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Voice of Emancipation: Lessons from Nehemiah (Pt. 3)
…Lessons for Leadership
By Kayode Emola
In this week’s article, continuing with our theme of Lessons from Nehemiah, I would like to consider what the account has to say to us about leadership. This is relevant, not only for those of us who might find ourselves in positions of leadership in the future, but also for those of us who will be _under_ those in positions of leadership: it is important to know what to expect of our leaders so that we may hold them to account.
It is also worth considering that, while most of us will never ascend to the heights of becoming President or a government minister, many of us hold leadership roles within our day-to-day lives. Do you have people under you at your place of work? Congratulations, you are a leader. Are you a parent? Then you’re also a leader of your children. Are you a doctor, lawyer, accountant, engineer, pharmacist, teacher, or undertake any kind of job where people rely on you for your expertise? Then you need to be able to lead them along the path that you are suggesting for them. The principles learned here, therefore, would also be readily applicable to the vast majority of us.
The first principle is that of delegation. A leader cannot, and should not, do everything themselves. Firstly, a leader will not possess all of the skills required to do every job. I take an example from the medical world: in a critical trauma situation, you may need a surgeon, a paediatrician, an anaesthetist. Each of these have particular skills that the other lacks. The surgeon cannot anaesthetise someone, just as the paediatrician cannot perform life-saving surgery. But co-ordinating all of them is the trauma team leader. The trauma team leader, usually a casualty doctor, is likely not to have the level of skill of operating that the surgeon does, nor know the correct doses of medicine to give a child like the paediatrician does, nor have the same degree of prowess with anaesthetic medications that the anaesthetist does. They do not assume the position of ‘trauma team leader’ because they are the best in all these fields. Rather, their job is to keep an overview of everything that is going on, to allow the specialists to focus solely on their own area of expertise. The team leader maintains awareness of all the tasks that need performing, and ensures that each of these is delegated to the person most suitably skilled for doing so.
This leads us to the second reason that delegation is an important leadership characteristic: a leader is required to maintain oversight of the project as a whole. This is impossible if the leader becomes too focused on a single task or aspect of the undertaking. If Nehemiah had become too concerned with ensuring that the mortar was the correct composition and consistency, he might have missed the enemies who were assembling to attack the labourers. He needed to keep his eyes on the big picture.
Finally, if a leader does not delegate, and attempts to undertake too great a portion of the task alone, they will tire, and ultimately burn out. Resultantly, they will be less effective – in fact, they will have gone from being an asset to being an extra burden, as the workers will then have to be looking after the leader and performing the leadership role, as well as addressing their own tasks.
When a leader is delegating, they need to consider the means by which they do so. As previously alluded to, they need to ensure that tasks are given to the most appropriate people to undertake them. They also need to ensure that they communicate this clearly. Failure to do so can cause confusion, stress, demoralisation and demotivation amongst the workforce, as it is unclear what is expected or required of them. Consider the context of being a parent to a young child: if you hand your child a pencil and tell them do spend time drawing/writing, but fail to specify on what or monitor their activities, then if you find that they have written on the wall and shout at them for doing so, they will become confused and upset. In their mind, they were doing what they were told – so why now are they being rebuked for it?
As suggested already, the person in a position of leadership is not necessarily there because they are the best at everything, and so there should be no assumption of superiority. We know very well that this is often not the case in our current situation, where our leaders take the cream for themselves and leave only the dregs for everyone below. If confronted about this, there would often be an attitude of, “I deserve this because I hold [xyz] position.”
Nehemiah was entitled to a portion of food as a member of the governors. But in order that he did not place extra burden on his people, he did not take it. Governors who had preceded him had taken that which was their due and more besides. A leader is put in place to serve the best interests of those in their care; they should take heed that they do so, and face repercussions if they do not. If we turn a blind eye to the immoral actions of leaders, then they will continue to perpetuate such corruption. If they are held to account – and know that they will be so – then a higher quality of leadership will be cultivated.
Not only should our leaders be held to account for the morality of their own actions, but any leader desiring to be considered worthy of the position must take responsibility for the wellbeing of their people. Therefore, if their people are suffering, it is their duty to take action to alleviate it; and if they fail to do so, they must be called to explain why they have not.
As important as meeting the physical needs of the people in their care, a leader must cultivate an environment that engenders good emotional health as well. When the Israelites were grieved, the Levites calmed their distress and spoke words of encouragement to them. A happy workforce is a productive workforce; and a contented community is a cohesive one.
When the leaders started to allow compromise in their standards, Nehemiah did not simply overlook it, with an attitude of, “it’s only a minor thing, so I’ll let them get away with it.” He called them to account for the small transgressions to prevent them escalating into large ones. A small patch of mildew on the wall may only take seconds to clean. But if you ignore it because it is only minor, you will very soon find that is has spread and consumed your entire wall. Now, instead of a simple cleaning job to remedy the situation, you find yourself having to replace the whole wall. So it is with moral compromise. If you permit minor crimes to pass unpunished, then major ones will soon follow. We must hold our leaders to account for the small things, so that we know they can be trusted with the big ones.
At the heart of the failings of Nigeria as a country lies the failings of her leaders to lead well. We must not allow this same rot to spread within our Yoruba communities and nation. Each one of us must be vigilant about maintaining standards, both in our personal lives and any sphere of leadership within which we find ourselves, but also in those appointed to lead us. We must hold our leaders to account, and be humble enough to be held to account ourselves when trusted with leadership positions. In so doing, we will be able to build a new society, a tomorrow that is free of the plague of corruption and consequent national dereliction which so devastatingly afflicts us today.
Special Credit: Dr. Bethan Emola
The distinguished Senator representing Ogun East Senatorial District and Chairman of the Senate Committee on Navy, His Excellency, Otunba Engr. Gbenga Daniel, has extended warm congratulations to Aare Adetola EmmanuelKing, Chairman/CEO of Adron Group, on the occasion of his 50th birthday.
In a heartfelt message, Senator Daniel praised Aare Adetola EmmanuelKing for his outstanding dedication and immense contributions to the Nigerian housing sector. He described the celebrant as a shining example in the business community, whose passion and commitment have left an indelible mark on the real estate industry across Nigeria.
“You are indeed a source of inspiration to your generation and a shining example within the business environment. There is no doubt that you had written your name in an indelible ink across Nigeria and most especially among the real estate developers,” he wrote.
Senator Daniel also acknowledged Aare Adetola EmmanuelKing’s conferment as the ‘Otun-Asiwaju of Remo Christians’ by the Ogun State branch of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), as a reflection of his God-fearing nature, philanthropic spirit, and commitment to humanity.
The senator offered prayers for good health, greater accomplishments, and many more remarkable years ahead for the business mogul.
He concluded by affirming his highest regards and admiration for the celebrant.
The Corps Marshal, Federal Road Safety Corps ( FRSC), Shehu Mohammed, has directed Commanding Officers to ensure full deployment of staff for maximum visibility, prompt removal of obstructions and ease of movement on all highways across the country. This is in line with the operational guidelines of this year’s Easter special patrol scheduled to commence from 16th to 23 April, 2024.
According to the Operation Order, obtained by the National Association of Online Security News Publishers (NAOSNP), the objectives of the special operations are reduction in road traffic crashes, road traffic fatalities and road traffic Injuries; prompt response to road traffic crash victims; unhindered in purposeful public education and speedy removal of obstructions from the highways, amongst others.
Corps Marshal Shehu Mohammed assured members of the public that in achieving the objectives of the special operations, the Corps will combine the engagement of the motoring public through purposeful and impactful public education programmes, strengthening of surveillance activities to regulate unprofessional excesses, sustained effective patrol operations as well as adequate monitoring on the highways.
To this end, the Corps would carryout aggressive enforcement including conducting over 200 Mobile Courts operations, with the aim of checking the following offences:
Speeding and Dangerous Driving/Overtaking,
b. Lane indiscipline/Route violation,
c. Road Obstructions,
d. Use of Phone while Driving,
e. Overloading,
f. Seatbelt/Child restraint Use Violations,
g. Passenger’s Manifest Violation,
h. Operation of mechanical deficient and rickety vehicles,
i. Latching and Twist-Locks Violation,
To achieve the aforementioned, over 743 patrol vehicles, 184 administrative vehicles, 92 ambulances, 23 tow trucks and 144 motorbikes are being deployed as part of the patrol logistics.
Furthermore, reflective jackets, traffic cones, tyre pressure gauges, a number of extricating machines and digital breathalyzers are part of the tools set aside for the special operations.
Added to the above is, a total of 23 Help Areas mobilised to ensure prompt removal of obstructions, and rescue operations during the period. This, he said, is in addition to the 15 traffic control camps which would be dedicated solely to identifying traffic gridlock areas to be manned by our personnel on 24/7 basis.
For effective monitoring and prompt response, the Corps has put in place a Situation Room at the National Headquarters to monitor the activities across the country, collate and process information for dissemination to relevant commands and stakeholders as the case may be.
This is in addition to 28 Road Traffic Crash Clinics and 53 Zebra points located along the major routes. This would be covered by 92 ambulances to be fully utilized for prompt response to crashes and rescue of injured victims to hospitals for more professional attention.
He also directed the Commanding Officers to liaise with other strategic stakeholders within their operational areas to secure the needed moral and logistics as well as security support. The Corps Marshal identified some of the stakeholders as Military formations (enroute or resident); the Nigeria Police (enroute or resident); DSS (enroute or resident); the Nigeria Immigration Service; the NSCDC (enroute or resident).
Others are Federal Ministry of Works and Housing; National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA); State Traffic Management Agencies; State owned NGO’s ambulance Services providers; National Network on Emergency Rescue Services (NNES);
Federal Road Maintenance Agencies and
Federal Fire Service.
On the overall preparedness of the Corps for the special operations, he expressed optimism that Nigerians would as usual, cooperate with members of the Corps and other security agencies as well as volunteers who would come out to assist the Corps in traffic management.
Expectedly, with the massive deployment of personnel and logistics and the envisaged public support, the Corps Marshal is confident that the celebration would be a huge success.
While reassuring the motoring public of FRSC’s renewed vigour towards entrenching sanity on the roads, the Corps Marshal also wishes all Nigerians safe and peaceful Easter celebrations.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) stakeholders’ meeting in Ojokoro LCDA, Lagos State, ended in chaos on Monday over alleged imposition of a chairmanship candidate.
The meeting began peacefully at 7, Ijaoye Street, at 4:00 pm before aggrieved members stormed the venue in protest.
Protesters chanted “(unprintable word”; “We can’t take it”, and accused Speaker of State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa, of imposing a candidate from Agege on Ojokoro residents.
Other chants included “Who knows Sanusi?”, “Obasa can’t control us from Agege”, and “We won’t allow a stranger rule us here”.
Speaking after the disruption, one of the protesters, Mr. Olusegun Akinoso-Olawaye said the meeting was a ploy to ratify an imposed candidate with no ties to the council.
He stressed that a chairmanship aspirant must reside in Ojokoro, and have worked for the party and actively participated in council politics.
He warned that imposing an outsider with no electoral history in Ojokoro would have negative consequences.
“We are here to reject imposition. All aspirants deserve a fair contest to prove their political relevance,” Akinoso-Olawaye stated.
He noted there are at least 18 aspirants for the chairmanship, all of whom had supporters present at the protest.
Another protest leader, Mrs. Bola Ojetayo, lamented that party leaders often prioritise personal interests over the will of the people.
She said the protest aimed to prevent installation of an unfamiliar figure as the next council chairman.
“We must not sell our seat to outsiders. A stranger cannot come and lead us in our own home.
“Leaders can’t sit elsewhere and decide for us. Someone in Agege shouldn’t determine Ojokoro’s leadership,” Ojetayo said.
In response, Mr. James Owolabi, a former House of Representatives member, and APC stalwart in Ojokoro, urged protesters to remain peaceful and avoid violence.
Owolabi, who represented Ifako-Ijaiye Federal Constituency, acknowledged the concerns and affirmed their right to protest within the party.
“You have a voice in the party. Express yourselves peacefully without violence,” Owolabi advised.
Other APC leaders present included Mr Jelili Oseni, council chairman, and Ipoola Omisore, a former Lagos Assembly member.
Also in attendance were Alh. Amosu Aminu, Chief Oriyomi Olaogun, and Mr Akindele Aremu, among others.
The Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) had scheduled the local government elections for July 12, 2025.
