He stepped out at the train station expecting tog to see his contact but no one. After seeing two more fruitless trains pull in and depart, he called Emeka to know what was going on. Emeka apologized for being late and asked my friend to meet him at another station two stops away. But this annoyed my friend who had gotten used to people keeping their appointments. So he refused, citing the additional inconvenience and cost and instead offered to wait a bit longer for Emeka to meet up with him.
But he got very angry when Emeka called back to encourage him to still come to the farther station and suggesting he would not need to pay any fare as he would not be caught. He promptly told Emeka, canceled the meeting and asked him to reschedule whenever he was more serious. My friend, in recounting that experience explained that some Nigerians who are new in the UK, look for, and exploit “apparent” loopholes wherever they can see them because they cannot appreciatw thorough and effective the British public service system can be. Inevitably, they are soon apprehended for silly offences and are stamped with criminal records that worsen their chances of success in the society.
That story reminded me of a video on the Internet where a Nigerian is seen pleading profusely with British Immigration officials to still grant him entry after being caught with false travel documents. I was mildly amused by the thought that he believed those officials could take pity on him and act unilaterally in his favor.
I made the point that these two acts; the belief that any system can be exploited and the willingness to exploit it, as well as the readiness to leverage relationships in order to influence outcomes, are simply characteristics of the environment they were used to in Nigeria and to that extent their actions are structural. Those two people are unlikely to be aware of the systemic efficiency in the UK, which will at least ensure tickets on that route are checked at random or that cameras are installed to monitor how Immigration officials interact with their clients. These two people will think their actions are novel because they are used to systematic inefficiency in public service delivery.
These observations connect with the theme of my book, “The Survival Mindset: A Systematic Approach to Combating Corruption in Nigeria” where I write that our approach to solving our problems is like “a situation where one hundred and fifty million people on a bus with engine trouble are heading down a hill and passengers are comparing driving skills” when what we need is a mechanic who can fix that bus so that any average driver can get good enough performance out of it.
In other words, we need to build an idiot-proof nation by establishing effective public service delivery so that no matter how incompetent or untrustworthy our rulers and citizens happen to be, we cannot fall below a minimum standard. In the long run, such effective services will also determine the quality of leaders that emerge.
This may not be news to many as people look beyond the problems to ask for solutions and where the change will start from. The ready answer for most people is usually to helplessly wish for the incumbent or aspiring governor or president to become the Nigerian messiah. But if we are looking for structural institutional and sustainable changes, we have to look beyond people who are often either too embedded in the status quo or too encumbered by the process that leads to their emergence, to see or offer a fresh direction.
Our hope should not be in politicians; they often have to think in four-year election cycles, their venture is risky and capital-intensive, and in an environment where they are left to fund their campaigns however they can, they are legitimately concerned about how to recoup their investment. We need to focus, instead, on the longer-term, career-focused policy-makers and implementers who see and steer politicians as they come and go, and who are largely responsible for keeping the national ship sailing in the wrong or right direction.
In other words, we all need to realize afresh what immense negative impact the poor performance of our public services has on our nation and on our psyche, and the equally immense opportunity these ordinary people hold in their hands to significantly improve our situation.
Once that understanding is in place, public servants will also appreciate why greater accountability and professionalism is required of them. They are therefore more likely to cooperate, when performance standards are established and enforced. As the Public Services become more productive, a grateful nation will be ready to support the drive for better working conditions for public-sector employees and such improvements will in turn, make the sector more competitive and professional and steadily lead our nation away from survival to service stability and reliability.
People say Nigerians talk a lot and do nothing. I argue that there is sufficient evidence to the contrary in the Nigerian Civil War, Niger Delta Militancy, Boko Haram and other internal conflicts where Nigerians have sacrificed their lives for ideals they believe in. I therefore think that the debate about Nigeria, that goes on everywhere two or more Nigerians connect for any length of time, is meant to help our people forge their way through the complexities of corruption, tribalism and other national distractions to articulate a vision we can all wholeheartedly commit to.
I think such a vision exists and is urgently needed to replace our survival mindset. It is a vision which puts us all, whether elder or younger, irrespective of tribe, religion or political affiliation, on one side of the table, against the true challenge of building a nation whose potential is no longer theoretical.
People doubt whether those who benefit from the status quo can support change. I think they will consider change when they are shown that their comfort zone is not as comfortable as they think. I believe they will support change when we guarantee their most important needs. This is possible.
There is a way out and if enough thinking Nigerians develop the same holistic understanding and perspective of our situation; we can work towards a common vision and focus our efforts rather than continue to work at cross-purposes which end up diffusing and dissipating our efforts. We need to broaden our minds, think differently and act differently so we can have different and better outcomes.
