How corruption slows Nigeria's growth, by Ohiwerei, others
By Adeyemi Adepetun
THE failure of past and current Nigerian leaders to adhere to ethical values in governance has been blamed for the slow development of the country. Indeed, corrupt leaders and unethical practices, it is alleged, have eroded the confidence of the people in the whole concept of governance.
Three respected icons of professional practices, Fidelis Ohiwerei, chairman of Virgin Nigeria Airways Ltd., Chief Lugard Aimiuwu, post-charter president and chairman in Council of the Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM) and Dr. Richard Uche, president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), yesterday identified poor ethical values as the bane of the country in Lagos at a seminar organised by the Rotary Club International, District 9110 with the theme, "Building and retaining peoples' confidence through high ethical standards."
Ohiwerei, noting that loyalty to ethics had been eroded greatly to the detriment of the country as a whole, said there was an urgent need for the country to embrace ethics in the day to day running of family, government and business.
He stated that as an emerging economy, Nigeria had human and material potential to become the greatest nation in Africa and compete favourably among the leading economies in the world and called for proper scrutiny of leaders to occupy any post in the country, stressing that the "God factor" should be put first before anything else.
Speaking on leadership and ethics, Aimiuwu said ethics has to do with creating values, which symbolised excellence in behaviour. According to him, ethics shape behaviour, while behaviour drives performance in every facet of life and it is therefore, of utmost importance to ensure connectivity and where there is any disconnect, leaders are bound to under-perform.
He recognised two different types of leaders: toxic leaders and good leaders. According to him, toxic leaders are those who lack the vision to direct, while good leaders are made, stressing that the majority of the nation's woes came directly from the so called "political leaders."
The NIM post-charter president noted that unethical practices in Africa had cost the continent $150 billion per annum, while between 1960 and 1999, it cost Nigeria $400 billion. He added that there was a considerable overlap between management and leadership, stressing that there should be a minimal level of management in every leadership.
According to him, the pivot around which management revolves is skills (professionalism), while leadership revolves around competence, which he considered as lacking in some of the nation's leaders.
Aimiuwu noted that though the greatest empires in history were built on discipline, they collapsed from acts of indiscipline. He, therefore, called on Nigerians to shun every act of indiscipline in all sphere of life, adding that for the country to come out of its woes, ethical and corporate governance standards must be enthroned.
The ICAN President, who was represented by a council member, Mr. Doyin Owolabi, said no country was too old or big to fail.
Stressing that there is no short cut to true greatness, he said that abstract economic theory without marketing values and ethics was a recipe for disaster while a country was defined by the values shared and respected in it.
He explained that most economies were crumbling because they could not enthrone simple ethical standards and corporate governance in the day-to-day administration of the country.
Owolabi added that institutions built on leadership pretence and incompetence were sure to collapse in the face of any storm whether thick or thin.
Meanwhile, Dr. Julius Adelusi, chairman of Juli Pharmacy, observed that there was no trust in the nation. According to him, the country celebrates bigness and not greatness, and this has eroded the principle of fairness and equity, "as everybody now strives to become big unnecessarily by engaging in all nefarious activities." He thus called for ethical revolution in all facets of the economy.
The District-Governor, District 9110, Mr. Richard Giwa-Osagie, reiterated the need to have strong ethical standards in every organisation in the country.
He added that it was the citizens' collective duty to maintain ethical standards, even in the face of stiff competition, adding that ethics and business could be linked.
