainted presidential election and overwhelmed by national and international challenges demanding the attention of the world’s sole superpower. On that fateful day in New York, all was now forgiven and a spontaneous momentum was generated to buoy a shaky president to get on stage and get the job done.

Prior to Yar’Adua’s inauguration there were widespread concern of his ability to be his own man as president. Speculations were rife of the possibility of a Yar’Adua in office yet not in government. With a programmed PDP presidential primaries staged to achieve a predetermined outcome, a teleguided campaign with little input and enthusiasm from the designated presidential flag bearer, and a contentious presidential (s)election, the public concerns for a truly independent president became palpable. The doctored PDP constitution crowning Obasanjo, the former president as the party’s “life” chairman of the Board of Trustees and the feverish directives for continuity and party loyalty further gives credence to the unwholesome theory of government by remote control.

Yar’ Adua has not helped matters by allowing the ghost of Baba to stay on in Aso Rock, the seat of government, with the retention of some of Baba’s key men. A case of an out going tenant imposing his domestic staff on an in coming, supposedly independent tenant. These loyalists who are encouraged to feel indispensable may see no need to change Obasanjo’s “winning” policy mould. So a critical burden for the new president will be not just in developing new ideas but escaping from old ones. With due respect to the men left behind, how can a country this large and so hugely endowed fantasize with the idea of some people being almost indispensable? Obasanjo himself in a way proved that as a folly with the array of some star performers in his regime. People that were hardly known before they were called to national duty: Ngozi Okojo-Iweala, Oby Ezekwesili, Nasir El-Rufai, Charles Soludo, and Nuhu Ribadu to mention a few. Agreed Yar’Adua owes his ascension to the presidency to Obasanjo’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP); his loyalty must first and foremost be to the nation and by extension the Nigerian people as sworn to in his Oath of Office.

There is no intention here to vilify the former president who did his best in service to his fatherland and created records that will be difficult to equal or surpass and that is for the good, the bad and the ugly. During his tenure as president he was not known to be a party loyalist and most of the credit points he amassed were on account of following his intuition and acting with a high degree of independence sometimes with deliberate haughtiness. He had his time to the maximum extent allowed by the constitution. Nigerians were vehemently opposed to a backdoor attempt for the Obasanjo “good times” to continue. He honored the popular wish and helped in no small measure to ensure a civil transition that has been problematic for our country.

Yar’Adua is now in the saddle, the man on stage. He was promoted as the most qualified among the pack of presidential contenders. His unique selling points include his record of stewardship in Katsina State as governor for eight years, conservative, humble and with acclaimed impeccable reputation. As president of Nigeria, obviously he has a lot more to contend with, so much to learn, adjust and carry on. He has undertaken an arduous journey of leading a giant and struggling nation a task for which Marcel Proust declaration that, “ the real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lands, but in seeing with new eyes,” could be a useful compass.

The parallels and differences between the Yar’Adua proposed servant-leadership model and those of his predecessors are markedly captivating. That he will be a “listener and doer, and serve with humility” is fascinating and a relief from the old patterns and past experience of the all too familiar leadership culture based on power which assumes that only position, influence and coercion are the best ways to get things done. Until now fundamental issues of governance have been restricted to an individual and small enclave pretending to possess omnipotent endowment.

The new approach promises accommodation, tolerance and cooperation among diverse stakeholders. It is about time we stepped out of the conclave mentality to recognize, engage and utilize the rich talents of our citizens to expand the frontiers of interaction and enrich the quality of national discourse. So we can be able to do more with less, increase productivity, reduce inefficiencies, minimize waste, and create more opportunities for the spirit of enterprise to flourish.

Nigerians are sick and tired of blind optimism which denies the realities of persistent hardship, infrastructure inadequacies, system failures, declining living conditions and quality of life. Many are losing faith in the competence and commitment of government to care for the problems of the people. The emergence of extreme groups with dangerous agenda is a symptom and clear danger of a failing state. We must explore ways to contain massive system breakdowns and the spread of individual and social insanity. The challenge of containing insecurity and ending violence is indeed difficult but hope lies in the fact that most people agree we cannot make any meaningful progress in a state of perpetual chaos and lawlessness. We all have a responsibility to act and avoid the imminent dangers and to build a society which will prevent crises rather than react to the unpredictable consequences.

The government must champion the course of renewing hope and seek creative solutions to conflicts. It must bring to a halt social injustice and criminal deprivation which seem to fuel widespread anger, diminish the appetite for living and erode people’s value for life. Such will endear Yar’Adua’s led government to the people and validate his contentious mandate as a genuine servant-leader measured by Thomas Jefferson’s assertion that, “ The care of human life and happiness and not their destruction is the first and only legitimate object of good government.”

We must pull our people and the nation away from the chaos into which we are drifting and back toward a renewed vision of realistic hope which recognizes that crises are inevitable but they can with appropriate social engineering be turned into positive opportunities for creative activities. We must seek ways to challenge and inspire both people and institutions to make the necessary transformation to a society with improved and healthy law habit. To promote a justice system that protects the general population rather than being skewed to cater for the needs and greed of a few elite with preferential access to our common wealth. We can and must explore ways to benefit from our diversity, improve our capacity to trust and relate with others, acknowledge and commit to our own share of responsibility towards nation building. We must strive to cultivate and preserve the values of faith, honesty, responsibility, humility, and enhanced public good.

Yar’Adua’s servant-leadership model holds good prospect for these ideals to at least flower in our country. It is a leadership style where the leader is humble enough to recognize his abilities and limitations, courageous to encourage active involvement of competent people in the decision making process rather than treating other citizens as enemies and at best passive observers. President Yar’Adua’s preference for this style of leadership might just take us off the valley of despair on to the road of purposeful living in a land of great potentials noted for its rich endowment in everything but purposeful leadership. Beyond his promising words, can President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua walk his talk? He has four years to redeem his pledge to serve the Nigerian people.