Date Published: 07/28/09
LESSONS FROM SINGAPORE AND DUBAI
By Joe Igbokwe
“The word ‘impossible’ is not in leaders dictionaries. No matter how big the challenges, strong faith, determination and resolve will overcome them” - Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
Russian Gerontocrates have found out that experience cannot be learnt from textbooks alone. We can spend years studying textbooks but few months of practical experience can help us to understand and grasp things quickly and faster. Our Professor of Mechanical Engineering once told us in the 80s that what will take us five years to learn in the University will be understood more better within few months in the industry. It is true.
At the instance of Governor of Lagos State, 100 men and women from the Ministries of Physical Planning, Environment, State Assembly, Lands and other relevant Agencies have been going on a 12-day study tour to Singapore and Dubai since June 27 2009. The team is divided into four groups (25 each). The first group went on June 27 and returned on July 9 2009. The second group which I belong to traveled on July 11 and returned on July 23 rd 2009. The third group left on July 25 to return on August 6 2009. The fourth group will leave Nigeria on August 8 to return on August 20 2009.
For me, it was a lifetime experience. And if I had gone to the University for twenty years in Nigeria I would not have learned what I learnt in the 12 days in Singapore and Dubai. I saw the results of committed, dynamic, disciplined, and responsible, responsive leadership at its best in these two countries – Singapore and the Emirates. I saw how leaders can be honest to their people. Singapore, a nation without any mineral resources except human capital was transferred from third world to the first in between 1965 and 2000 by an honest and disciplined leader called Lee Kuan Yew. A small country with a small landmass of 707 sq km and a population of 4.8 million people has built the largest seaport, the biggest Refinery, the most beautiful Airport in the world. Singapore, the cleanest country in the world is a city in a garden. Singapore is a country where human capital is the biggest asset. I read in the books in the 80s how Singapore started investing in science and technology and today the country has become a destination for people all over the world. The Dubai and Changi International Airports both in the Emirates and Singapore are vast, efficient and well-organized. The Airports tell you a story that they are prepared to host the world. Challenged by a small land mass, Singapore decided to use her underground and the construction of high rise buildings. Singapore planned 20 years ahead and today it is the world leader in e- governance. Today, Singapore has e- government customers from Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Thailand etc. In Singapore we, we were shown how multi-Agency efforts which involved participation and co-operation of many government agencies like JTC corporation, Urban Redevelopment Authority, Singapore Lands Authority, Land Transport Authority, Building & Construction Authority (BCA)National Parks, Housing & Development Board, EDB Singapore, AVA etc facilitated the unprecedented growth we see there today. We were also told that home ownership in Singapore is 91%. But what are the critical success factors? Our instructors told us that they are political stability, single-tiered government simple and efficient administrative system and closer co-operation between government agencies. In Urban Redevelopment Authority, our teachers told us that key planning principles involves taking long term view, adopting an integrated approach, having an open transparent system, supporting business needs and being flexible and responsive. There is also what they called SPIRIT which means Service, Passion, Integrity, Respect, Innovation and Teamwork.
In Dubai, we saw how men and women of the Emirates transformed a desert into one of the most beautiful and successful business centre of the world. Dubai is a place where world class Architects and Builders are exhibiting their skills. The tallest building in the world measuring 818 m high is situated in Dubai. We saw how these people solved their high ambient temperature problems by building an efficient and durable power generating system in Dubai. Like in Singapore, you dare not talk about power failure in Dubai. In September 9 2009 Dubai will open its metro line to the public. The Dh15.5 billion driverless railway which will cater for an average of 1.2 million passengers a day and deliver around 17 percent of the public transport of the Emirates, is on target for its September Redline opening, which will see up to 40 trains every hour moving along 52km of track. According to report in the GULF News “many studies have shown a significant relationship between reduced stress and better professional performance” The US Transport Research Board carried out field study when a New York commuter rail line was improved and found increased work productivity and reduced commuter stress. Commuters who switched to the new train service also experienced a reduced level of job strain after implementation of the line. It was also discovered that “the higher the stress level when you start your working day, the smaller is the coping ability for the rest of the day….if you damage your car on the way to work then you are unlikely to be as productive throughout the working day”
The success story of Dubai has made me to change my mind about the Arab World. It is an eloquent testimony of how a people, hungry for massive development, and transformation used their oil money to build a powerful country that is the pride of the Arab World and the middle East. Sheik Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai gave the hint of the driving force:“I have a Vision. I look to the future 20 or 30 years from now…… I watch. I read faces. I take decisions and I move fast. Full throttle”. No wonder Dubai is the fastest growing city in the world today, and a haven for property developers. We saw also the linkages between Dubai and Abu Dabi, the Capital of the Emirates. The Prime Minister thinks about Dubai, the economic capital without season and he understands the importance of the city to the entire Emirate, unlike what happens in Nigeria between Abuja and Lagos. Dubai is not only the economic hub of Emirate, it is the economic hub of Arab world and the Middle East. You need to see the expressway linking the Emirate Capital, Abu Dabi and Dubai. Like in Singapore, our four days in Dubai were full of activities. Our contact persons took us to the ambitious Jumeirah Park, the Dubai Mall, the Emirate Mall, the city Mall, the monumental Ibn Batuta Hotel & Spa and Gate offices being constructed by Daral-handasah shair and partners, Dubai is a site to behold! The beauty of Dubai and what that glorious city offers to the world show the thinking and Vision of their leaders. The glories and strengths of Dubai and Singapore exposed our leaders as stupid and myopic, without vision, mission, direction, focus, plan, ideas, agenda or goals. They are just floating, groping and dreaming while the rest of the worlds are moving faster.
I lost my sense of pride as a Nigerian and an African, after the two weeks study tour and when I looked back, I saw many years of wasted opportunities on the part of our leaders. When a nation lacks vision, everything is lost. I have told my group that if we come back to Nigeria and fail to use the experience we gathered to better the lives of our people, then we have failed as leaders. The shopping malls, the industrial parks, the kind of schools and universities, the network of roads, the metro lines, the housing projects, the international airports, the power projects, the security networks etc, we saw in Singapore and Dubai are what this generation of leaders owe our children and if we fail to do this, (God forbid), it means that we are hopelessly retarded people, bereft of ideas and common sense. Even though I shed hot tears for our many years of wasted opportunities and lost glories, I still believe we can rise from the ashes. As I write this, 92 students from Rivers States are pursuing various courses in Singapore Universities and it is a four year programme. One of them, Emmi Iyalla told us that they have formed themselves into groups of 10 each to study different systems of governance in Singapore - the private sector, and the public sector and see the possibility of replicating the ideas in Rivers State. Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan, the Governor of Delta State is building an industrial park where you work, live, play and die with technical assistance from Singaporean Engineers and scientists.
In Lagos, Governor Fashola is searching for new ways of doing things not only Dubai and Singapore but all over the world. The idea of sending 100 men and women to Singapore and Dubai for two weeks intensive study is part of the big plans to change totally the face of Lagos and Nigeria. To all intents and purposes Gov Fashola is getting it right in Lagos.
Now, having seen what I have seen in Singapore and Dubai, and having seen how we have lost monumental opportunities to build a great nation due to primordial sentiments and criminal politics, I want to agree with Lee Kuan Yew, the former Prime Minister of Singapore that: “it is the creativity of leadership, its willingness to learn from experience to implement good policies quickly and decisively through an efficient public service that decides a country’s development and progress”. Over to you, Nigerian leaders!
Joe Igbokwe
Lagos
