Earlier this month, I had the privilege of attending the 90^th birthday celebration of one of Nigeria’s previous Heads of State, General Yakubu Gowon. I was intrigued to meet a man who occupies a unique place in African history: General Gowon was the Head of State that oversaw the continent’s first post-independence Civil war. His military administration quelled the Biafra War in 1970 after almost three years of fighting which saw between 1 and 3 million people dead.

While there are other things that make Gowon an interesting leadership case study, it is clear that his ultimate legacy will be the retention of Nigeria as a singular entity. There are of course, contested understandings of how he prosecuted the war, which have resulted in certain parts of the country not being as keen to embrace him as others. His various achievements include the development of several unifying national structures - such as creation of States, introducing the National Youth Service Corps. He also championed the then Organisation of Africa Unity’s response to Apartheid South Africa (backed by billions of dollars from Nigeria’s new-found oil wealth). He was also keen on the promotion of African culture via the 1977 Festival of African Arts & Culture (FESTAC 77 had originally been slated for 1975).

Gowon looks remarkably well for his age – moving easily and speaking eloquently, he gave some intriguing remarks. The man who became Nigeria’s Head of State at the tender age of 32, still one of the continent’s youngest ever presidents, did not shy away from addressing the enduring controversy about Biafra. He stated how difficult a decision it was for him to declare war given the personal relationships he had with many of their officers, and how the first guns were only fired when he had exhausted all other options. Even then, he claimed that he had briefed his military commanders to treat the secessionist Biafra counterparts with standards of care far higher than any set by international monitors.

I was particularly struck by how GOWON reduced the decision about the conflict to a simple binary proposition –– Was he going to be the leader who kept Nigeria together, or the one under whom the country fell apart just 7 years after independence? He chose the former. History is judging how correct a decision that was.

All across Africa over the past 60 years, we have seen leaders make decisions that have been predicated more on immediate good intention than on considered longer-term impact. This then leads to the inevitability of the law of unintended consequences. Just this month, we have seen the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) comprising of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso announce their own sub-regional passport. AES was formed last year when the countries left the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in protest against punitive measures imposed for overthrowing civilian governments. (Ironically, this decision was made under the leadership of ECOWAS Chair - Nigeria’s current President).

Leaders of all organisations are regularly called to make different decisions with far-reaching consequences. As one of my friends say, that is why they get paid the big bucks. While leaders will usually start their decision-making from a position of goodwill and good intent, (an enduring lesson I learnt at the best training programme I have ever attended - shout out to Interaction Class of 2005!), this does not suffice to make it a great decision. That would require scenario-planning and a level of knowledge and insightful decision-making that would probably stymy many deities. Our choices are seldom reducible to binary options and we will never have all the information required to enable us to make fool-proof decisions. That’s leadership.

Africa will only fully realise its potential of greatness when it develops a cadre of leaders across all spectra of society that utilise the best and most powerful of our wisdom and knowledge systems to forge models that are uniquely ours. We should consolidate the existing models of great practice that we have dotted around the continent for appropriate contextual adaptation. Maybe with this, future General Gowon will have more than their best intentions to guide them when the heavy hand of history rests upon their shoulders. If you want to explore or share some of these models with The Africa Centre, please do drop me a line.

May we lead in light.

Have a great month!

 Olu.

Cultural Highlight of the Month: This past month, we have had the pleasure of hosting two wonderful young artists focusing on African feminism in our gallery. Thank you so much to Stella B for her breath-taking ‘Goldframing Women of the Revolution’ and Rewa’s stunning Tribute to the Women of the Igbo Otu Odu Society. We bow, Queens!