Let’s eradicate the ‘GABA’ virus in Nigeria (1)
Let me state upfront that I am not the original owner of the acronym “GABA”. I got this acronym from a septuagenarian and a regular reader of BusinessDay newspaper, a retired senior naval officer of flag rank, who by any standard is an intellectual with a passion to impact new generation of Nigerians with values and skills for effective leadership. I visited him recently, and as we reflected on current national issues, our conversation vectored innocently into the leadership question in Nigeria.
During our chat, I peculiarly asked a question: How did Nigeria get to where she is today? When a man is greedy, he strives for baseless ambition, he says. There is a virus that is currently ravaging our nation, and it is called “GABA”, according to him. “Sir, can you educate me on GABA?” I requested. And he explained that the acronym “GABA” stands for “Greed, Arrogance, and Baseless Ambition”. I reasoned that “GABA” is global, but most Nigerians are infected by this hydra-headed virus.
Greed metamorphoses into baseless ambition with passage of time. When mere mortals have achieved baseless ambition, then arrogance comes next. With arrogance, people become careless about others and conduct their affairs with impunity. With impunity, human beings play God. They behave as if they are supremely powerful, while passionately disobeying laws in Nigeria. Most Nigerians are already infected with this “GABA” virus. As the “GABA” virus spreads within the society we live in today, the standard and measures of what constitutes “success” have changed from what they used to be. Most elected and appointed public officers are infected with the “GABA” virus, that is why they see themselves as a god – higher in status than ordinary mortals.
Several decades ago, Nigerians were more quality conscious than celebrating images of people. These days, “successful” individuals are given prominence because of the images they project rather than the true values they represent. This has altered our culture such that for many in our society, success has more to do with public image and the appearance of success, than it does with quality of our work and our character. Today, success in our society is divorced often from real substance.
Most people would rather prefer to be envied for their material success than respected for their character. The display of greed, arrogance, and baseless ambition is a sign that an individual has lost his or her character. And when character is lost, all that the individual has is lost. This is the crux of the matter as we consider each component of the “GABA” virus starting with greed.
Greed
There are several definitions of greed. Greed as a secular psychological concept is “an inordinate or insatiable longing especially for wealth, status and power”. The greed we currently witness in our society is not about the rich alone. Poor people also display greed at the slightest opportunity. Greed fires up the kleptomaniac spook in individuals to take something that is not truly theirs. Precisely on 17 March 2015, this column provided an article titled “Greed – A catalyst of blurred vision of leadership”. In the article, it was reflected that “a man driven by greed or envy loses the power of seeing things in their roundness or wholeness and his successes becomes failures. It is greed that has blurred the vision of most of our leaders that what they refer to as ‘success’ had been assessed by the people they govern as a complete failure”.
If it was true that the “earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not for every man’s greed”, why is a former Nigerian first lady linked to US$34.1 million found in her husband’s aides’ bank accounts? Was the first lady an entrepreneur? I asked a friend. He told me “the former first lady was a business tycoon operating from the Villa”. What was she buying and selling? I asked. This question didn’t attract any reply. Maybe, greed is at work, I suggested humorously. Furthermore, I wanted to know why the benefits of deceased staff of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) of about N27.18 billion were purportedly stolen by a few powerful Nigerians who had access to the money. From that money, a personal staff of the immediate past president of Nigeria allegedly got a house worth about N580 million as a gift. It is the love of money, and not money itself, that is the problem. On a daily basis, we see and read about greed displayed by people increasingly in all forms for money, life, love, and knowledge amongst others.
Arrogance
Everyone has the potential to be arrogant. Arrogance is “one of the seven basic character flaws or ‘dark’ personality traits”. It is an insulting way of thinking and behaving that comes from individuals who erroneously believe that they are better, smarter, or more important than other people. This cuts across the entire spectrum of the society, and very common particularly among those we refer to as leaders.
Recently, I came across an old but interesting article in Harvard Business Review as to why leaders in several establishments fail. From the study conducted, it was revealed that 4 factors were responsible for the failures of those leaders as follows: (a) “They were authoritarian – controlling, demanding, not listening to others. (b) They were autonomous – little accountability, aloof, and isolated. (c) They committed adultery. (d) They became more and more arrogant.”
From the above, leaders fail because they always feel and act in a way that demonstrates that they are superior to all others. Most of our leaders think that they are superior to those they lead. That is why our leaders treat Nigerians anyhow after rigging elections, do whatsoever they choose, and spend taxpayers’ money in a reckless manner. They always think they are above the intellect of those they govern. With arrogance, our leaders are trapped in the deep dark dungeon of “GABA”. (To be continued)
MA Johnson