News
Lead Without Title (2)
The greatest challenge facing many organizations globally today is leadership. Nine out of ten Chief Executive Officers of small, medium and big corporations view people as their number one critical success factor. Meanwhile, six out of ten employees end up not having the skills or attitude or attributes they claimed to possess at the interview or stated on their beautifully and professionally crafted curriculum vitae.
Lead without title, is a new management concept recently popularized by Robin Sharma, one of the world’s top success and management coaches- to draw the attention of business executives to the inherent dangers in leading with title both for the organization as well as its people.
Principles of Leading without Title:
Lead without title as a management concept focuses on grooming every employee to have a leadership and ownership mentality regardless of such employee’s position in an organization. The question is: how do we make a cleaner or a security guard in Zenith bank, for instance, to have the same mentality like Jim Ovia, the CEO? The success of any organization depends not on its gross staff strength but on how many leaders it has among its employees. Like the slogan we used to paste on the staff notice board of Nigerian Bottling Company some years back says: ‘take this business as your own and 100% of your decision will be the right ones’. The concept of leading without title aims at making employees to have a new mind-set that leadership has little to do with the title on the business card or the size of an office or the rank of an officer. Furthermore, leadership is not about how much money an individual makes or the naira worth of clothes he wears. Neither is leadership about an individual’s family status. Leadership is a way of life, a philosophy or principle; an attitude and a state of mind. According to Robert Joss, dean of Stanford Graduate School of business: ‘’ by leadership I mean taking complete responsibility for an organization’s well-being and growth, and changing it for the better. Real leadership is not about prestige, power, or status. It is about responsibility’’. Leadership in an organization talks about who gets the problem solved fastest and at the least cost, who fixes it before it breaks, who has banana for the monkeys, who has the staying power, who has the strength of character and discipline, who has the persistence, who sees the big picture all the time and live it…Leading without title entails, a paradigm shift; it is a win-win situation for the organization and its people, the goal for all staff from the Chief Executive Officer to the cleaner is one but the responsibility may differ. Lead without title de-emphasizes ‘big-man syndrome’ in an organization.
Against the backdrop of the foregoing, if there is, therefore, any issue that should occupy the attention of CEOs today, more than any other management challenges, it is how to inculcate the concept of leading without title into the DNAs of our respective organizations. A cursory look at the performances of most of the multinationals companies in Nigeria when the indigenous CEOs took over in the 1980s will reveal a sad scenario of win-lose situation in some organizations. And the winners that emerged in the affected companies are the CEOs and the management staff. The big losers are the organizations they presided over as all the key business indicators of most of these organizations took a fast lane southward, while the respective bank accounts of individuals who managed these organizations swell.
Why Companies should de-emphasis Titles:
It is critical and urgent not only for individuals to lead without titles. But it is equally important for organizations in Nigeria to imbibe the new management concept of leading without titles .Of late, especially since the consolidation exercise of banks and insurance companies, the penchant for companies to parade their ‘ titles’ has gone to a dangerous level. Awards that have no meaning or bearing to the business are being sought by several organization from doubtful and obscure corners with a view to looking good. Even, some organization gave themselves awards! But the truth is, the companies that win at the end of the day the biggest share of the mind of consumers will be determined by the consumers based on only three variables: value for money (VFM), fit for purpose (FFP) and speed of delivery (SOD).Title has no place in the winning game! Why then this unbridled quest for titles? What lessons can we learn from the failure of organizations which had led with titles in the past? Can an herbalist anoint a pastor? – If no, why then should a bank seek legitimacy from those who know next to nothing about banking? Organizations need to be careful because many have gone the way of Daewoo company- in the process of leading with title. Not too long ago in Lagos, almost all the management staff of a big multinational were sent parking when the Board found out that the Management team had inflated the revenue and profit of the said company by unbelievable figures just to look good. It will be recalled that this same company and its leadership had been declared as the ‘’best’ in almost every key business indicators shortly before the bubble burst.
Federal government may lose $4 million from a World Bank loan after failing to get a pass mark on key audit standards in its revenue-generating agencies, such as the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Nigeria Customs Service.
This is according to a World Bank restructuring paper dated June 2025.
The amount, which is the equivalent of around N6.2 billion with an exchange rate of N1,568 per dollar, could have helped to address one of Nigeria’s infrastructural deficits.
The fund formed part of the $103 million Fiscal Governance and Institutions Project, a public financial management initiative financed through a credit facility from the International Development Association.
Accordingly, the revenue assurance audit covering the FIRS and Customs for the 2018 to 2021 financial years was assessed as not achieved because the reports submitted did not meet international auditing standards.
“Revenue assurance audit of Main Income Generating Agencies, including the Federal Inland Revenue Service and the Nigeria Customs Service for FY 2018–2021, with an allocation of $4m.
“These Intermediate Results to be implemented by the Office of Auditor-General of the Federation were assessed as not achieved by the Independent Verification Agent because the reports submitted for verification did not meet the requisite international auditing standards.”
Also, the unsuccessful audit was one of ten performance-based conditions under the project that the government could not deliver before the closing date of June 30, 2025. Consequently, the Federal Ministry of Finance formally requested the cancellation of $10.4 million in project funds.
“The FMF has requested cancellation of $0.9m of unused funds for technical assistance and $9.5m, which is the amount allocated to 10 performance-based conditions, which will not be achieved by the close of the project on June 30, 2025,” the document read.
Further analysis shows that $4.5 million was tied to the uncompleted Revenue Assurance and Billing System, while $1 million was allocated to the development of a National Budget Portal.
According to the document, the Budget Office of the Federation, which was responsible for the portal, did not submit any evidence of achievement. In addition, $0.9 million in technical assistance funding was left uncommitted and has also been cancelled.
Civil Defence, Correctional, Fire and Immigration Services Board (CDCFIB) has warned job seekers to be wary of fraudsters circulating inappropriate recruitment information.
The warning came against the backdrop of social media publications that President Bola Tinubu has ordered massive recruitments into some government agencies.
The agencies listed in the report were the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS); the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC); the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCoS) and the Federal Fire Service (FFS)..
The agencies are all under the Ministry of Interior, headed by Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo.
However, while responding to the reports, the Civil Defence, Correctional, Fire and Immigration Services Board (CDCFIB) cautioned Nigerians against falling into the traps of job racketeers.
The Board acknowledged a Presidential approval for the recruitment of personnel in the four (4) Paramilitary Services under its purview, but insisted that due process would be followed on the matter.
Major Gen. Abdulmalik Jibrin (rtd), board secretary, said in a statement that “there are series of processes which leads to the actual recruitment exercise.”
“The Board wishes to reiterate that for all its recruitment processes, appropriate notifications would be done via adverts in the national dailies and it would be carried out in a fair and transparent process devoid of payment of any fee.
“To this effect, members of the public should be weary of the activities of recruitment racketeers who may want to take advantage of unsuspecting job seekers to rob them of their hard-earned resources”, Gen Jibrin said.
Adefowora Abiodun, one of the alleged promoters of the CBEX investment scheme, who voluntarily surrendered to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in April following a ruling by Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja, is still languishing in the custody of the anti-corruption agency.
Adefowora Abiodun, one of the alleged promoters of the CBEX investment scheme,
Concerned Nigerians who have been following the matter have urged the EFCC to release him unconditionally since he honoured their invitation without being arrested.
The court had approved the EFCC’s request to arrest and detain six individuals connected to the scheme, including Abiodun.
Alongside Abiodun, five other individuals—Adefowora Oluwanisola, Emmanuel Uko, Seyi Oloyede, Avwerosuo Otorudo, and Chukwuebuka Ehirim—were declared wanted by the EFCC for their involvement in the alleged fraudulent investment scheme, which was valued at over $1 billion.
Fadila Yusuf, EFCC’s legal counsel, had submitted evidence that led to their public declaration as wanted individuals.
After the announcement, Abiodun, who was shocked by the declaration, alongside his legal team, presented himself to the EFCC headquarters in Abuja, expressing his willingness to cooperate with the investigation.
Babatunde Busari, his legal counsel, explained that Abiodun’s decision to submit voluntarily was made in order to clear his name and address the media narratives circulating about the case.
Despite the return of investor funds and CBEX’s assurance that withdrawals would be allowed by June 25, Abiodun has been in detention for over a month, triggering speculation about the EFCC’s high-handedness and rights abuse.
His legal team is now advocating for his release on administrative bail, emphasizing that the ongoing detention is unwarranted under the circumstances since he submitted himself for investigation.
According to one of the family sources, “Keeping him in a cell for over one month would send a negative signal to other Nigerians who would be declared wanted by the EFCC in the future. It would discourage Nigerians who have clear cases from surrendering themselves voluntarily to security agencies if, at the end of the day, they don’t receive mutual respect for surrendering themselves.”
He added that CBEX is not a Ponzi scheme.
Reacting to the agitation by concerned Nigerians, Dele Oyewole , EFCC spokesman hinted that the agency obtained a remand order to keep him beyond 48 hours.
According to him, “Anybody that we are holding beyond 48 hours, be rest assured that we have a lawful remand order from the magistrate court to hold him beyond 48 hours.
“We are a law-abiding commission. Concerning that suspect, we are holding him on the basis of that remand order.”
FG May Forfeits $4m from World Bank Loan over Audit Flop
NDIC Begins Final Settlements to Creditors of Liquidated Premier Bank
CDCFIB Warns against Recruitment Racketeers
Afia TV and Radio Stamps Footprints in Lagos
Concerned Nigerians Ask EFCC to Release Abiodun, CBEX Promoter
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