''Nation building''

The beef in the stew was very chewy so I told the Chef who happen to be inspecting the Buffet at that time, and his ready response was ‘’Ha it is Ghanaian Cow, African meat’’. And He went on to explain how you are supposed to know that Beef from Ghana and Africa for that matter is supposed to be this chewy. I promptly apologised and thanked him for taking the time to educate me.

Yes, like a number of things you run into in these parts, the ready explanation is ‘’this is Naija’’ or ‘’This is Africa’’ and we get comfortable not minding the fact that this references now mean poor service, mediocrity or part of the process of ‘’nation building’’. Consider the ‘’nation building’’ excuse provided by Dr. Edward Omane Boamah, the Ghanaian Minister of Communications for the brochure that was printed to commemorate the Ghana Independence Day celebrations last month. According to one of the Ghana newspapers, ‘’the brochures were characterised by incomprehensible grammatical expressions, poor spelling, and a host of other inaccuracies, including the representation of the Kenyan President, Uhuru Kenyatta, as the President of Ghana’’.

And Minister Boamah’s response was ‘’I have listened and listened. Several people have made very cogent points borne-out of their genuine desires to develop our nation. This epitomises nation building-a nation on the move in the right direction’’. In other words, ‘’this is Africa, we are not there yet but we are on the move, one day we will arrive to a place where grammatical errors and outright mediocrity will be a thing of the past’’.

We must give Minister Boamah credit for not blaming this fiasco on the ‘’political opposition’’- this is another reference that people make, especially if you are part of the ruling party. Very long time ago under the Shehu Shagari administration in Nigeria, Teachers went on strike in one of the States for delay in salaries (delay is polite when you consider that Teachers were without pay for 3-6 months). The Governor of the state in question randomly dismissed the Teachers by reminding them that in other states Teachers were in similar predicament. And warned the leaders of the Teachers union not to be used by, you guessed it, political opponents to ‘’formant trouble’’.

Of course there is the routine reference to ‘’African time’’ – this when people show up late for appointments and smiling tell you ‘’ha my brother, you know how it is, African time’’. Or blame the city traffic. I routinely remind participants in my workshop that during the two to three days we will be together, the city traffic will not change, that there will be political demonstrations, heavy downpour is expected and if we are unlucky we may experience death of a distant family member. So with that, we should agree on a time that we will commit to start the workshop each day.

Now with all ‘’this is naija’’, it is possible to miss some of the other refreshing things around. For example when housekeeping came to my hotel room this morning, the gentleman knocked and when I answered, I got the ‘’good morning Mr. Egbuson, can I clean the room’’ or the polite gentleman who came a few minutes ago to do ‘’turn down service’’, when I declined, he responded with ‘’Thank you Mr. Egbuson, have a good night’’. Certainly, the folks at Movenpick Hotel Accra have done a great job outside of the chewy beef.

Now, you may train people, like the folks at Movenpick Hotel Accra has done but it is another thing to ensure that the behaviour is done every day with the same level of excellence. What we have found is that to do something well, is a choice individuals make. It is a choice to devote your effort to the work where you can make your greatest contribution as is your choice what you believe or not. Contrary to the routine excuses of ‘’this is naija’’ or ‘’nation building’’, the bigger problem is the man or woman in the mirror. And that is the journey for those who have made the choice to do so.

And the good news is we begin that journey today – the journey to make every encounter count and leave your footprint of excellence, service and contribution.