It all started in that garden with its beautiful trees and delicious fruits. An earthly paradise for the couple, they had just one rule to contend with. They were not to eat the fruit of a particular tree. It sounded so simple and straightforward. Keep to that one rule and enjoy an eternity of bliss. Then came the intruder who encouraged them to discountenance the rule. The couple did exactly what they were told not to do. Faced with the reality of their decision, the couple began the blame game. Adam blamed Eve and she in turn passed the proverbial buck to the intruder, the Devil. Since then, blaming the devil has become a convenient excuse for wrong decisions, especially those with catastrophic consequences for which we do not want to take responsibility.
Nigeria’s Minister of Interior reached for the same buck passing strategy last week, as he faced the Senate Committee on Interior. On March 15, 2014, the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), one of the parastatals under the Ministry of Interior, conducted a nationwide recruitment exercise that ended with fatalities. At least not less than 15 participants died as a result of the stampede that ensued at some of the venues.
Until he made his appearance at the two-day public hearing, the Minister had conducted himself with a sickening arrogance. He kept blaming the deceased and would not apologise for the shoddy arrangement and scandalous self-serving scam associated with the ill-fated exercise. The public had hoped that a closed-door meeting with the President would get all involved in the outrageous mess, including the Minister, to tow the path of honour. It turned out to be a misplaced hope. So it was a surprise that on appearing at the public hearing, there seemed to be a change of attitude on the part of the Minister.
It is not unlikely that at this point, it had dawned on him that the decibels of public outage were not receding. The President’s promise to set up a committee to investigate the unwholesome incident, the bribery-like offer of employment to three members of each family of the deceased, offer of appointment to those injured, and cancellation of the exercise, did not douse public anger. The President’s actions seemed more like another opportunity for political mileage than taking far-reaching transformational decisions. The Minister’s rear-guard action of discreetly monetising some journalists to give him a good press also backfired as it became public knowledge.
Perhaps the reality sank in when the sordid revelations of an entrenched manipulative process far-removed from the established conduct poured out like a river of dross at the public hearing. The Immigration Service Boss, the Secretary of the Immigration Service Board, and some Immigration officials opened the dam of nasty and shocking revelations with the Minister as the Culprit-In-Chief.
Thus when he took his turn, for once he appeared to have shed his toga of shameless arrogance. His family, in what can now be perceived as an orchestrated move, cued him in by offering a public apology. He then spoke of taking responsibility for the disastrous recruitment scam: “As the Minister of Interior, under whose purview this unfortunate exercise took place, I cannot abdicate my responsibility. The buck stops at my table.” Almost in the same breath, without as much as a pause, he then blamed the Devil. Even then he has failed to do the next honourable thing, which is to resign from office.
It really is no surprise that he has not resigned. The Minister obviously has no plan to do the honourable thing. Clearly what he did at the public-hearing was simply to reach into the bag of political tricks and continue with the deviousness that has become an entrenched habit with public office holders in Nigeria. In one breath he was claiming the buck stops at his table, but at the same time he was craftily passing responsibility for all that had happened to the Devil. A classic sleight-of-hand of insincerity and deception.
This is what leadership and public service have degenerated to in the country. Leadership demands several strong positive qualities including accountability, integrity, vision and honour. The Minister’s actions thus far, consistently provide further proof that our leaders desperately lack all of the aforementioned qualities.
Accountability implies being responsible for outcomes of actions, whether good or bad, because the buck stops at the leader’s table. These decisions most times are based on a vision to make things better for society, and propped on the pillars of integrity to ensure every decision is all about public service and not self-service. In the words of Michael Ray Hopkins: “Integrity is one of the top attributes of a great leader. It is a concept of consistency of actions, values, methods, reasons, principles, expectations and outcomes. It connotes a deep commitment to do the right thing for the right reason, regardless of the circumstances. People who live with integrity are incorruptible and incapable of breaking the trust of those who have confided in them. Every human is born with a conscience and therefore the ability to know the right from wrong. Choosing the right, regardless of the consequence, is the hallmark of integrity.”
It is not only the dead applicants and their families that the Minister has betrayed by proving to be untrustworthy. It is not only those who took part in the recruitment exercise that he has betrayed. He has betrayed the generality of Nigerians for dismally failing to uphold the trust that comes with his office as a leader, in this case a Minister.
Whether in public or private service, whether as leaders or followers and even as individuals, a single standard of behavior cuts across board. It is not one standard for some, and another standard for others. It is not one standard for the leaders and another for the followers. A society that encourages double standards can only nurture crass behavior. This mutating culture of crassness is evidence of how low we are sinking.
The Minister’s shameless arrogance and manipulation is not unexpected given what our society has become. Allegedly a long time political enforcer (read thug) for the Senate President in their home state, and most recently the President’s campaign manager in the same state, he has been rewarded for all his loyalty with a ministerial appointment. In keeping with our perverted reward system, he is unperturbed about public outcry, the rule of law, or even the decency that is the foundation of public service.
He knows too that our descent into clannish sentimentalism over objective reasoning will work to his advantage. A fellow clansman and former Minister of Education has already rushed to his support, stating that the Interior Minister’s resignation will not bring back the dead. A brazen insult to enlightenment, decency and accountability.
For the Interior Minister, all that matters is his political ambition. Having become an expert political enforcer, he has graduated to minister and sees on the horizon the possibilities of being a governor and subsequently a senator. This is the choice career cycle. A cycle that refuses to take into consideration the public service capabilities of the so-called leaders. In saner societies, the best cream rises to the top, here it is those spreading the virus of dishonour.
Whatever the Minister’s religious persuasion, the truth is that like Adam and Eve, he is directly responsible for his distasteful actions. It had nothing to do with the Devil. However he may get away with it because the nation has sold its soul to the Devil.
Culled from newtelegraphonline.com
