Moghalu: Leadership under Threat Worldwide

A former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN),
Prof. Kingsley Moghalu, has said that globally, leadership is
presently confronted with “big challenges, big opportunities, and
big possibilities.”

According to him, from corporate leaders in advanced industrial
countries who have to worry about the implications of disruptive
innovation, the demands of corporate citizenship on business
models, and the rising political risk to bottom lines from the
surge in populism in western democracies, to entrepreneurs in
Africa faced with unstable macroeconomic environments, absent
infrastructure, policy inconsistency, and weak institutions,
leadership is facing stress and challenges.

Moghalu, who is the Chairman & CEO, Sogato Strategies LLC,
said this in a speech titled: ‘Africa’s Future: The Leadership
Imperative,’ he presented at the Africa Leadership Conference, that
was organised by Guardians of the Nation International (GOTNI) USA
in Washington, DC, recently.

For Africa, Moghalu said that leadership remains a critical
challenge that must be confronted and overcome if democracy was to
yield good governance, if entrepreneurial talent expressed “in the
narrative of an Emerging Africa is to yield true economic
transformation, and if Africa’s rich historical scientific heritage
is to translate into an explosion of innovation that can make us
competitive in a globalised world.”

According to him, Africa’s leadership problem was located mainly
in its internal political spaces. But, he pointed out that
precisely these spaces determine what kind of societies, economies,
education and health systems in the continent.

He added: “The first order of business, as I have argued
consistently, is that of our minds. We must reinvent the African
mind. Our minds determine whether or how we understand what
leadership means or doesn’t. Our minds determine what kind of
mindset or worldview we bring to the task and responsibility of
leadership. And our minds determine whether we have, or can
acquire, the character and competence of leadership.

“My personal understanding of leadership, especially in the
context of countries like those in Africa, is that great leadership
must be transformational. And I always approach the subject with
the end in mind: what, for example, would be said about my service
after I have completed a specific leadership task or
responsibility? Indeed, to envision more radically, what will be
said at my funeral? (One should hope that that event will hold
somewhere north of my 100th birthday!).

“From the political ferment in the United States in the era of
Donald Trump to the stunning victory of Emmanuel Macron in response
to the yearnings of French citizens for bold, new leadership. From
the electoral shifts in the recent elections in the United Kingdom
in the era of Brexit to the political crisis in Brazil over
allegations of corruption against its elected leaders, leadership
is the big issue. For good or ill, we live in its shadow.
“We can understand why: in all its manifestations – political,
corporate and entrepreneurial, science and innovation, academia,
healthcare and public policy, leadership is the main determinant of
social and economic progress.

“Although our focus here is on leadership in Africa, we must
understand that the leadership challenge in the world today is
universal. That should help us keep things in perspective,” he
explained.
However, in order to address the current challenges confronting
leadership in the continent, Moghalu stressed that the economic,
social and political conditions in African countries remains the
responsibility of African leaders, saying It is not that of Donald
Trump.

According to him, one of the ultimately beneficial outcomes of
the rise of populism in the West for African countries is that it
will enable our countries look inwards and take responsibility for
driving their own destiny; even in a world of globalisation,
sovereignty and the authority and responsibilities that go with it
have not gone away.

“Our destiny is not the responsibility of the foreign aid
agencies. And we cannot continue to blame the colonial powers. The
leaders of our countries must build real nation-states out of what
Count Clemens von Metternich, Europe’s leading statesman in the
early 19th century, referring to Italy, called “a mere geographical
expression” – in other words, countries that are artificially
formed and are not nations in a real sense.
“Our leaders have the responsibility of building institutions that
can create a level playing field for everyone and shield citizens
from tyranny, to achieve economic transformation, and to reclaim
our countries’ place in the world.”

He added: “Citizens, on their part, have the responsibility to
decide who has responsibility for their welfare. In many African
countries, they have not taken this duty as seriously as they
should. Professor Ameena Gurib-Fakim, the competent and erudite
President of Mauritius — one of Africa’s most successful countries
— put it so pithily: “But the onus is also on all Africans. People
have to start asking the right questions. Politicians, leaders,
policymakers in normal democracies are all accountable to the
people. But, and I am sorry for saying this brutally, we get the
government we deserve.”

A former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN),
Prof. Kingsley Moghalu, has said that globally, leadership is
presently confronted with “big challenges, big opportunities, and
big possibilities.”

According to him, from corporate leaders in advanced industrial
countries who have to worry about the implications of disruptive
innovation, the demands of corporate citizenship on business
models, and the rising political risk to bottom lines from the
surge in populism in western democracies, to entrepreneurs in
Africa faced with unstable macroeconomic environments, absent
infrastructure, policy inconsistency, and weak institutions,
leadership is facing stress and challenges.

Moghalu, who is the Chairman & CEO, Sogato Strategies LLC,
said this in a speech titled: ‘Africa’s Future: The Leadership
Imperative,’ he presented at the Africa Leadership Conference, that
was organised by Guardians of the Nation International (GOTNI) USA
in Washington, DC, recently.

For Africa, Moghalu said that leadership remains a critical
challenge that must be confronted and overcome if democracy was to
yield good governance, if entrepreneurial talent expressed “in the
narrative of an Emerging Africa is to yield true economic
transformation, and if Africa’s rich historical scientific heritage
is to translate into an explosion of innovation that can make us
competitive in a globalised world.”

According to him, Africa’s leadership problem was located mainly
in its internal political spaces. But, he pointed out that
precisely these spaces determine what kind of societies, economies,
education and health systems in the continent.

He added: “The first order of business, as I have argued
consistently, is that of our minds. We must reinvent the African
mind. Our minds determine whether or how we understand what
leadership means or doesn’t. Our minds determine what kind of
mindset or worldview we bring to the task and responsibility of
leadership. And our minds determine whether we have, or can
acquire, the character and competence of leadership.

“My personal understanding of leadership, especially in the
context of countries like those in Africa, is that great leadership
must be transformational. And I always approach the subject with
the end in mind: what, for example, would be said about my service
after I have completed a specific leadership task or
responsibility? Indeed, to envision more radically, what will be
said at my funeral? (One should hope that that event will hold
somewhere north of my 100th birthday!).

“From the political ferment in the United States in the era of
Donald Trump to the stunning victory of Emmanuel Macron in response
to the yearnings of French citizens for bold, new leadership. From
the electoral shifts in the recent elections in the United Kingdom
in the era of Brexit to the political crisis in Brazil over
allegations of corruption against its elected leaders, leadership
is the big issue. For good or ill, we live in its shadow.
“We can understand why: in all its manifestations – political,
corporate and entrepreneurial, science and innovation, academia,
healthcare and public policy, leadership is the main determinant of
social and economic progress.

“Although our focus here is on leadership in Africa, we must
understand that the leadership challenge in the world today is
universal. That should help us keep things in perspective,” he
explained.
However, in order to address the current challenges confronting
leadership in the continent, Moghalu stressed that the economic,
social and political conditions in African countries remains the
responsibility of African leaders, saying It is not that of Donald
Trump.

According to him, one of the ultimately beneficial outcomes of
the rise of populism in the West for African countries is that it
will enable our countries look inwards and take responsibility for
driving their own destiny; even in a world of globalisation,
sovereignty and the authority and responsibilities that go with it
have not gone away.

“Our destiny is not the responsibility of the foreign aid
agencies. And we cannot continue to blame the colonial powers. The
leaders of our countries must build real nation-states out of what
Count Clemens von Metternich, Europe’s leading statesman in the
early 19th century, referring to Italy, called “a mere geographical
expression” – in other words, countries that are artificially
formed and are not nations in a real sense.
“Our leaders have the responsibility of building institutions that
can create a level playing field for everyone and shield citizens
from tyranny, to achieve economic transformation, and to reclaim
our countries’ place in the world.”

He added: “Citizens, on their part, have the responsibility to
decide who has responsibility for their welfare. In many African
countries, they have not taken this duty as seriously as they
should. Professor Ameena Gurib-Fakim, the competent and erudite
President of Mauritius — one of Africa’s most successful countries
— put it so pithily: “But the onus is also on all Africans. People
have to start asking the right questions. Politicians, leaders,
policymakers in normal democracies are all accountable to the
people. But, and I am sorry for saying this brutally, we get the
government we deserve.”