Tolu Ogunlesi initiated the idea with the tag: #ReadingListNG, and a
request that the name of Ministers should be indicated alongside book
title and url link. The exercise turned out to be so popular with all
manner of bibliophiles loading our time lines with book titles.
In the end, Kathleen Ndongmo, the Cameroonian lady with a keen
interest in all things Nigerian, storified the various suggestions. The
assumption that informed the reading list is not difficult to explain:
the received wisdom is that persons in such important positions should
be knowledge seekers, knowledge workers as well, and that in the age of
knowledge and information, it will be disastrous indeed to have any
dandified ignoramus at the highest levels of government.
After all, “Reading maketh the man” Francis Bacon said.
#ReadingListNG is thus at once an admonition, a reminder and a statement
about the importance of reading, and in every respect, a worthy
proposition.
Writing about this subject, I recall that in the early days of the
Jonathan administration, there was a similar focus on reading and
knowledge as valuable tools for governance. Much earlier, during the
campaigns, President Jonathan launched a Bring Back the Book campaign to
promote literacy and a reading culture. He more or less continued with
this at cabinet level by promoting and encouraging a culture of reading
and debate among members of the Federal Executive Council.
He had made it clear to the then new Ministers that he wanted a
cabinet of knowledgeable men and women whom he had deliberately put
together to deliver the transformation agenda, through hardwork,
dedication, efficiency and faithful execution. I indeed recall further
that during one of the earliest Cabinet meetings, each Minister received
a pack of reading materials including the Nigerian Constitution, the
Transformation Agenda Blueprint, relevant statutes and Public Service
Rules.
This idea of having a knowledgeable Cabinet, soon led to a
situation once when the President recommended to all Cabinet members a
reading of Lee Kuan Yew’s From Third World to First: The Singapore
Story. This was followed by a reading of one of President Jonathan’s
favourite books -Richard Dowden’s Africa: Altered States, Ordinary
Miracles, The interest that this particular book generated resulted in
Richard Dowden being invited to deliver the keynote address to mark
Nigeria’s 51st Independence Anniversary in 2011.
As President, when Dr Jonathan was not quoting Lee Kuan Yew, he
loved to quote Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, or Cyprian Ekwensi (An
African’s Night’s Entertainment, Burning Grass, Passport of Mallam
Ilia) and the late Tai Solarin, whose writings covered a broad range
from public policy and governance to public morality.
Book reading and discussion by that Cabinet became even more
formalized with the reading by all Cabinet members of a book titled If
We Can Put A Man On The Moon: Getting Big Things Done In Government
authored by William D. Eggers and John O’Leary. The reading of this
particular book was co-ordinated by the then Minister of National
Planning, Dr Shamsuddeen Usman, who distributed copies to every
Minister, with the following attached note: “Hoping that the cases
profiled in this book will give us the inspiration to make a great
success of the several initiatives that are necessary to achieve the
Transformation Agenda and Vision 20:2020”.
I further recall that after copies had been distributed, President
Jonathan personally appointed Omobola Johnson, Minister of
Communications, who also doubled as the Council’s class monitor, as the
reviewer of the book and lead discussant. The discussion of the book was
scheduled for two Cabinet meetings from thence, and when it took place,
it was quite an illuminating session. For the rest of the period that
we were in government, book reading or the exchange of books as gifts
was a regular feature around the Cabinet. Perhaps owing to his
background as an academic, Dr Jonathan knew the importance of ideas, and
hence in conducting cabinet meetings, he encouraged robust debates,
which sometimes resulted in open and vehement disagreements.
The promotion of this culture is sustainable. Books are vehicles of
ideas, albeit the application of those ideas and the quality and impact
are just as crucial, and the main point of course, is to understand
what the book teaches, and having the capacity to apply what is learnt.
In a country where people usually stop reading after graduating from
school, it is important to encourage those who take critical decisions
to read and think. Those who hold this view will have no problems
appreciating the #ReadingListNG initiative. The outcome is quite
interesting.
Respondents recommended books dealing with governance, policy,
biographical narratives, power politics, and history. These include
Daniel Yergin, The Quest: Energy, Security and the Remaking of the
Modern World; Daren Acemoglu and James Robinson, Why Nations Fail, Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala, Reforming the Unreformable: Lessons from Nigeria; Joe
Studwell, How Asia Works: Success and Failure in the World’s Most
Dynamic Region; Robert Greene, The 48 Laws of Power; Nasir El-Rufai, The
Accidental Public Servant; Steven Covey, The Seven Habits of Highly
Effective People;Olusegun Obasanjo, My Watch (Vol 2); Olusegun Adeniyi,
Power, Politics and Death; Hernando do Soto, The Mystery of Capital;
Franklin Zimring, The City that Became Safe; William Rosen, The Most
Powerful Idea in the World; Archie Brown, The Myth of the Strong
Leader: Political Leadership in the Modern Age; Thomas Kuhn, The
Structure of Scientific Revolutions; Karlson Hargroves and Michael
Smith, The Natural Advantage of Nations; Robert Caro, The Power Broker:
Robert Moses and the Fall of New York; Zoltan J. Acs, Innovation and
Growth of Cities, C.K. Prahalad,The Fortune at the Bottom of the
Pyramid; Nicos Komninos, The Age of Intelligent Cities, John C. Maxwell,
21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, Malcolm Gladwell, The Tipping Point
Other recommendations include Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations;
Malcolm Gladwell, David and Goliath, T D Jakes, Instinct, Douglas Stone
and Sheila Heen, Thanks for the Feedback; Dan Senor and Saul Singer,
Start up Nation;Richard Branson, Losing my Virginity; Muhammad Yunus,
Building Social Business; Rashid Al Maktoum, My Vision;Muhammad Yunus,
Banker to the Poor, Lee Kuan Yew, From Third World to First: The
Singapore Story; John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath, Maccchiavelli, The
Prince, Amy Wallace and Edwin Catmull, Creativity Inc., Gregg Braden,
The God Code, Moises Naim, The End of Power; Brian Tracy, Eat That
Frog, David Osborne and Ted Gaebler,Reinventing Government; Spencer
Johnson, Who Moved My Cheese?; Malala Yousafzai with Christina Lamb, I
am Malala; Greg McKeown, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less;
The World Watch Institute, Governing for Sustainability, Claudia
Altucher, Become an Idea Machine; Dambisa Moyo, Dead Aid; Andrew McAfee
and Erik Brynjolfsson, The Second Machine Age; William Easterly, The
Tyranny of Experts, Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace; Jim Huling, Sean Covey
and Chris McChesney, The Four Disciplines of Execution, Daniel Goleman,
Leadership, Jay Elliot with William Simon, The Steve Jobs Way; Charles
Colson, The Good Life; Goke Adegoroye, Restoring Good Governance in
Nigeria; David Landes, The Wealth and Poverty of Nations; and William
Easterly, The Elusive Quest for Growth.
The foregoing list shows an eclectic range in terms of the subjects
covered, and a fixation with foreign authors and publications. Except
in about five instances, almost all the authors are foreign. But without
any doubt, these are books of great value and penetrating insights. If I
must add one more, I’ll recommend Break Out Nations by Ruchir Sharma.
My concern however is the relative absence of Nigerian books, authors
and narratives on the list.
The big problem with governance in Nigeria is not the lack of
understanding of the catch-phrases of power, modern politics and policy,
in fact it is fashionable to be seen to have read some of these books,
the problem lies in a gross and pervasive lack of understanding of
Nigeria itself. In addition to everything else, anyone who wants to
govern Nigeria at any level, must begin with reading books on and about
Nigeria: its history, people, geography, social culture. A starting
point should be The History of Nigeria.
Those who occupy high positions should also read Nigerian
newspapers, watch local television, and listen to Nigerian stories, and
not restrict themselves to foreign media. Every Minister must start by
keeping abreast of the news: not summaries by media aides, but a genuine
effort to know what the people want, feel or think at all times. Some
of the people who suddenly become Federal Ministers do not know any
other part of Nigeria apart from their ethnic enclaves. They have no
friends outside their states of origin. They may never have travelled
round the country! Nobody can govern Nigeria or make a difference who
does not know the country. This disconnect is often the bane of
performance.
It is also regrettable that when people get to high office in
Nigeria, they soon get consumed with the minutiae and the ceremony of
being powerful and as time passes, they devote little or no time to
reflection and contemplation. Nasir el-Rufai revealed the nature of this
dilemma the other day at the Ake Arts and Book Festival in Abeokuta
when he told his audience that whereas he used to read a lot, now as
Governor of Kaduna State, he can hardly find time to read: “In the last
two years, I have been busy with opposition, new political party and
elections. I used to read a book a week when I was less busy. But now, I
just read files and documents and so on. My advice to anyone that
thinks being Governor is nice, don’t try it. You don’t get to read; you
don’t have a life.”
Precisely the point: In a society where talk is so cheap and
rumour-mongering is rife, perhaps our leaders need to genuinely find the
leisure window to develop their mental capacity and personal horizons,
so they can act and lead better.
No comments:
Post a Comment