By Ahmed ‘Lateef
The main hall of the Labour House, Secretariat of the Kwara State Council of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Ilorin erupted in applause on Wednesday afternoon after the state Chairman of the congress, Comrade Muritala Saheed Olayinka, was announced and decorated with Integrity and Accountability Icon of Nigeria (IAIN).
The award was at the behest of the Centre for Ethics and Self-Value Orientation (CESVO) with Corporate Headquarters in Lokoja, Kogi State.
CESVO is an International Anti-Corruption NGO that majors in exposing corruption, promoting ethical leadership, providing ethical education and value orientation of global citizens.
Besides his decoration, which had a large turnout of leaders of affiliate unions of NLC, Olayinka was also presented with Ethical Leadership/Conduct Compliance Certificate in appreciation of his scoring 74 per cent in a rating of him.
Also honoured were members of the State Administrative Council of NLC and the congress as an entity.
The nongovernmental organization noted that the state NLC leader was awarded the certificate of public conduct having passed its Ethical Conduct and Leadership Integrity Test and enlisted amongst top 100 highly rated most ethically upright/least corrupt professionals at subnational level in Nigeria, contributing to Citizens’ well being, commitment to poverty and hunger reduction, National Interest, Integrity, time management culture, ethical uprightness, quality assurance in service delivery, participatory management style, effective monitoring and supervision of union activities, member’s discipline and welfare, transparency and accountable leadership.
Speaking prior to the conferment of the award, the Executive Director, Centre for Ethics and Self-Value Orientation (CESVO), Prince Salih Musa Yakubu, expressed concern over the erosion of public trust in leadership, which he attributed to lack of competence, capacity and mediocrity on the part of leaders in the society.
Yakubu, who is also the Founder of the Nigerian Youth Parliament, could not hide his disgust for the level of moral bankruptcy on the part of those the citizens have chosen to lead them, adding that the political elites have contaminated the nation’s legal system, which thus permitted leadership selection system to be fraught with manipulation and all forms of negative tendencies.
He added that the system had produced leaders that Nigerians do not want, lamenting that unwanted leaders continue to recycle themselves through porous and contaminated legal system.
Yakubu observed that Nigerians now live in a country that celebrates mediocrity as against integrity with men of ethics and values gradually going into extinction while leaving the state at the mercy of political vagabonds and idiots, some of whom are bereft of knowledge about public administration.
He also took a swipe at some traditional rulers, who indiscriminately confer chieftaincy titles on rogues among the citizens.
“Politicians took money and keep this money in our royal palaces and churches, because to the politicians, these are the clergymen, they are untouchable. Our royal fathers have become royal politicians while our clergymen have become sophisticated spiritual politicians.
“Our Imams have become political Imams. They have got selective in what kind of prayer they offer and the occasion they attend. You will see that naming ceremony or wedding ceremony is prolonged just to raise money,” CESVO leader said.
Yakubu regretted that many academic staff in tertiary institutions have also been found culpable of exchanging marks for sex with female students.
He, however, pointed out that his organization has chosen to acknowledge and recognize leaders with proven integrity, especially at the local level of governance.
He said, “In the last 21 years, our operation as one of the oldest and most structured and populated anti-corruption entity, which consists of men and women of character and comport, who have exhibited ethical conduct in leadership, has focused on recognizing people who prioritize integrity and selfless service.”
On the sidelines of the event, Yakubu explained that his NGO, with global recognition in the fight against graft, often deploy whistleblowers in identifying those that serve diligently and deserving of his organization’s award.
“Within the last 14 months, we have been so much engaged with 1500 whistleblowers across the local government areas. Our operational base is at the local government level where we have whistleblowers as indigenous people. Questionnaires are distributed for us to get feelers from the people about who is actually doing what and where.
“We use our thematics. Part of it is emotional intelligence on the part of those who are to be honoured by us. The quality of your emotional intelligence determines the kind of leadership that you can provide because you are dealing with people of diverse opinions, backgrounds and sentiments. So, how emotionally intelligent you are, determines the way you can synchronize in order to provide the best leadership that is expected.
“If you are elected, you are meant to serve. What kind of service do you render? Is it qualitative, is it expeditious, is it devoid of sentiment or it has to be along with tribal affiliation? So, we keep monitoring how diversified you are in terms of that.
“Another area we look at is about the issues of participatory leadership style. Is your leadership and management style participatory in nature or is mono-directional? Are you that person that allows your leadership to be consultational? Because when leadership is anchored on consultation and participation, there will be that popularity and acceptability. So, we care to know this and others.
“In the area of union and members welfare, we care to know how committed and compassionate you are in negotiation; negotiation skills. Are you the type that negotiate and always in the best interest of your members or you have your selfish interest at the expense of your members?
“These are how we dissect, compare and contrast to arrive at our decisions, and the Kwara State Council of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) is outstanding in these particular areas that I have itemized, hence we are here to honour the Council as an entity, the Chairman as an individual and members of SAC. We have also extended it to members of the State Executive Council of NLC because of the way and manner the Secretariat has advocated that they need to be commended too because they do a lot of things at the grassroots.
“The NLC Chairman is conferred with an ambassadorial award as an Integrity and Accountability Icon of Nigeria. With this title, it goes with our IAIN honorific title at no future cost for him. It is just for him to see and then become a reflection that when he was a leader, this is how he is being acknowledged,” Yakubu said.
The state NLC Vice Chairman, Comrade Victoria Agboola, who received the award on behalf of the Chairman, expressed gratitude to the NGO for finding him and other recipients worthy of the honour.
Agboola, who doubles as Chairperson, Women Wing of NLC, lauded the modalities the organization used in arriving at its decision to recognize his principal, SAC members and the congress, saying that CESVO’s plan to train members of NLC in the state was also commendable.
