Fuel crisis

Fuel crisis: A first challenge to Yar’Adua's Servant-Leadership

Baba El-Yakubu

The few words that come from President Umar Yar’Adua are full of promises for change. In his short inaugural speech, he pledged to promote the rule of law, fight corruption and offered himself to be a servant-leader. So far, we have no reason to worry. From the humane way he handled the labor union fuel strike to the caliber of ministerial nominees; there are indications of responsible approach to governance. Yes, he is a taciturn. But by any reasonable standard, nobody may doubt his sincerity towards tackling Nigeria's myriad problems. It may be slow and steady, but surely. Perhaps the most important news from the president is the introduction of a concept of servant-leadership in the Nigerian politics. While we wait for him or his spin chief to expound what the people should expect from a servant-leader, I will take one of its meanings and attempt to explore how it could address the challenging issue of the perennial fuel crisis in the country.

As demonstrated by the recent fuel strike, the fuel crisis is perhaps the most challenging among the unpalatable issues he found on the table. There may be many skeletons in the cupboard or even some horrible things swept under the carpet. However, due to its direct impact on the social and economic life, the fuel crisis needs immediate attention. The president must tackle it using whatever leadership approach necessary.

The motivation for servant-leadership approach may be religious or secular. In Islam, leadership is a trust (amanah) from Allah. Allah thrust it upon a chosen servant. Since for a Muslim all his life is to serve Allah, Islamic life is said to be all worship and nothing else. A Muslim may consciously choose to take charge of directing the affairs of men, to make the world a better place. Therefore, he may see himself as a servant of Allah and a leader of men or a servant-leader. From dawn to dusk all his toiling will be to make the followers' condition better. This is not because of their past votes or even their future votes, but because it is necessary to discharge his duty to Allah. The fulfillments of this form of worship or leader's felicity and salvation are measured by the degree to which followers' condition is improved. This applies to other religions. For example, a Christian nation of Solomon Islands' motto is "to lead is to serve". Mahatmas Gandhi's liberal leadership approach was intractably interwoven with spiritual values and traditions. Malam Aminu Kano, whose non-violence posture led some to describe him as gandhian; used to ask his followers to fast a day or two for seeking spiritual strength against northern feudal establishments. To that extent, their leadership approaches may be considered to be motivated by religious considerations.

In its secular usage, the concept of servant-leader gained currency in the corporate world in the last 30 years. Mr. Robert Greenleaf coined the term in his 1970 essay titled "The servant as a leader". His conclusion is simple. "Great leader is first experienced as servant to others. True leadership emerges from those whose primary motivation is a deep desire to help others". Over the years, the following have been recognized to be a set of characteristics central to the development of a servant-leader: (i) Listening, (ii) Empathy, (iii) Healing, (iv) Awareness, (v) persuasion, (vi) Conceptualization, (vii) Foresight, (viii) stewardship, (ix) commitment to the growth of people and (x) Building community. Whatever is the motivation for choosing the servant-leadership approach; these characteristics are expected to be put into practice. The fact that Yar’Adua is humble is well known. Forget about his =N=1b possession. Perhaps this could earn him only a backbench in the club of immediate former governors. I came across him last two years in Dubai and had a first hand observation of his simplicity and an unassuming personality. This means it will not be difficult for him to apply each of the characteristics of a servant-leader. However, the most important challenge is for him to persuade enough number of close associates, personal aids and staff to wholeheartedly imbibe these characteristics and put them into practice.

The present fuel crisis is an opportunity to demonstrate the full ramification of these characteristics. The root of the crisis is a simple fact of demand and supply. The refined fuel available in Nigeria is simply not enough. We produce the crude oil, but our refineries are operating below their installed capacities. There are frequent shutdowns due to delayed maintenances, sabotages or bureaucratic negligence. Since February last year for instance, two refineries at Warri and Kaduna have been shutdown due to sabotage. This decreased the local fuel supply by about 50%. If fuel is imported and released to the local market, there are possibilities of hoarding and smuggling due to large price fluctuations and differences. This makes it necessary to import more to meet the local demands. The importers and their sponsors have vested interest in maintaining the status quo. Unfortunately, due to institutional weaknesses, they almost always find ways to keep import as the most viable option. Therefore, the citizens remain in perpetual fuel shortages and price increases. During Obasanjo's two terms for example, the price was increased seven times – from =N=11 in 1999 to =N=70 today. After these strangulating years, it came as a good relief when the president promised to suspend further fuel price increase for the next one year.

Gasoline is a necessary elixir of modern life. Its shortage has put the citizens in an indescribable hardship. Their cry for help is loud, clear and genuine. A servant-leader should listen to them, understand their condition, be aware about resources at hand and develop a sustainable healing program. Yes. One of the essences of leadership is sustainable development. He should also dream-great-dreams. He should not only henceforth stop all fuel importations, but should also consider building new refineries to cover for example all ECOWAS countries. Servant-leader cannot be an ethnocentric or a glorified tribal chief. He must see himself as a community builder for the benefit of humanity.

The fuel pricing is another important factor to the crisis. It needs urgent attention. It is commendable that the president has shown commitment to the growth of the people by promising to setup a committee to find a lasting solution. However, this is not enough. Experts may estimate the gasoline price. But are they going to be fair to the consumers? It is known that the price of any product consists of three components – the materials input, the necessary processes to add value and others (profit, taxes etc). Each of these could be further broken down to identify key costs and seek their optimum. With respect to material input, we produce the crude oil, but import almost all other materials such as solvents and catalysts. The burden of import is on the hapless consumer. The processes necessary to separate the crude oil into different desired components requires well-maintained refinery and readily available spare parts. Again all these are imported. Part of the price goes to pay for taxes, profits to producers and whatever inefficiencies are there in the refining, transportation and distribution of the products. The corporate pilfering, bribery, corruption and embezzlements that take place during a fiscal year also end up into the prices paid by the consumer. Therefore, the fuel price problem will not end by getting an estimate from a committee of expert. As pointed out by Aliko Dangote in a recent interview (Daily Sun of July 9), “the price Nigerians are paying for fuel and diesel is high because they are paying the price of inefficiency and corruption within NNPC”.

The servant-leadership must make deliberate move towards improving the corporate governance at the NNPC. It must also consider local manufacture of the important material input for crude oil processing and equipment spare parts. Despite decades of participations in the oil refining business; there are no competent and reliable local engineering and maintenance companies. Everyday we import parts, materials or employ expensive foreign engineers for services; we unnecessarily increase the unit price of the products. The inefficiencies also include the so-called Nigerian factors such as overstaffing, patronage and weak or corrupt supervisory institutions. Usually, private entrepreneurs' participations improve the efficiency of an industry that is hitherto dominated by public control. Unfortunately, Nigeria is not a usual place. Our experience with privatization of the telecom industry has shown that although there is improvement in the operational efficiency; the services and prices are inefficient. This may remain so for a long time because the consumers are not organized and the supervisory institutions are weak. The consumer of refined products may end up in a similar rip-off.

The Nigerian factor must be analyzed and consider properly in estimating a fair price for the products. The servant-leader is holding the whole country as a trust for the citizens. Therefore, competent stewardship means that the president will use all in his power to ensure efficient resource distributions, optimal input to refineries, efficient process operations and lowest possible price of the refined products.

It is commendable that the president has offered himself to be a servant-leader. But Nigerians need to know what entails the acceptance of the offer, what their contribution is and what they should expect from him. They need specific milestones. His good intention does not matter to the masses if they cannot see it on their dining table, while commuting to work and during their leisure. The present fuel crisis presents a golden opportunity for him to demonstrate what he means by a servant-leader. The roots of the problem are well known. Stakeholders need to be involved to develop and implement programs to it. The president must "walk the talk". He may not need to be reminded that the servant-leadership cannot be achieved on the newspaper headlines.