Unveiling the Glass Ceilings – Integral Leadership in Nigeria

Unveiling the Glass Ceilings – Integral Leadership in Nigeria

By Gail Hochachka

I never quite know what hits me first, landing in Nigeria. The bright African clothing the women wear. The guttural, embodied energy of the people. The sinking humidity. The bold stance of the culture. It all comes at me at once, a blast of humanness unlike any other on the planet.

This country is ranked number 124 on the Economists Democracy Index out of 167 countries. On the one hand, it supposedly functions as a democracy, yet when assessed on the specific criteria for a democratic system, it is actually categorized as an “authoritarian” state (according to the 2008 Democracy Index). Extremely excessive corruption continues to constitute a major challenge to Nigeria, and vote rigging and other means of coercion are practiced by all major parties in order to remain competitive. Given its lucrative oil wealth, perhaps one of the central flaws of the democratic system is prebendalism. Prebendalism was a term first used in reference to Nigeria, in which elected officials, government workers, and members of the ethnic and religious groups to which they belong feel they have a right to a share of government revenues. In other words, the political elite skims money from the state coffers feeling a sense of entitlement due to their position of power.

What does this actually mean for the people who live there? Well, Oxford's Paul Collier (2007, p 101) explains how the country has made approximately 280 billion dollars in oil revenue over the past 30 years, and yet on the Human Development Index the country remains 158 out of 182, with over half of the population living on less than $2/day. He explains, “This is far larger than any realistic scale of aid to a bottom billion country. Yet Nigeria has depressingly little to show for it.” Due to the all-quadrant conditions (such as, the disintegrating red to early amber center of gravity of the political leaders (I), the tribal communication dynamics and inter-tribal conflicts (We), the history of behaviors and a system that runs on prebendalism and corruption (It/Its)), while it is a democracy, it operates in fact as an authoritarian regime.

Which brings me to why we are working here at all.

Meet Nneoyi Ofem: a young man in his thirties who now works with Nigeria Organization for Solidarity of Development (NOSAD). In his younger years, he was recruited from the village and was pressured into political thuggery, which is the practice of arming and paying thugs to intimidate opponents. "The security of voters" is one of four key criteria on The Economist’s Democracy Index that are weighted more heavily than others, since they are considered so important. What use is having a democratic system in place if all those that vote put themselves at risk in doing so? He speaks about how he had a turn in consciousness at a certain point, and completely stopped being involved in any type of such coercion. He realizes now how damaging this was for his country’s people and the fledging democratic system that was struggling to function. That awareness came at an older age when he was less able to be influenced by other political thugs, but he realizes that many of Nigerian youth are susceptible to pressure and negative influences, such that the coercion and thuggery continues. Within a context of few employment options and high rates of poverty, especially in rural areas, youth are even more vulnerable. His current commitment is to advocate for this to stop through finding alternative solutions for healthy youth engagement through his work with the NGO NOSAD. He says now, “It is a great honour for people read my story, especially how development work has changed me, my family and gradually changing my community. One day I will change my nation and the world.”

This is the kind of person that One Sky’s current project works to support. People who have awoken to their own human potential and to greater depths of care, and in their own right are ‘emerging leaders’ in the civil society. We sought out 30 such leaders who have this quality of openness of heart and mind, and who find themselves at the emerging edge of consciousness in the population, to be participants in a three-year leadership project. Others include Maria Ukpanyang, a lawyer, gender equity activist and an environmentalist, who successfully advocated for women’s legal rights to own property in Cross River State in Nigeria. And Chief Edwin Ogar, Programme Coordinator of the Ekuri Community Forestry Initiative—an initiative that has won UN awards for its innovation and vision. As well as our youngest participant Robert Bassey Umera who in his late teens started an NGO called Youth Know Thyself Organization to support youth development in Nigeria. Robert Umera says,

“We believe that, for the youth in our society to appreciate the environment and reach out for goals, there is need for them to have a good mind set and an attitudinal change about their society. They need to be trained [for taking a] leadership perspective and empowered to change their world.”

In a train-the-trainers type of cascade, our project seeks to serve these 30 leaders who will in turn work with their own target groups, such as, in Robert’s case the youth.

The project is entitled: Leading From Within-Integral Leadership for Sustainable Development. Ultimately we are here in accompaniment with those in the Nigerian society who want more—more social progress, a more functional democracy, a more equitable and vibrant economy, and more sustainable policies for the country. More human potential, consciousness, and care. One Sky is a Canadian NGO that has worked in Nigeria with the civil society sector since 2001, at the nexus between human security and the environment. This recent project arose out of that previous experience and through lengthy conversations with our Nigerian partners and colleagues in which we recognized the need for greater leadership skills in the civil society sector. That is, if you want the democracy to move from number 124 out of 167, you have to reckon with the worldview and social discourse of the electorate that insists on practicing prebendalism and allows the system to run on corruption.

But, how does one get at that political elite?

One way is through the people. Almond & Verba (1989) identified the role of political culture in a democracy as vital. They suggest that the political element of many voluntary organizations facilitates better awareness and a more informed citizenry, who make better voting choices, participate in politics, and hold government more accountable as a result.

The project includes that as a design principle and seeks to support a group of leaders in the voluntary sector in developing from healthy amber to orange (or, a healthy ethnocentric to an emerging worldcentric stance). Based on other social innovations in this part of Nigeria, we believe the number of individuals holding a higher worldview need not be that many for new ideas to take root. The project is designed for this group of individuals to become strange attractors for the social center of gravity toward worldcentrism, and more effectively press upon their electorate to show up more ethically. The goal, ultimately, is to promote good governance across sectors in decision-making in the Cross River State bioregion. Through 4 leadership retreats annually, on-going work in learning communities, and group breakthrough initiatives, the project is developing capacities in all quadrants. Right-hand quadrant capacities, such as policy-dialogue and financial management, and left-hand quadrant capacities such as communication, perspective-taking, cross-cultural understanding, self-knowledge and understanding one’s own leadership style.

At One Sky, our international projects are designed using integral distinctions yet we usually don’t lead with Integral Theory in an explicit way. In this project, in the first retreat, we began to explore the quadrants as dimensions of sustainable development work that are simply present and worth paying attention to. As this went over well, with participants engaging in heated, passionate conversations on the material, at the next retreat, we introduced a bit about levels as worldviews that are likely being witnessed through the course of their work. That too was met with intrigue and discussion. By the year-end, the participants were using integral distinctions to make meaning of the issues they were facing in development work! We had gone from not teaching integral theory at all, to gently sharing certain aspects of quadrants and levels, to deepening understanding through application, to now participants making meaning and exploring issues using the AQAL framework!

And through this all, we have seen and felt how there is greater freedom found in de-reifying perspectives. This is best expressed by the participants themselves:

“My children say, ‘Mummy, you are more calm,’ since I am realizing they have their perspective and levels, I don’t expect too much from them. This also translates in my development work.”

“This leadership program has affected me spiritually and emotionally to stay focused and look beyond egocentric to appreciating others perspectives.”

“Emotionally speaking the program has also made me to step into others perspectives…”

A design feature we feel positive about is a holarchical scaffolding for individuals to be enmeshed in increasingly larger social groupings—from pairs, to learning communities, to small group breakthrough initiatives, to a larger network. We did this knowing the national social holon will exert a downward pull on this smaller cohort of 30 participants in our program, and would also pull upon the developmental achievements of individuals. By ensuring that the participants can collaborate in smaller groups between retreats and as they apply their leadership skills in action, hopefully they can retain their learning and transformation beyond the bounds of the One Sky project itself. By the close of year one, the group had spontaneously decided to create themselves as a network… called the Integral Leadership Network!

Though, sometimes I wonder if what we are asking too much of people?! We are laying emergent ground and unveiling the glass ceilings for participants to shift from an ethnocentric worldview to an emerging worldcentric worldview. This is a tall order when the larger social center of gravity always presents a pull back into the usual tribal dynamics and unhealthy ethnocentrism. And, especially for some of the participants coming from the forest villages who’s social centers of gravity’s are yet earlier.

With this in mind, I was truly heartened to hear at the end of year Obio Owai Obio, a participant from Ekoasi Village, a village bordered by the rainforest of the Cross River National Park, explain:

“I am grateful [for this program]. I am really grateful because through this program, I know how to move forward in my work. My vision is to liaise with other communities that use the forest near my community—which is one of the largest areas of rainforest remaining. If I only work with Ekoasi, we will not be able to stop deforestation, but if we can liaise with other communities as well, we have a chance.”

Considering the tribal disagreements and bloodshed on the Muslim-Christian border to the north and to the south in the oil-rich Niger Delta, both a mere drive away, as well as the perverse corruption based on in-group and out-group dynamics that leaves literally millions in destitute poverty, I can’t help but muse about how these leaders just might pioneer a new way of being for the country.

ONE SKY is actively fundraising for this project to ensure it continues into the third year of programming. We are particularly looking to support the Group Breakthrough Initiative on Good Governance lead by Nneoyi Ofem and to assist Robert Umera, our youngest participant and a truly bright light, to come to the Integral Theory Conference. Please consider offering a donation: http://www.onesky.ca/you/donate/

Thank you!

We’d also like to thank our Advisory Committee for their continued guidance and wisdom.

References:

Almond, G., & Verba, S. 1989. The Civic Culture: Political Attitudes And Democracy In Five Nations. Sage.

Collier, Paul. 2007. The Bottom Billion. Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It. New York: Oxford University Press.

Democracy Index, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_Index. Retrieved May 11th, 2010.