Organizations exist to fix frictions in markets. In other words, when you put that signpost that you are OPEN for business, you are announcing to the world that you have the capacity to solve some problems which the market wants solved. Solving those problems will mean building and creating products and services. 

But how do you create products and services? You need to combine and recombine factors of production. That translation is very important because three cardinal things are at play: the PEOPLE, the processes and the tools. The People is the pivot upon which any organization can execute its mission. 

Join Tekedia Live today our Faculty, Ibironke Tolu-Ogunpolu, Chartered FCIPD, SPHR , educates on how we can develop an effective PEOPLE Management System in firms. Our Faculty is a leading thought-leader in this domain. A Director – People in M&A Transactions and Restructuring- in one of the finest knowledge organizations in the world and a founder of a non-profit which makes PEOPLE better. Come and learn how to win with #PEOPLE.

 Tekedia Mini-MBA >> learn from the best. Zoom link in the class board 

Kenyan lawyer and activist, Prof. Patrice Lumumba, highlighted during a speech at The Covenant Nations Platform that many African countries continue to face challenges because they frequently elect the worst kind of leaders who are least qualified or capable.

The renowned pan-African activist said religious prayers cannot deliver the continent from poor leadership.

He noted that Africa’s political system of kakistocracy must be dealt with to help the continent fully realize its potential. This he said could be achieved when Africans start electing their best and most competent leaders to serve in various capacities.

“Just this morning my wife sent me a proverb from Turkey that when you elect a clown and you think he would be a king, what he does is to convert the kingdom into a circus. And I am suggesting to us that that is part of the African problem because it starts with political hygiene.

“Most of Africa is suffering because we do not have democracies. We have kakistocracies and kakistocracy is government by our very worst. This is what we must deal with and this is what we must say. Who do we elect into our public offices? As I have said before, when you allow hyenas to take care of the goat, why should you be surprised when the goats are eaten?

“This is the same. And Africa is only going to realize its potential when in all areas, by dint of choice, we enable our best men and women to serve in different areas,” Lumumba said.

The speech of the Kenyan pan-Africanist and human rights activist comes on the heels of growing controversial elections across Africa, with some seeing very old people who have ruled for years clinging to power.

Lumumba attributed the situation to the poor decision-making of electorates. Citing Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, and other countries as examples of conscious decision-making, he said both African leaders and their followers must step up their decision-making.

“Africans for some reasons are attracted to thieves. Africa for some reason is attracted to men and women who can’t serve and when they are not served they complain. When Africans are told choose you now whom we shall release, Jesus of Nazareth or Barabbas, they say release Barabbas and when he behaves like Barabbas, they say why are you not behaving like Christ,” he said.

Lumumba, who is a Founding Trustee of the African Institute for Leaders and Leadership, said to save Africa, issues of conflict and the change of governance must be dealt with. He urged the continent leaders to focus on governance as prayers cannot substitute for their roles.

“Africa has become a continent where after every election, there is conflict because the pursuit of power is the cutthroat competition where our throats are actually cut.

“We have a problem in that direction and the sooner we resolve that, the safer we will be. Africa can rise and Africa will rise, but it is not going to rise by prayer and fasting,” he said.

The former director of the defunct Kenya Anti-corruption Commission (KACC) emphasized that Africa cannot expect freedom to be handed to it effortlessly. Instead, the continent must be proactive and take ownership of its responsibilities and actions.

“We must pray and fast but it will not happen, because the last time I checked even those of you who are believers – when Abraham was taken from the Ur of the Chaldeans and given Canaan, it was not on a silver platter. He had to fight the Canaanites; he had to fight the Philistines.

“That is the nature of divine instruction, ‘Go ye and subdue the world by the sweat of thy brow’. The kitchen where they made manna was closed. Manna will no longer come, because you must now make your manna and it is our duty as Africans to begin to rethink,” he said.

I was watching a video recently and I saw in some places in China that some of the highways are built around residential houses. This means that a double lane can be built while a house will be allowed to be in between the double lane or at the right Centre of the road.

I decided to do some research and read more about why the government of China can allow a house or houses to be at the centre of the highway without bulldozing or demolishing the house to give way for the highway as it is done here in Nigeria and I found out that in China, the government is not allowed to forcefully take over someone’s land or property for whatever reason. So if a highway is to be built and it cut across where a person’s house is situated the government will offer to buy the house out; pay off the house owner or take the owner of the house to another house somewhere else but if the owner refuses to leave the house, it is the law that the Chinese government cannot force him out or forceful take over the property against the wish of the owner. What the government will then do is find a way to build the road around the house without disturbing the house. That’s why in China you can see some houses right at the centre of a double-lane highway; the owners of those houses refused to give up the houses to the government or relocate from the property.

This is interesting because it is totally a different case down here in Nigeria and most other parts of the world. In fact, according to the Land Use Act, the government owns all the land in Nigeria, they are just leasing and renting it out to individuals for a term of 100 years. Hence, the government of Nigeria has the right and power to take over any property at any time, remove any property or force the owners of the properties out if they want to use the property or the place the property is located for whatever purposes. 

If a natural resource like gold, crude oil, diamond, bronze, coal etc. is found on your land, the land automatically becomes the property of the government and the government has the right to evict you or eject you so they can come into the land and tap the resources. You are only entitled to a meagre sum of compensation from the government. 

Be it as it may, the constitution in section 44 provides that every citizen of Nigeria shall have the right to acquire and own immovable property anywhere in Nigeria but a citizen’s right of ownership of a landed property is subject to the convenience of the government. The government is only admonished to pay the citizen compensation in section 29 of the Land Use Act, 2004 if they want to take over a citizen’s property. The government can come under the policy of public use or public purpose to take over any land from private ownership and in the scheme of things, public purpose or public use supersedes private use or private ownership. So your property can be demolished for a public amenity like a market or highway to be erected.

It should be pointed out that the federal government does not own land, it gets land from states. It is the state government in Nigeria that owns land which is why in land transactions, before completion, you would need the governor’s consent to authenticate the transaction and not the president’s consent even in the federal capital territory, it is the minister of the FCT that is in charge of land allocations and land acquisitions. 

Maybe Nigeria should learn from China that private ownership supersedes public ownership and not the other way round.