• Thursday, March 28, 2024
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Quackery is not allowed in our profession – Rabiu

Quackery is not allowed in our profession – Rabiu

Musa Rabiu, group chief human resource officer at Dangote Cement Plc. has been in human resource management practice for over three decades. In this interview, he outlines a three-point agenda he would pursue if elected as president of Nigeria’s Chartered Institute of Personnel Management (CIPM). He spoke to Stephen Onyekwelu. Excerpts:

Tell us about your professional path.

I have been practicing human resource management for the last 32 years. I am a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management. My career has taken me through academics. I was an assistant lecturer in Economics department at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria from 1986 to 1990.

Then I joined Shell as personnel officer in 1990, spanning 18 years, which took me through Warri, Lagos and four years in The Hague, at the central offices of Shell in the Netherlands. I took early retirement in 2008, to pursue other career aspirations outside oil and gas.

But been very active in the CIPM, I was invited to be first the acting registrar/chief executive officer, when the institute had some challenges with managing the organisation. I was there until 2010. This was the period that the institute re-engineered itself and we were able to lay a stronger foundation for the achievements that occurred in the last 10 years.

I decided to move on from CIPM to focus on some professional challenges. So, I went into independent consulting. And I did that for one year plus, I became the human resource consultant for the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation at their headquarters in Abuja.

I provided consulting services in competence management, career development and general human resource policy advice. I left NNPC in 2017 after five years to join the Dangote Group as chief human resource officer. In brief this is my profile.

Of course, I have been active in other professional bodies. I am a member of the Nigerian Institute of Management. I am a fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Entrepreneurial Studies of the Institute of Business Development. I am a member of the Nigerian Institute of Training and Development and several other professional bodies outside Nigeria.

You started out as teacher, what led you into human resource practice?

I have always wanted to be an academic and lecturer. The ideal role for me was eventually to become a professor, when I was younger. It started well, because I read economics, which I liked. And fortunately, been the best graduating student I was asked to come back after the National Youth Service Corps to be a graduate assistant.

This meant I had to immediately start my master’s degree and teaching at the same time. I finished my master’s and started my doctor of philosophy (Ph.D). Initially I got admission at the University of Manchester; this was in 1986/7. However this was the time the Federal Government introduced the Structural Adjustment Programme.

One of the implications was that funding for universities was drastically reduced. In those days if you got such admission, you go on in-service. This means that the university will continue to pay your salary and also pay your tuition. The university told me, sorry we have stopped that. There is no more funding. You should explore studying in Nigeria.

I got admission into ABU, Zaria, faculty of Agricultural Sciences, but I went to do Agricultural Economics. I completed the course work and was about starting the research when I felt I just could not continue. This was because I was the highest earning member of my family and had siblings to cater for. The reality dawned on me that I cannot continue getting degrees. Painfully, I had to leave.

Before going to the university, I was a bank worker at the United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc. as a clerk. I went to a teachers’ college, but I did not quite teach after I finished. In my form five, first term, I wrote the General Certificate of Education (ordinary level) examination. So, when I was writing my grade two teachers’ exams, the GCE results had been released and I passed all nine subjects.

So, while I was waiting to get my grade two results, I already got a job with UBA. Apart from the teaching practice I did during the five years, I did not teach. I got a job with the bank and was posted to Maiduguri. Eventually, I resigned because I wanted to go for further studies, that is, undergraduate studies. During my undergrad days, I also went back to UBA during long vacation to work. They will just pay some stipends but reasonable amount. I had this affinity with UBA and even when I graduated the pull was to go back and work in the bank.

But when I got the graduate assistance role, I felt I should do my master’s and after master’s, Ph.D. when I was leaving the academia, I applied everywhere and where I was hoping to get a job immediately was in the banking sector, UBA in particular. It came after I got the job in Shell.

When the offer came, it was not exciting because I did not know the oil and gas. And even the function, personnel in those days was little understood. I was an economist what was I going to do with personnel. My wife and I were desperate to earn more income and we thought since this is the first one that has come along, it is better to take it.

That was how I went to Shell and I went with the intention of staying for a few months, until I got the ideal job in the bank, which came afterwards. But after a year at Shell, I realised, the income had significantly increased and the oil and gas was sophisticated, particularly at Shell. There was a lot to learn and if one wanted a structured career, that was the place to be. After the first year, positive things started happening, I got promoted, got more challenging responsibilities and I was transferred to Lagos, the headquarters of Shell in Nigeria. This was how instead of a few months, I was there for 18 years.

What is your take on the phenomenon of graduate employability and the lack of jobs?

Jobs are available for those with the right skillset. So, when graduates say there are no jobs, it means they do not have the skills for the jobs that are available. The employer is looking for ready to use.

But very sophisticated and broad-minded employers also know that there is a tutelage period, when graduates have to learn the ropes, grow and become solid in the job. What I know from experience is that our educational institutions have been churning out graduates that have not been meeting the standards we had in the last 20 years or so. I saw this when I was at Shell.

Shell will go through its recruitment process in a very rigorous manner and by the time you are employed, you have what it takes. You may not know very much about oil and gas industry practice, but you have the potential you to be the best anyone can be. After that you will be taken through Shell’s training and you become solid and can work anywhere in the world in the oil and gas field.

I think about 1995/6, Shell realised that the quality of graduates it was getting from the university system dropped. They exhibit all the desired qualities but when it came to the content of the different subject matter areas of the disciplines like physics, chemistry, geology and even information technology, they were not deep.

So, the problem was not the individual but the system that they went through. Shell introduced the Shell Intensive Training Programme. It was a 12-month programme, very intensive and it deepened the understanding of the new recruits in those areas. Shell did this in collaboration with a university in Aberdeen, Scotland. After the training some of them were so good that the left Shell to work for other companies abroad.

The problem was not the person but the system they went through. So, if graduates say there are no jobs, it means they do not have the right skills for the jobs available. In addition, because of where we are in the economic cycle, just recovering from a recession, there has not been much growth in the economy because of the diminished economic activity.

If you have a contraction in the economic system, then demand for skills will also be constrained.  We also have structural unemployment, if industries are demanding for more engineers but the university system is churning out arts and humanities graduates, you have a structural unemployment.

What are the key determinants of an efficient and effective human resource policy for any organisation?

Human resource policy will respond to the macroeconomic environment, in terms of regulation and economic policy formulation by the government. When the annual budget is released, how does that change funding business activities, bank loans, and fiscal policies? In a nutshell the business environment must be in the right frame. Human resource policy will therefore respond to the stage at which the economy is at any point in time.

The entire value chain of the human resource practice starts from attraction, recruitment, performance management, compensation and benefits, employee industrial relations, including learning and development and general talent management. Human resource policy will then seek to optimise each stage in the value chain.

On attraction, companies can go to higher institutions of learning, particularly those who have the financial muscle to market their attraction packages and value proposition. This will be a policy that takes employment beyond job adverts in newspapers. When this happens, then lecturers will also pay attention to the needs of these companies and design curriculum in alignment with industry needs. The times have changed, there is artificial intelligence now and various forms of technologies that actually help the employees perform at their best. This interaction will begin to shape the quality of graduates through curriculum review.

When it comes to selection, there is need for human resource policy to focus on evidence-based selection process, not man knows man or woman knows man. In this sense you then have clear expectation on technical competence, inter-disciplinary skills, leadership or people management skills. Regardless of the method used, it should be evidence-based.

Policy on compensation and benefits should be based on best practice and competitive. You must make your compensation and benefits are attractive. If you are looking for the best then you must be able to put money behind it. If you do not, you will spend time and money to attract but they will not stay. Retention will be an issue.

Beyond the pay, which is a hygiene factor, you also need clear policy on how to develop the talents you employ. This is learning and development or training. Every good organisation should have funds to keep training its workers. This enables them to have informed discussions with peers within and outside the country. The people you have create the value not the machines or infrastructure. If you do not invest in their continuous development then they cannot enhance the value they are bringing to the organisation.

For employee relations, you must have clear policy dealing with that. This will be captured in the staff handbook. Every recruit into the organisation in this sense knows their rights and obligations, in terms of welfare, what to do, time to come to work and disciplinary measures. In this sense, nothing is hidden.

Finally but not conclusively, is the issue of managing talents and succession planning. There must be a policy that allows you to hire somebody, whether young or not young and to be able to help them to move up in their career. A succession plan will allow you to cover for the top management because nobody will be on the job forever. People move around. The organisation must have a policy on succession planning. Who will be behind this guy in case he decides to leave or if he is moved to a different job? For the younger ones, there should a clear view of where they will be in the next five or more years.

How does the CIPM regulate human resource management in Nigeria?

The CIPM was established by an act of parliament to regulate the practice of human resource management in Nigeria. The Institute regulates first by having registered members who are sworn to a professional code of conduct. The first task therefore is to get people into the Institute and then start the process of education, which comes through training and re-training.

You cannot practise if you do not have the human resource management professional license. It is evidence that you have been assessed and certified fit to practice. The license is valid for only two years after which the holder goes through the certification process again. As practitioner you cannot remain stagnant. You must attend conferences; seminars, training and workshops or you are facilitating them. So, it is then about registering, training, assessing and certifying human resource management practitioners in Nigeria.

Not everybody who is doing human resource management in Nigeria is registered. CIPM has over 12, 000 registered members but not all of them have license to practise. The effort is on to get them re-trained and certified fit to practise.

Quackery is not allowed in our profession. It is like having a doctor who is about to perform a surgical procedure for which it is not certified to carry out. And the CIPM, backed by the act of parliament can actually sanction offenders but we want to first attract and train. If this route fails then we might use coercive measures.

To get into CIPM, there are two routes: the exam or professional path. The exam route has a study process and examination that you have to do. There is the first, second and more senior parts. When you are through with the exams, you get a CIPM diploma. Then you have to undertake six months internship to gains hands-on experience, with coaching. With this you become an associate member (ACIPM). The next grade is the full membership (MCIPM) and the highest grade is fellow (FCIPM). In between these are periods of practice.

What are some of the challenges?

The first challenge has been getting full compliance with many organisations, in terms of appointing registered members of the Institute into human resource management leadership positions. So, you go to an organisation, the human resource manager, is she a member of the Institute? We have more compliance in the private and formal sectors than in the public and informal sectors.

This is a major challenge and this is why the institute was established to close that gap. We have been working to get the Federal Government to accept the CIPM diploma as entry requirement into certain cadre of the civil service. That effort is still on.

The second challenge has to do with penetration across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. Historically, the Institute started from Lagos State and have more members from here. But there is potential to increase our reach especially to the northern parts of the country. This is where we have an opportunity.

Thirdly, getting support to execute certain initiatives has been challenging. It can be funding but it is more about resources. We need more collaboration with organisations, to provide opportunity for internships to candidates training to become members of the Institute. This can reduce unemployment and offer hands-on experience, which counts towards employment.

You are contesting for the position of CIPM’s presidency, what is the motivation for this?

The motivation is to serve. I have been serving the institute in the last 25 years. My first leadership opportunity was when I was chairman of the Delta State branch – 1997 to 1999. I became a member of the Strategic Planning and Implementation Committee, which is a committee of Council. After that I became a registrar of the Institute for two years. Afterwards, I contested and was elected a council member. I subsequently contested for the position of vice president but was declared unsuccessful. The president at that time appointed me a member council.

Thereafter, I was appointed to chair the Management of the National Unemployment Committee, which looked at the challenges of national unemployment and possible solutions. This earned the Institute a seat on the quarterly business review meetings of the Federal Government. The Institute was made a member of the National Employment Council. So, you see, I have been in leadership positions at the Institute at various levels.

Naturally, I feel if I am elected as president, I will add to what has been achieved up to date. I am not just a member of the Institute but have been its chief executive officer. I am familiar with the challenges and have ideas that with the support of members in council, we can take the Institute to where it should be in line with its vision and mission statements.

What are the issues you plan to tackle immediately, if elected as president of CIPM?

In terms of my manifesto, I am looking at three things. The Institute has a strategic plan of three to four years. Out of the plan, I have figured out three areas. One is the issue of governance. Two is branding. Three is capacity building.

For governance, we need to strengthen the relationship between the Council, which is national leadership and the various state branches. We also need to strengthen compliance with the Institute’s Act as well as the bye-laws.

Branding is important because, how the Institute is perceived by stakeholders matters for its operations. The Institute has achieved a lot I this regard already. Capacity building will focus on two segments: secretariat staff and our own members. One challenge of course will be to getting a quick buy-in of council members.