Metro
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 Federal government has suspended the planned closure of Eko Bridge in Lagos State.
The Minister of Works, Engr. Dave Umahi, disclosed this during an inspection of the bridge on Tuesday.
He said: “We directed that this bridge be closed. That was about two weeks back, … but our caring President Bola Tinubu is very much concerned about the closure of this Eko Bridge.
“He has asked me to come back here and take a second look at that decision so that we don’t induce much hardship on Nigerians.”
The minister said his team re-assessed the strength of the bridge on Monday, and confirmed that the closure could be suspended at the moment.
“We have done our technical evaluation in line with the president’s directive.
“Putting safety over and above every decision, we have seen that, for now, we are safe, but we won’t get to any situation that any Nigerian on this bridge will not be safe.
“We have agreed on three procedures,” Umahi added.
According to him, the first procedure is not to close the bridge now but monitor the progression or otherwise of the crack.
He said that the crack is not progressing either arithmetically or geometrically at the moment.
“No progression so far. We are comfortable, but crack can occur anytime. I will return here to reassess it,” he stated.
The minister, however, also said there would be remedial work on the bridge.
Metro
Security Expert Hails Ribadu’s Talks with Vance, Rubio As Positive Devt in Counter-Terrorism Fight
The visit by Nigeria’s National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu to the United States where he held talks with Vice President JD Vance, and Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, has been described as a positive development for Nigeria’s fight against terrorism.
A security analyst and columnist, Jas Keita, in a statement says that the meeting underscores the importance of the Nigerian/U. S security relationship.
According to her, the meeting comes at an important time for Nigeria as it seeks to defeat terrorist groups that are seeking to undermine the government, destroying lives and livelihoods across the country.
The statement reads in part: “Security cooperation between the United States and Nigeria were central to these discussions. This comes against the backdrop of escalating terrorist activity in Nigeria. Two weeks ago, ISIS militants killed at least 29 people in an attack in Guyaku, a village in Adamawa state, while Boko Haram killed 11 people during a raid on a village in Borno State. This escalation of violence and destruction poses a serious threat to the social and economic stability of Nigeria. Nigeria must do all it can to destroy the ability and operational capacity of groups such as ISIS or Boko Haram to wage war against its people.
“Despite widespread commentary, driven often by foreign actors, the United States has remained a steadfast ally to Nigeria in its determination to destroy those groups who seek to destroy Nigeria. While some commentators seek to criticise the government for such visits, it’s clear that ordinary people whose lives and livelihoods are being destroyed by these groups, want to see immediate, urgent and effective action against these groups. Working with the United States to empower Nigerian Security forces is the quickest and most effective way to this result.
“Of course, people will remember the 2025 Christmas day strikes where the U.S working with Nigerian security forces undertook a series of attacks against these terrorist groups. But that cooperation continued in the months following the attack. In February, a team of U.S. Special Forces personnel were deployed on the ground. Their mission was to provide direct technical and information support to Nigerian security forces. As well as training support, they have provided invaluable technical and strategic insight developed over decades of providing similar support across the globe.
“This type of support cannot be underestimated. To see a contrast, one simply needs to look at events in Mali and the failure of Russia’s assistance to the government there. Empowering our security forces, ensuring they have the skills and insights is a critical element to ensuring we defeat terrorist groups.
“One of the strands of commentary after the Christmas day strikes was if we even needed American support. Put simply, yes, we are facing a substantial threat from these terrorist groups. They are well armed, well organised and well financed. They are committed to destroying the legitimately elected government and imposing their own vision on our country. They have shown time and time again they have no interest in the welfare of our people, rather they will kill anyone who disagrees with them or simply is in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“Nigeria is facing an existential threat from these terrorist groups. They do not care about our way of life or the welfare of our people. Nigeria cannot become prosperous unless it rids itself of these terrorist organisations. The ongoing security crisis creates an environment of instability and fear that means our people cannot expect to thrive. Nigeria has a prosperous economic future ahead and can create a brighter future for all its people, but this cannot happen without a stable and secure foundation. Defeating these groups not only protects the lives of our families but allows Nigeria to build a brighter economic future for all.
“That is why these talks in Washington are so vital. Our country has a strong and committed ally in the United States. Despite what other foreign actors say, they have shown time and time again their willingness to expend resources to support our fight against terrorism. Strengthening and deepening this relationship must be a key strategic priority for our government and we must ensure it endures. Doing so, will ensure our own people have the skills, insights and resources to defeat these groups. Doing so, will provide the stability that will underpin our future economic and social growth.”
The International Society of Substance Use Professionals (ISSUP) Nigeria has announced plans to host the 33rd edition of its bi-monthly Knowledge Update Series webinar on May 27, 2026, focusing on the use of artificial intelligence in addiction screening and mental health intervention.
The webinar, themed “VibeCheck – An AI Tool for Addiction Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral; From Screening to Real-World Intervention,” will be held online at 3:00 PM WAT.
The session will introduce “VibeCheck,” a digital self-screening assistant designed to support early identification of substance use risks and related mental health concerns using tools such as the WHO ASSIST and PHQ-9 assessments.
The webinar will feature a live demonstration of the platform, practical strategies for integrating the tool into clinical and community workflows, ethical considerations surrounding digital screening tools, and referral pathways for intervention.
Participants will also learn how the platform can be customized for institutional use by healthcare organizations and community-based programmes.
The keynote presentation will be delivered by Dr. Oluwasikemi Alalade, a Consultant Psychiatrist at the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Yaba, Lagos.
Dr. Alalade specializes in child and adolescent psychiatry, substance use disorders, neurodevelopmental conditions, and digital mental health innovations. She has contributed to several research projects focused on psychiatric care delivery and technology-driven mental health solutions in Nigeria.
According to ISSUP Nigeria, the webinar is targeted at public health professionals, addiction counsellors, healthcare providers, policymakers, young people, and professionals working within substance use prevention and treatment settings.
The session will be moderated by ISSUP Nigeria President, Dr. Olajumoke Koyeojo and Ejikeme M. Ogueji, Head, Editorial and Webinar Team
ISSUP noted that the webinar aims to promote evidence-based approaches to substance use prevention and strengthen discussions around ethical digital mental health interventions.
Participation is free and open to interested members of the public.
To register for the ISSUP Nigeria webinar on “VibeCheck – An AI Tool for Addiction Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral”, click below:
https://www.issup.net/node/34651?utm_source=chatgpt.com
