We have Obi, Tinubu and Atiku – pay attention to #values as you choose. The enduring strength of Nigeria will depend on the values of its leaders – and the citizens.

In the ancestral Akan kingdom (of Ghana), citizens were encouraged to follow leaders because of Values, not because of their personalities. They were told that whenever those Values shift, in ways they do not like,  they should disconnect their allegiance. 

When societies follow and elect leaders without preconditions, set on values, they fail and fade. Sankofa – a Twi word from that kingdom – makes it clear that looking back is vital for the current.

Personality cults have destroyed empires but values have built new empires. As Nigeria goes to the polls in 2023, ask yourself: who shares my values among the contestants? It is a vital question because besides competence, all enduring institutions are built on VALUES.

– Ndubuisi Ekekwe

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Comment 1: This is spot on. Indeed ‘Sankofa’ re-echoes the need for us to go back in time and pick values shared in the past to reshape the present and future.

On the elections, there’re great expectations from the Nigerian youth. The youth constitute about 70 % of the Nigerian population with a median age of 18.1 years.

This makes them a formidable force and potential kingmakers ( decide the tides of the elections)

However, it remains unclear how tribalism, ageism and gerontocracy could deepen factions among the potential kingmakers.

Comment 1: Good point Nd. But in Nigeria most talk about values is all lie. People are not that deep in thinking to identify values. Some people don’t even know what their own values are. Here most follow bandwagon

My Response 2: Nigeria is a religious country and people actually know values. From villages where elders summon young men for doing despicable things in the community to churches and mosques, people know good and bad. You can argue that knowing what is good and doing it are different things. That is where leadership comes. If an accountant general can steal billions of Naira and get caught, he negotiates for a plea bargain with EFCC. If the state agrees and gives him maybe 18 months in prison, and while he is serving, he gets a presidential pardon, you shift many things.

As the Nigerian economic situation bites harder, workers are increasingly finding it hard to cope as salaries could no longer par with the cost of living.

Thus, the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) has recommended a 50 percent salary increase review across board to ameliorate the suffering.

In a letter dated August 8, addressed to President Muhammadu Buhari, the NLC said the current economic situation requires an upward review of salaries to enable workers to cope.

“While we commend you for your thoughtfulness for a wage increase, truth of the matter is that given the misfortune that has befallen the Nigerian populace, especially workers with fixed incomes, there is an urgent need for a massive intervention much deeper than the 22 percent,” the letter, signed by NLC President Ayuba Wabba, said.

“We would recommend a 50 percent salary review across the board given the realities on ground.”

The recommendation came on the heels of state governors’ prescription to peg retirement at 50 years.  The NLC had last week, lambasted the governors for expressing such an idea.

“We find this repugnant, shameful and utterly irresponsible. Aside from running contrary to your mission and principle of creating 100 million jobs (aside from poverty intervention schemes), this policy is a clear invitation to anarchy and damnation. Those promoting this idea should be treated as enemies of your government,” the union said in its letter to Buhari.

In a further argument, the NLC had said the implementation of the proposal will lead to the sacking of almost a quarter of the public sector workforce, the decapitation of that workforce through the retrenchment of its most experienced layer, and the intensification of poverty and misery among citizens.

“We find it necessary to reiterate our position here once again that any action or process or policy that will lead to the loss of jobs or incomes by workers will not only be inhumane and unconscionable, but shall be resisted by us,” it said.

In the proposal, the governors had urged President Muhammadu Buhari to begin the implementation of the updated Stephen Oronsaye Report, which recommended merger and shutdown of agencies and parastatals with duplicated or contested functions as a way to address bureaucratic inefficiency and reduce the cost of governance.

The union said that it considers as heartless the recommendation that the planned 22 percent salary increase for workers be put on hold, “given the massive devaluation of the naira leading to the pegging of the naira at 675 to the dollar at the parallel market, inflation rate at 18 percent, increased energy and sundry tariffs, combustive commodity prices and prohibitive cost of living which have wiped out every vestige of the value of their salaries.”

It further stated that at over N600 to a dollar, the minimum wage of N30, 000 amounts to no more than $42.8 for a family of four for 30 days.

However, the feasibility of salary increase by the federal government at this time of economic crisis has come under doubt. Many states across the federation are yet struggling to pay the newly implemented N30,000 minimum wage.

A survey published by BudgIT, a Nigerian civic tech organization, on Thursday, shows that 12 states across the federation have been unable to pay workers for months. According to the survey’s report, states like Abia, Adamawa, Ebonyi, Ondo and Taraba owe three years or less in arrears. Others are also caught owing six months or less.

In an interview with TheCable on May 1, Wabba identified Cross River, Zamfara, Taraba and Abia as states yet to implement the 30,000 monthly minimum wage. Even for the states that have implemented the minimum wage, honoring it has become a challenge.

A recent report noted that Borno State is paying teachers as low as N6,000 per month. The federal government has also been depending on loans to execute its recurrent expenditures.

With these realities, compounded by Nigeria’s revenue turmoil, the possibility of the federal government bending to the NLC’s demand for 50 percent workers’ salary increase, is said by economists to be practically unattainable.

Business is not an academic exam. That you topped your class is partly irrelevant in the marketplace since exams we face in markets (fixing customer frictions) are totally different from the ones our professors challenge us with in classrooms. What that means is this: your academic professor may not be a good business mentor or coach unless he also participates in the business world.

For me, mentoring & coaching works. TED (the popular conference where you pay $10,000 just to listen to talks over 3 days) paid and assigned coaches to me over 18 months as a TED Fellow. The World Economic Forum also made available CEOs of SAP, etc, opening the space to write them directly; WEF honoured me as a Young Global Leader and opened their massive database, making it possible to connect with any leader in the world! I was working with colleagues in Carnegie Mellon University to set up CMU Africa in Rwanda.

The guy who wrote the “Richest Man in Babylon” was clear – you win when the best can guide you. What that means is simple: mentoring & coaching works when done efficiently. This evening at Tekedia Mini-MBA Live, I will explain how to make that work! Join us