Thursday, January 27, 2011

The Problem With Our Appointment Systems In Nigeria



The recent performance of INEC in the recently concluded Delta State Elections and the Voters Registration exercise has caused me to review how appointments are made in Nigeria. 


Time and time again, I have always emphasised on the need for Experience and Competence over any other consideration, when considering appointing people into offices or positions.  My view, and take on the problem with/of INEC, and to a large extent, most Nigerian INSTITUTIONS, is that their heads, or those appointed to head them, are usually appointed based on FAULTY PREMISES. 


Nigerians wrongly believe that as long as the person or appointee is honest, a man of integrity, incorrigible or a SAINT, he must do a perfect job.  They believe honesty alone is the sine qua non for good performance.  Sometimes, being honest, incorrigible, having integrity or being uncompromising is not usually enough to do well in a job.  The most important elements or factors, for me, are EXPERIENCE, SKILLS and KNOWLEDGE.  This is why the UK and many other advanced societies usually place emphasis on KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS OR ABILITIES AND EXPERIENCE when making appointments into positions. 


When applying for a job, for instance, whether as the CEO of the BBC or British Airways (BA), you are interviewed and asked to demonstrate the skills necessary or required for the job and to demonstrate how your experience matches the job.  You are tested and grilled and asked about the relevant EXPERIENCE that you possess to do the job.  This is because you cannot buy KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE, BUT ANYBODY CAN FORMULATE A CV AND BULL...T. 


It is even worse in Nigeria where appointments are based usually on MAN KNOWS MAN or some other mundane methods, including appointments based on political or other affiliations.  Not too long ago, the posts of the UK Electoral Commission Commissioners were advertised in the Guardian Newspapers in UK.  Following that advertising process, those that applied were required to address the Personnel Specification and demonstrate how their SKILLS, KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE match the posts.  This would then have been followed by the shortlisting and the interview of the shortlisted candidates.  After which the successful candidates that best meet or that best demonstrate the requirements for appointments are then appointed.  
By so doing, you are not only ensuring that only the best candidate(s) gets the job, but also that the best candidate and the other appointable candidates have all properly considered what the job involves and all the intricacies of the job.  But not so, in Nigeria.  We do not consider the suitability of the appointees for the post, and neither do we consider how that person meets the criteria for appointment, in the first place. 


Bringing this home, when JEGA was appointed as INEC Chairman, how many Nigerians actually asked about THE QUALIFICATIONS THAT HE HAD THAT QUALIFIED HIM (above others) FOR THE POST OR JOB OF HEADING INEC?  With due respect to him, and his past antecedents, but his only qualification to that job was based on people's perception of him as indefatigable and an honest man and a man of integrity and probity.  BUT IS THAT ENOUGH TO SUCCEED IN A JOB?  He had no experience that he was bringing to the job, yet Nigerians expect him to perform miracles and succeed, where others before him had failed.


Can an indefatigable or honest Pastor/Imam, whose appointment was based simply on his calling as a Pastor or Imam, and therefore, a supposed man of integrity and probity, succeed as a competent Banker or a Bank Managing Director, without any prior Banking knowledge or experience?  Can a non-Lawyer competently defend or prosecute a case in court, without any Legal experience?  Or can just anybody without any engineering experience function well as an Engineer?  Or, can a Civil Engineer function competently or better than a Mechanical Engineer when it comes to fixing or repairing a car? The answer is NO!


Nigerians, you see, therein lies the problems.  JEGA had no experience of working in INEC or indeed any other ELECTORAL COMMISSION in the world, where he would have acquired the necessary experience and competency for the job.  He never worked for INEC.  Yet Nigerians CELEBRATED his appointment based on his performance as a TEACHER and the head of ASUU at one point in time.


Nobody asked whether that experience or his personal qualities and attributes are enough or sufficient for the job of INEC chairman.  It is unfortunate that we make the same mistakes over and over, when it comes to making appointments.  And when there are problems we are quick to blame, without first appraising or finding out what the problem is and learn from it.


INEC, as far as I can remember, has always been staffed by University Lecturers or Dons, as the head.  Why this is so beats me.  It is as if the Personnel specification or criteria or Job Description for becoming the INEC chair includes that one must be a Professor.  And also that the person must be shopped from the University.  Unfortunately, the criteria has failed us as they have all failed the nation, perhaps, with the exception of Humphrey Nwosu, who was harassed by IBB not to declare the June 12 Election results.  Isn't it then time that we change our attitude towards the appointment of staff to man this INSTITUTION, and other INSTITUTIONS in Nigeria?  Or, the question can be put this way, isn't it about time that we change the criteria for Political and other appointments to move the country forward?


Nothing beats the appointment of competent, skilled and experienced people into the correct positions. JEGA is a University DON.  The proper position for him would have been in the Ministry of Education, if the Government finds use of his services, as that is his primary constituency and the industry that he understands very well.


I also remember the case of DORA AKUNYILI (infamously known as Madam Rebranding), who was very successful at NAFDAC, as the Chair, but was a complete and total failure as the Information Minister.  But compare her performance at that Ministry with that of the fine gentleman that OBJ had in charge (Mr NWEKE), and one would see that the difference was clear.  Dora became a nuisance factor in the end and began to concentrate on trivialities, like chiding or reprimanding Nigerians not to refer to themselves or NIGERIA as NAIJA, when there are more pressing issues for her to deal with.  I can just imagine a Minister in the UK delving into such trivialities and reprimanding Brits (the slang for Britons) for referring to themselves as such.  Or, the Americans as Yankees.


But when she was in charge of NAFDAC, a Department that has some correlation with her profession as a Pharmacist, she excelled and flourished.  I only hope that the current Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, someone I used to know in my days at the University of Jos, would do well, given his antecedents as an eloquent man.  I cannot vouch for him or say what has become of him since then, but in my view, he appears to be a square peg in a square hole.


The Military era was even worse, where 'Ordinary Soldiers' or 'bloody' Soldiers (as in the 'bloody' civilian Military era days) without any competence whatsoever, either in administration, or the respective Ministries that they were posted to, were put in charge of Ministries and States as Ministers and Governors, respectively.  Any wonder why Nigeria slid behind and backwards, when other countries were progressing forward with progressive and visionary leaders and heads with ideas?


We must, if we are ever going to move ahead as a nation, review our appointment systems and methods.  Otherwise, if we continue to use unskilled and inexperienced people to man or head our INSTITUTIONS, then we must be prepared to give them time to learn the ropes before they can start running or performing.  However, if we get our appointment systems right in the first place, and appoint competent and experienced people with the necessary and required skills, we are sure to see them hit the ground running.


Until then, we must give JEGA time to learn the ropes and get things right.  He will stumble and fall, no doubt, until he learns the ropes properly and he understands the Nigerian psyche and learns how to think and plan twice ahead of those who are bent on ensuring that he fails or he does not succeed, so as to pull him down.


I was not excited about his appointment, but wanted to know, first, why IWU and the others before him did not succeed.  I wanted to know what it was about INEC that renders otherwise, perceived competent people, into incompetent ones.  I felt the problems and issues were more than simply the change of personnel or the heads.  Nigerians have never really sat down to review or appraise the problems at INEC.  Or, appraise whether it is INEC that is the problem or ALL Nigerians collectively. 


We are all collectively guilty, if you ask me.  What INEC needs is our support and for the LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES AND THE COURTS TO BE AT WORK AND FUNCTION PROPERLY, if we are going to have free and fair elections come April 2011.  AND FOR ALL NIGERIANS TO BE VIGILANT AND STAND UP TO THOSE THAT STEAL THE DDC MACHINES OR BALLOT BOXES.  We all must play our part in ensuring that we support INEC to conduct free and fair Elections.


Indeed, Nigeria, no doubt, is a complex and difficult country to govern, I had once posited.  And I have sympathy for those in charge of her governance.    We all have a stake in the country and we must all play our parts to help.

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