Change Agents, first change yourselves!

It’s only logical to assume that when Nigerians went to the polls last year and massively voted for change, they voted for change for the better, not for the worse. Yet indisputably things have only got worse since the new government assumed office. The major problem is that the All Progressives Congress (APC) which adopted […]

It’s only logical to assume that when Nigerians went to the polls last year and massively voted for change, they voted for change for the better, not for the worse. Yet indisputably things have only got worse since the new government assumed office. The major problem is that the All Progressives Congress (APC) which adopted “change agenda” as their election slogan, did nothing to define the change or how it was supposed to be effected.
Proper change management is a structured approach for ensuring that changes are thoroughly and smoothly implemented and that lasting benefits are achieved. It has three basic aspects: adapting to change, controlling change, and effecting change.
One of the most important guiding principles for change management is that change must start at the top because leaders (change agents) must themselves embrace the new approach both to challenge and to motivate everyone else. Our nation remains underdeveloped because our leaders refuse to change either their attitude towards public service or their appreciation of the art of real governance.
Enamoured with the trappings of office yet lacking a real understanding of its responsibilities, they refuse to cut their coats according to our cloth and continue to squander billions of naira on palatial residences and luxury vehicles in their mistaken belief that they are “entitled” to live like kings in the sprawling slum that their incompetence has turned our nation into. In addition to living in offensive luxury Nigerian leaders are carried away by self-importance and complete disregard for the populace except at election time.
The greatest indication of this is the regular manslaughter of innocent Nigerians by “V.I.P. convoys”. In the latest tragic incident the Ebonyi State Governor’s convoy forced a driver into a ditch causing his death. Insensitive and completely callous officials of the Ebonyi State Liaison Office in Abuja explained that no vehicle in the convoy stopped after the accident because “his Excellency was rushing for a meeting”.
Our V.I.P’s are always “rushing” because they have poor time management skills, and cover this up by trying to make journeys in record time based upon inconsideration towards other roads. In addition to rectifying their character defects, our leaders must also change their perception of governance.
The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar recently touched upon this when he urged State Governors to focus more on provision of social amenities that would benefit the generality of the masses instead of plunging huge sums into white elephant projects which benefit only a few privileged people. The Sultan correctly identified the real reason why the current generation of politicians find it so difficult to effect change.
Devoid of any real political philosophy they satisfy themselves with simply awarding contracts for infrastructure, while making no attempt at institutional reform or social re-engineering. Following this trend the Yobe State Government has incredibly announced that it will soon begin construction of a flyover in Damaturu.  In a State lacking in rural development and short on social infrastructure such as schools, hospitals, low cost housing, and public water supply, one can only wonder how the construction of a flyover is a priority.
Those familiar with Damaturu claim the city doesn’t suffer from the sort of unbearable traffic congestion which requires flyovers.  But they do agree that the new flyover will at least provide shelter for the homeless! The craze for infrastructural development should be taken with a pinch of salt because the award of inflated contracts is the single largest means of defrauding the treasury.
Both the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) complain that government contracts in Nigeria cost on average three times as much as similar contracts elsewhere in the world. Worse still the majority of such contracts eventually become failed.
A human rights group, Advocates for Peoples Rights and Justice, (APRJ) have raised alarm that instead of prompt payment of contractors who had sought and received credit facilities for the execution of the project, government officials engage in “selective payment, manipulation, and fund diversion, paying only a meagre amount to the real contractors”.
It seems incredible that the Osun State Governor Mr Rauf Aregbesola has only recently signed into law a State Public Procurement Bill to “ensure probity, accountability, transparency and value for money” which by implication have never been present or covered by any law. In all truthfulness change is unlikely to come to us with the present set of political actors.
It is they who are resisting the anti-corruption war, they who are involved in systemic corruption, they who widen the gap between the rich and the poor, and they who abuse the law to perpetrate electoral malpractice. The APC should be warned that if Nigerians lose patience with government’s inability to effect positive change in their lives then all the dire predictions for the future of the nation may likely come true.