One of the most important qualities of leadership and life generally is the assumption and acceptance of responsibility for the state/organisation and all the decisions taken within the state/organisation and for one’s actions. The leader is responsible for making strategic decisions and s/he cannot shirk or abrogate that responsibility without losing his/her right to leadership.
Likewise, a person seeking to grow and make progress in life must acknowledge the role s/he plays in his/her life – the good and bad – rather than looking around for someone or something else to blame.
Harry S.Truman, United States president between 1945 and 1953 so appreciated this fact that he often reminded his cabinet that while he was open to their advice, he was responsible for making the decisions because, ultimately, the buck stops at his table. He popularised phrases such as “the buck stops here” and “if you can’t stand the heat, you better get out of the kitchen” often to show that the leader must always make the decisions and accept responsibility for decisions made. And he did make very weighty decisions like the authorisation of the use of atomic weapons against Japan to force its surrender in 1945.
Likewise, individuals desirous of personal success know the first thing they must do is to take responsibility for their lives and careers. It doesn’t mean they will have to do it alone. No! It simply means they are basically in charge of their lives and externally own the consequences for the things they do and things they don’t do. They also learn to internally take ownership of the circumstances of their lives. One of the first things highly successful people realise is the old adage: “if it is to be, it is up to me.”
A critical aspect of owning one’s circumstances is taking responsibility when things go wrong. As psychologists have noted, this is most crucial in building trust with others and learning from mistakes. Psychologists attribute the habit of ‘passing the buck’ mainly to children. But sadly, many individuals and leaders carry it to adulthood. No leader person desirous of growth/success can be involved in the despicable game of ‘passing the buck’. A culture of taking responsibility cannot exist in a culture of blame and recrimination. Crucially, a leader must not always take responsibility, but also share the credit.
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However, these principles do not seem to apply to Nigerian leadership or even Nigerians in general regardless of their education, sophistication or finesse. For one, the history of governance and politics in Nigeria is the history of “passing the buck”.
Here, it is all about leaders wanting to take the glory for any modicum of achievement or progress even if it happens accidentally and the stubborn refusal to accept responsibility for anything that goes wrong including the massive corruption, bad governance, killings and despoliation of the country.
As a keen student of Nigeria government and politics, I am always reading and reviewing the actions, policies, statements, biographies and autobiographies of our leaders and statesmen. One theme that runs through them all is the shameful act of ‘passing the buck’ and ducking responsibility all the time.
But beyond just the leadership, it is an attitude that is now firmly rooted in the Nigerian society and now shapes our worldview. An argument can even be made that the culture of taking responsibility is alien to us. We spent generations blaming Europeans/Americans for the slave trade while saying nothing about the local captors and sellers of the slaves.
While many other African countries including Benin Republic, Senegal, and Ghana have variously apologised for their roles in the slave trade, Nigeria’s only contribution to the debate was to demand compensation from European and Western nations for the damage done to the continent by the slave trade.
Our entire body of social scholarship, until the late 20th century, was dedicated to blaming European colonialism for the dislocation of African society and sowing the seeds for the state dysfunction that has characterised the post colonial era. While we kept passing the buck, other countries (especially in Southeast Asia) that emerged from European colonialism at the same time with us took charge of their circumstances and went about the business of creating capable states that would serve the needs of their societies. It took their successes for the world, and perhaps, some of us to realise that we have been the problem all along and not the people/countries we always love to blame.
By the time our anti-European/Western scholarship had run its full course at the beginning of the 21st century, our country has not only become a wasteland, but our people have internalised the culture of passing the buck such that the task of national rebirth is now made more difficult and complicated.
It has really been depressing seeing commentaries by Nigerians on their family’s involvement in the slave trade. At a time when countries and families are fully coming to terms with the atrocities their forebears committed during the slave trade, our finest writers and scholars, whose family wealth and privileges were directly tied to the inhuman trade in people, are busy justifying the actions of their forebears and denying their agency in the inhuman trade.
While many other African countries including Benin Republic, Senegal, and Ghana have variously apologised for their roles in the slave trade, Nigeria’s only contribution to the debate was to demand compensation from European and Western nations for the damage done to the continent by the slave trade.
“We call on all the countries of Europe and the Americas to compensate Africa for the untold hardship and exploitation that the continent had been subjected to in the past,” Babangida was quoted as saying in a conference on Reparations for Africa sponsored by Chief MKO Abiola – another Nigerian and so-called advocate for reparations to Africa. Babangida based his demand for compensation on precedents at the time – reparations paid to Israel by West Germany for atrocities committed under the Nazis, and the United Nations resolution backing the payment of reparations by Iraq to Kuwait for damage and looting by its occupation forces.
It never occurred to Babangida then and many Nigerians still entertainer the thought of reparations that those who deserve compensation are the people sold into slavery and not the sellers who exploited the opportunities to make money.
This childish national culture of passing the buck is one of the key reasons why we have been unable to create a capable and functional state. The sooner we realise it and begin to work on it, the better for us as a country.
