Lack of professionalism, indiscipline and unethical conduct have been identified as some of the factors responsible for the bad image suffered by Nigerian managers. Pembi Stephen-David writes.
Business School Netherlands Nigeria (BSSN), an institution with the mandate to contribute to higher education in management learning and facilitate the development of African managers’ skills, knowledge and ability to take action, recently held a graduation dinner of its class of 2011 in Lagos. The institution has a vision to be a global provider of excitingly different learning experience that enables managers to learn faster than the prevailing rate of change.
Speaking at the event, the chairman of the institution, Mr Ayodele Aderinwale, said that the situation is leading to the stereotyping of Nigerian managers. He urged graduands of the school to exhibit positive values and actions in their exercise of leadership, pointing out that their experience at the institution should stand them out. “The impact of changing yourself and your conduct can be immeasurable in the short, medium and long run.
“The argument in hushed discussions and tones has been that the Nigerian manager may be technically competent but is more often than not short in integrity,” the chairman said.
Mr Aderinwale argued that the situation was a damning verdict on Nigerians as a people despite the “fact that there is no culture in Nigeria that supports or celebrates thievery, laziness, unethical conduct and abuse of power”.
He admitted that the bad image Nigerians have in the eye of the world is a result of the unethical conduct of some Nigerian managers but argued that such cases could not be used to make conclusions about all Nigerian managers. He however argued that Nigerian managers are equally good and can compete anywhere in the world.
“Some of us may choose to abuse our positions. Some may choose to be less than ethical. Such conducts are a reflection of the private and personal choices of the individual; they have absolutely nothing to do with the rest of us.
“The pain for me is that all the efforts and investments of progressively inclined Nigerian leaders of the sixties and seventies are gradually being eroded.”
In his address at the occasion, the Chief Executive Officer of BSN, Mr Lere Baale, said it was in response to the need to raise Nigerian business leaders of integrity and professionalism that the institution was established five years ago.
“The idea of bringing the school to Nigeria to provide business education for Nigerian managers at a particular level with an outlook that is totally different from what is obtainable especially in the business field,” Mr Baale said.
He said the school was formed in collaboration with Business School Netherlands International, and is recognised by Dutch Validation Council, the official Dutch accreditation board.
Mr Baale said the school has continued to excel in its unique philosophy of Action Learning in its provision of Executive MBA and short courses.?
“Action learning is considered a suitable method of study for the adult learner as each individual is encouraged to reflect and review, then evaluate the learning experience, which inevitably improves performance.
“The difference between our Action Learning approach at BSN and other business schools is that we focus more on execution because it is the most difficult aspect of management,” he said.
This year, 35 students graduated from the BSN’s Lagos and Abuja centres. Two students, Chikosolu Manuel-Ufford, a senior executive at Wapco-Large, and Chinyere Ugwuoke, an executive at Aso Savings and Loans, made overall Distinctions. Prizes were presented to deserving students and facilitators. Mrs Manuel-Ufford and Mrs Ugwuoke were presented with the awards for the overall best student; Mr Kelechi Memberr was awarded the Most Outstanding Student while Mr Akintunde Segun was recognized as the set Advisor with the highest number of graduates.
Speaking on her experience at the BSN, Mrs Ugwuoke said, “The BSN Action Learning MBA was a fantastic experience for me. Not only did I learn about action in management, I developed skills that I can transfer into other areas of my work and career.”
Other graduands at the dinner took turns to express joy at the quality of the MBA. John Itimi, a staff of Shell Nigeria Ltd, said “My experience at BSN has been very useful. I did engineering and there are a lot of things I was not familiar with in management but at BSN, I learned a lot. For instance, I can communicate better in my proposals and other documents.”
The school will formally inaugurate the graduates into the school’s Alumni in the first quarter of next year.