If all Engineers could imbibe the qualities of leadership through their profession, experience in other areas and through talk of this nature, then the nation’s problems of inability to meet the target of Millennium Development Goals, power sustainability and maintenance of infrastructure would be a thing of the past.
Case 1:
Case 2
A Chief Engineer was deeply
napping in his car when his driver refused to show a simple courtesy at a busy
road junction in Lagos. Apparently the traffic on the side of the Chief
Engineer’s car was heavy and at a standstill. Then suddenly there was a slight
movement of traffic and the Chief Engineer’s driver (like most of our drivers) seized
the opportunity to impatiently and selfishly move forward thereby blocking the
flow of traffic in the direction perpendicular to his side. The napping Chief
Engineer was then suddenly woken up by the blaring of horns from vehicles at
the junction.
The Chief Engineer was still busy
wiping his face when a gorgeously dressed lady (who could easily pass for a
Cleopatra) walked up to him and recognized the NSE logo and the year’s slogan –
Think Technology, etc on his car.
The lady simply said;' “Oga Engineer,
haba, as a supposed leader and bulwark against societal decadence, you should
have taught your driver to know better; please try and educate him on simple
road courtesies”. Of course the Chief Engineer was thoroughly embarrassed and
he begged for forgiveness on behalf of his driver.
That short narration simply
summarizes the high esteem in which we as Engineers are held in our societies.
To whom much is given, much is expected is a popular saying; hence the high
expectations of the society for leadership by example from the Engineer.
Engineers’ leadership
matrix
At no other time in the history
of our country has this topic been more appropriate than this period of
national leadership crisis where everybody looks up to the Engineers as the
Nation’s Beacon of Hope. It stands to reason that we can’t be Beacons of Hope
without being good leaders.
What is leadership?
Leadership
is a thing, which enjoys the privilege of being a universal quality which every
man or woman desires, to be able to direct or control the affairs of a group of
people to the extent of positively influencing their actions and opinions.
Leadership Matrix is
therefore the “elixir” of life for the positive growth of any society in line
with modern trends. A quick analogy is a society or product that is not doing
well. People often attribute the poor performance to a “leadership
problem.”
When a product is not
moving well, nobody blames the product or the market. Usually people say that
it is a management (leadership) problem. There are bound to be problems in the
market but an astute management (leadership) will always rise to meet the
demands of the market. The product in this case is Nigeria nation which nobody
can fault.
The “market” is members of
the public who for their passion for our product are willing to join hands with
us (Engineers). The managers of the product are supposed to be the Engineers.
The elected shareholders of the company are politicians. The Board of Directors
are the Governors and President. The Chairman/CEO is the President of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria
Leadership attributes
Analogies of leadership
attributes of captain Sully
1.
Believe in yourself and be capable to achieve the
goal. When Captain Sully found that the two engines are no longer working, he
pondered on the two options available and soon realized that none of them were
feasible. Then he look at another option and “believe” it could work out.
2.
Moral values, be unselfish. Put others before self and
all things would be easy for you. Captain Sully could have easily save himself when all
look hopeless. Not only were the passengers saved, he was also the last person
to come out of the plane after the emergency rescue
3.
Character Accountable articulate communication
confident cooperative empathetic flexibility loyal responsible reliable team
player etc
4.
Abide by the ethic of the professional calling. No
short cut
5.
It must be in one’s character to always do something
for others. In doing so, one must be
6.
Adequate knowledge and Skill about what you are about
to set out to do. Captain Sully has knowledge about the possibility of landing
an aircraft on water and He possesses the skills to apply the knowledge of
landing on water.
7.
Led and gave Direction: While performing this act, he
is able to give direction to members of the crew and the passengers
8.
Decision: A
good and effective leader must know when to take decisions and also motivate
his team to follow his direction and guide.
Why are we here?
All of us are leaders, as
we have all chosen to influence the actions of all Nigerian in promoting
patriotism and service to our country. One may be tempted to think that,
given our successful educational, professional and occupational background,
this type of topic may not be necessary after all. This is only true
up to a point.
Beyond this point however,
we have to fine-tune our leadership abilities and potentialities to recognize
the Nigerian nation’s demand for fast growth, harmonize our different
backgrounds and make us more relevant to finding solutions to the challenges
posed by the complexities of modern day political and engineering problems.
The problems are many and
varied…
Except in the area of power
generation and distribution, perhaps the focus of attention should now move
away from undertaking new construction to maintaining existing infrastructure.
Whereas, construction
activities usually involves projects with a defined start and finish;
conversely maintenance is continuous. Whereas design and construction are dominated
by engineering issues, maintenance is essentially a management (nay
leadership) problem.
The improvement of maintenance
often involves institutional reform, human resources development and changes to
management (nay leadership) practices before addressing technical issues.
Usually a pothole on any road starts as a pinhole but because of the
aforementioned (leadership) problem, a pinhole is inadvertently allowed to
developed into a gulley
In many countries including
Nigeria it has proved to be very difficult for maintenance to be carried out
effectively, resulting in rapid deterioration of many roads. Naturally
rehabilitation and sometimes emergency reconstruction becomes mandatory when a
road deteriorates beyond its elastic limit and plastic limit respectively.
What are our challenges as engineers?
Our mono economy which is now
depressed, our political situation which is not progressing and incessant
threat of instability and war bordering on avarice, lust for affluence/power,
penchant for perpetuation in office and unbridled use of power, lack of
compromise and understanding of our diverse culture, lack of courage and wisdom
to recognize excellence and accept defeat.
Above all, is disconnect
between the Engineers and the political class. Politicians don’t see Engineers
as their partners in progress; rather they see Engineers as subordinates who
must just obey instructions without asking questions. We must learn to be
persuasive in our dealings with politicians.
A good example is the
inability of the political class to connect with the engineers to give Nigeria
its pride of place in matters of sustainable electricity supply, maintenance of
our engineering infrastructure and the achievement of Millennium Development
Goals.
The Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) are eight international
development goals that were officially established following
the Millennium Summit of the United Nations in 2000,
consequent upon the adoption of the United Nations Millennium Declaration.
All 189 United Nations member states and at least 23 international
organizations have agreed to achieve these goals by year 2015
We are now in 2015 and very
unfortunately, Nigeria is very far away from accomplishing the goals, to the
extent that we have had to move the 2015 date to 2020 ??
Conclusion:
The truth is that the
excruciating awesomeness of the present day depressed economy/polity is enough
to unwittingly frustrate a good number of us, if talks like this one are not
organized to tickle us back on to the track of our responsibilities as leaders
If all Engineers could imbibe the
qualities of leadership through their profession, experience in other areas and
through talk of this nature, then the nation’s problems of inability to meet
the target of Millennium Development Goals, power sustainability and
maintenance of infrastructure would be a thing of the past.
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