ALI Media Fellowship: A flight to a new life experience

By Akeem Mustapha, who was in South Africa & Kenya   Nominated in May this year to participate in the African Leadership Initiative (ALI) Media Fellowship Programme, little did I know that I was starting a journey that would have a profound impact on my life. A pan-African programme, the African Leadership Initiative (ALI) Media […]

By Akeem Mustapha, who was in South Africa & Kenya
 
Nominated in May this year to participate in the African Leadership Initiative (ALI) Media Fellowship Programme, little did I know that I was starting a journey that would have a profound impact on my life.
A pan-African programme, the African Leadership Initiative (ALI) Media Fellowship, provides a formidable platform for “managing directors, editors and other media leaders to hear from leading international practitioners, exchange ideas and examine new trends to help them shape a media sector that will play a significant role, both in Africa’s future economic growth, and in how the continent responds to globalisation, new technologies and new human development opportunities.”
In achieving these lofty objectives and more, the programme, in partnership with Bloomberg Media Initiative Africa, employs some unique strategies to expose the fellows to new information, ideas, methods, as well as the techniques employed by great thinkers and leaders who have helped shape and still influence their communities and countries, raising them to greater heights. Although I grew up with strong ethical values, my involvement in the ALI Media Fellowship programme has introduced me to a new world of information, challenged my leadership style, and more importantly, enhanced my relationship with people.  
Structured into classes of which 24 Fellows constitute a class, Fellows are selected from journalists, media managers and other leaders who are resident in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa. Each class has duration of one year and will participate in four seminars in four countries. Class one, which I am privileged to belong, had its inaugural seminar in Cape Town, South Africa between June 8 and 14, 2015 after the programme was formally launched in Johannesburg on June 9, 2015. The first seminar centred on the theme: Media and Development: Africa’s 21st Century Challenges.
The second seminar took place in Naivasha, Kenya, between October 8 and 13 with the theme, Defining Africa’s Future: What is the Role of Media? Nigeria will host the third seminar in May 2016 and will focus on Leading in Changing Africa.  
Employing simple, but unique methods, the programme’s major objective is to equip Fellows, especially financial journalists, with practical and functional skills to interpret financial reports and press statements on economic matters, to enable them unravel the real news behind these financial and economic reports. It also helps Fellows to take note of some economic indices, some quite  unconventional, that can predict the economic well-being or otherwise of their respective countries and the continent at large, report on these indexes and the direction that their nations’ economies are heading, with a view to  guiding the public and government to take the right decisions.
And more importantly, and of great interest to me, it enhances the quality of leadership in every Fellow as well as encourages good interpersonal relationships. ALI Media Fellowship also challenges Fellows to take up active and positive roles in their communities and country at large, by providing purposeful leadership and good initiatives required for the much-needed growth and development in African communities.
Now, to the seminar itself. Each seminar started with selected readings from great authors and thinkers. These readings were forwarded to Fellows ahead of each seminar to study, which in turn formed the crux of rich discussions at the seminar. Through this methodology and under the guidance of moderators, who are themselves tested and accomplished professionals in the fields of journalism, business and finance, the Fellows’ minds are opened to the methods employed by great leaders and thinkers like Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Junior, Lee Kuan Yew, Ken Saro-Wiwa, among others, to bring about monumental changes to their respective countries and communities.
The basic lesson I took from these readings and the rich discussions that centred around them at the last two seminars, was that leaders like Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Junior, Lee Kuan Yew were able to accomplish much and assisted their various countries to achieve greatness because they placed their countries and communities well above their selfish interests. They made sacrifices and went through harrowing experiences to bring peace, unity and development to their countries. It is no more news that leaders like Mandela and Luther King Junior were imprisoned and suffered deprivations several times, but yet remained resolute and committed to their goals.
Lee Kuan Yew, in a class of his own, refused to go the way of many selfish African leaders who are reputed for mismanagement of the scarce resources of their states for their selfish interest, but instead, Yew chose to build Singapore from a poor Third World country, into one of the richest countries within a period of 50 years.   Today, Singapore, a city-state without any known natural resources, is one of the leading countries in the world. And its citizens, although of different ethnic backgrounds, live together in peace and harmony.
Unlike many African nations where the leaders encourage divisions along ethnic lines for their personal gains, Yew developed his people of various ethnic groups into one united Singaporeans. Yew built a unique public housing system that consciously accommodates people of different ethnic backgrounds.  These Singaporeans have access to common facilities, their children attend the same schools, and with time they formed a common bond and culture.  Coupled with well-developed infrastructures and a high standard of living, Singaporeans don’t think of their differences, but rather they think of a common country which they jointly defend and contribute to its greatness.
African leaders have so much to learn from Yew’s Singapore. Instead of mismanaging their nation’s resources, our leaders should encourage the much needed unity among their people, build virile economies and put in place functional educational system to equip their citizens with the requisite knowledge to face the challenges of 21st century. Only countries which have moved in this direction have earned themselves respect among comity of nations.
In cognizance of how crises and wars have continued to ravage many African nations, Seminar 2 of ALI Media Fellows also devoted considerable time to discuss issues of divisions in most African nations and how the media can assist in forging the desired unity and peace in their respective countries and the continent at large.  As we are all aware, and as pointed out by Michela Wrong, author of one of the Seminar 2 readings titled, ‘It’s Our Turn To Eat: The Story of A Kenyan Whistle-blower, it is not only ethnic divisions that are the bane of African countries, but economic divisions that consistently see many Africans getting poorer, while our systems encourage only a few people to get richer, in most cases at the expense of the states.
The seminar encouraged the media to be consistent and proactive in their reportage by unveiling these harrowing ethnic and economic divisions, as well as other pitfalls in African countries before they escalate into major crises. It is common knowledge that with these ethnic and economic problems, most African countries are sitting on time bombs and any little spark will set people of different ethnic groupings and economic backgrounds against each other, especially in such countries where some ethnic groupings are perceived to have unfettered access to economic benefits and resources of the state . It will take leaders in these countries creative methods and hard work to fashion the needed bonds among their various people, just as Lee Kuan Yew did.
Apart from the recommended readings and the discussions, the ALI Media Fellowship also employs other creative methods like group discussions, peer walks and visits to some successful business entities in Kenya, to bring out the best from Fellows and enhance their leadership qualities.
Half way into my journeys on the wings of ALI Media Fellowship Programme and Bloomberg Media Initiative Africa, my leadership style has been challenged. I strongly believe now that for a team or family to succeed, the views and contribution of each member is sacrosanct and should be accommodated. A good leader must be proactive and visionary to lead well, but more importantly such leaders should guide their team from behind. In other words, they should allow their family or team members to take initiatives in finding a common solution to a common problem.
Ensuring a rich discussion before a decision is taken, allows a team to forge a common course and makes implementation easy.  
Notwithstanding the challenges facing Africa, this journey has also rekindled my hope in African development. Indeed, good things are already happening on the continent. There is need for such positive developments to be fast tracked and sustained, for Africa to keep pace with the rest of the world.
South Africa and Kenya, the host of the first two seminars won my respect. While South Africa, especially Johannesburg and Cape Town, lived up to expectation in terms of the level of infrastructural developments, standard of living and quality service delivery, Nairobi and Naivasha in Kenya surprised me. A beautiful country, Kenya is indeed on the path to greatness. Visitors are welcomed into the country by the lovely Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, which facilities are modern and automated. Indeed, Kenyans are a hospitable and lovely people.
A country which relies on tourism, it seems to me that Kenya has imbibed a culture of strategic planning and the discipline required to achieve sustainable development. Although a country struggling with little resources, a drive from Nairobi to Naivasha revealed a lot of economic activities, mostly in the hands of ordinary people. Tourism and agriculture stand out. Limuru town, said to be the food basket of the nation, lies along the Kenya and Naivasha route. With good leadership, peace and unity, Kenya can sustain and even fast-track its on-going developmental efforts and be one of the prides of Africa.
Being the host of the next seminar, the Nigerian team left Kenya with mixed feelings. While we are sure that both South African and Kenyan teams will be welcomed to Nigeria by the smiles and hospitality of Nigerians, we are, however, apprehensive of the condition of facilities at our airports. The halt in the ongoing expansion and upgrading of facilities at Murtala Mohammed International Airport has made a mess of Nigeria’s busiest airport. It wasn’t surprising that on landing at the Lagos airport, some Nigerians, who have been away from home for long, did not hide their annoyance by open condemnation of the poor condition of our airports. It is hoped that the present administration would make us proud and ensure that our airports are upgraded to international standards, similar to that of Oliver Tambo and Jomo Kenyatta International Airports in South Africa and Kenya, respectively.
Half way through my journey with ALI Media Fellowship Programme, I believe that my skills have been sharpened and I have been encouraged to make useful contributions to my country. Above all, I now have a better relationship with my family and friends.  
 Akeem Mustapha, a political scientist, is the Advert Manager of Daily Trust, Abuja.