RE: Professionalism on the altar of brown envelope, the need for self-censorship
By Ibrahim Sani
Professionalism at any level of disciplinary dealing has everything in objectivity as against the subjectivity, which very well defines total deviation from the norm reasoning in line with the ethics of any disciplinary make-up as professionals in any field of life. Journalism, being a tool for proper and factual reportage of issues and facts in as balanced a manner as possible without being influenced by brown envelope, should not be used by anyone who hopes to guard his or her integrity for posterity to appreciate. I read with a mélange of dismay and repugnance, a piece entitled: ‘Tension brews in KEDCO over alleged lopsided promotion, remuneration’ by one Kolade Adeyemi on Wednesday and I began to wonder if journalism has become a tool for character erosion as the author went all out to butcher the image of Dr Jamilu Isyaku Gwamna, (Sardaunan Gombe) in a manner where the writer was almost crying more than the bereaved. This reply seeks to call the attention of the medium of the writer of the said piece to as a matter of urgency call Kolade Adeyemi to order in line with the ethics of his profession.
First, if there is an allegation against the management of KEDCO by its staff, should that be an avenue to slaughter the image of the Managing Director, who has sacrificed a lot for the welfare of his staff and the development of the power sector not just in Kano, Katsina and Jigawa States but also in Nigeria? Secondly, are there no longer channels to follow in addressing issues of such magnitude except to resort to publishing falsehoods just to get at the person of Dr Jamilu Isyaku Gwamna? For crying out loud, if these same persons that consulted Kolade Adeyemi, were promoted, would they have gone to the extent of publishing their promotion in same manners? In any case, grievances are meant to be addressed administratively in any organisation and I stand to be corrected if such modus operandi is not applicable to KEDCO; the biggest distribution company in Nigeria by population size.
In any organisation, there are merit guidelines for promotion and if anyone feels that the guidelines were not adhered to, the management should be alerted for a review instead of lamenting on the pages of newspaper that the exercise was based on mediocrity, sycophancy and subservience. Can some of these unseen staff who have benefitted from past promotions make such allegations that the promotion that gave them their present position was based on what they have highlighted above? As it had been pointed out by Mohammed Kandi, KEDCO spokesman, promotion is an annual exercise and it is based on hard work and merit and if anyone feels deprived, take your facts to the management and not resort to cheap propaganda against the person of Dr Jamilu Isyaku Gwamna. Since when has the purported absenteeism of the MD become an issue? Perhaps, immediately after the promotion letters were released? In a digital world like ours, a boss can track the activities of a board anywhere in the world and when we preach the digitalisation of KEDCO, this is a part of what the 21st century management is all about that is though being physically absent in some cases but digitally present and tracking the affairs of the company. In any case, for a man who believes in innovation and partnership, sitting in a particular place that won’t be in the interest of his company, may not be fashionable.
The forgery and falsification of stories by those who may be pursuing some personal agenda and vendetta is very offensive to many of us who have tasted goodness in its originality from the wells of the leadership capacity of Dr Jamilu Isyaku Gwamna. For the record, the leadership style of Dr Jamilu Isyaku Gwamna has never been in doubt or short supply vis-à-vis his capacity to deliver having served at diverse economic, financial and political platforms with top notch display of his intellectual prowess without blemish of any sort. Having managed more challenging and humanly demanding responsibilities in the past, it is highly regrettable that Kolade Adeyemi didn’t cross-check these facts before dancing to the tunes of his clients to pull down the high flying flag of a man who has given his entirety to serving humanity of which these staff have benefitted and still benefitting. Again I ask, Kolade Adeyemi, where is the place of fact-checking? If falsehoods are given, do you churn them out in haste like fresh bread out of the oven without authenticating the genuineness of what has been given? Don’t you think there should be a place for self-censorship and diligence in the cause of your work?
If there are issues that ought to be discussed and addressed, why would the so called ‘top source’ not bring them before management meetings for review and actions to be taken? Why wait until you were not promoted to regurgitate unrelated issues? As a matter of fact, it is actually difficult to bring out one particular grievance as so many issues were hardwired into the promotion grievance which ought not to be if they were true administrators as they claim to be in their ‘top source’ capacity. It is all good they have taken their grievance for publication for safe keeping but time being a gentleman must reveal the real intent of the concocted publicity of administrative issues. Making countless but baseless allegations against the person of the Managing Director may seem to the ‘top source’ as ‘mission accomplished’ but a quick check for the meaning of nemesis implies that the evil sown by men must germinate and since a maize plant cannot produce guava fruit, then the evil that men do must live after them.
It took some leadership ingenuity, sheer zeal, and tenacity on the path of hard-work, diligence, integrity and humility to build such a personality (Dr Jamilu Isyaku Gwamna) that many have come to love and see as a personality model for administration and managerial blueprint for organisations and even governance. Therefore, I crave the indulgence of people like Kolade Adeyemi and his consultants to learn to treat administrative issues administratively and not make attempts in futility to address, in manners that seem too political, issues that should be submitted to KEDCO management.
Ibrahim sani, a public affairs analyst writes from Kano and can be reach via [email protected]
