By Okechukwu Onwuka
“One should guard against preaching to young people success in the customary form as the main aim in life. The most important motive for work in school and in life is pleasure in work, pleasure in its result and the knowledge of the value of the result to the community”

Albert Einstein 1879-1955 German Born Brilliant American Theoretical Physicist.
In making judgments, the Early Kings were perfect, because they made moral principles the starting point of all their undertakings and the root of everything that was beneficial. This principle, however, is something that persons of mediocre intellect never grasp.

Not grasping it, they lack awareness, and lacking awareness, they pursue profit. But while they pursue profit, it is absolutely impossible for them to be certain of attaining it. Lü Bu-wei 246 B.C. Chinese Prime Minister under Emperor Ying Zheng

In the last two weeks, we reviewed some of the endemic conflict of interest risks in the country. In keeping with one of the basic principles of risk management which prioritizes the identification of the causes that lead to or contribute to a risk concern, we’ll briefly examine some causes and motivations for corruption and various conflict of interest acts.

When the root causes are identified, the chances of eliminating or minimizing the risk become optimized.

Of course we still recognize the importance of mitigative measures which serve to reduce the effect of risk consequences but the costs of prevention are usually far lower than mitigation costs when the benefits are factored in. So what are these root causes?

From my observations and studies, I have identified some factors that I see as being major contributors to the conscious decision in individuals to steal or cheat others irrespective of the level or class of stealing.

Armed robbery, cooking the books, corruption in government, plagiarism, cheating in exams, inflated contracting, kick-backs, petty stealing, buying of certificates, promotion manipulation, unethical recruitment and any form of conflict of interest act amounts to stealing.

Someone is being robbed. In cash or kind.  It doesn’t sound nice but that’s the basic truth. Some of the causative factors include; Fear of tomorrow, Myopic Perception of Success, Eroded Societal Value System and Disconnect from the centre.

*Fear of tomorrow. A common fear in man results from the uncertainty of the future. No one knows for certain what tomorrow holds. Even with the best of plans and strategies, the future remains uncertain.

Throughout history, man has been known to go to great lengths to provide a measure of guarantee for the future. Countries pile up weapons of warfare even in peace time, just to be ready in the event that an enemy country decides to attack.

Or a friendly country turns enemy. Or better still; develop enough military sophistication to deter potential enemies from even daring to challenge you. Parents encourage their children to study courses that are viewed as high demand, high wage or high visibility professions. Any brilliant child must then study Law, Engineering, Medicine or Accountancy.

In a similar reasoning, getting a job in a multinational corporation is seen as the ultimate security for the future. Unfortunately, having worked in a number of multinational corporations myself for over 20 years, I did not see a widespread confidence among the employees or directors.

I observed that the jobs or positions did not eliminate the fear for the future. In some cases, the fear tended to increase shortly after securing the jobs. To manage the fear, you’ll find employees with jobs that many envy end up either engaging in very sharp practices or start energy intensive side companies funded by either their regular salaries or loans guaranteed by their employment.

Even the side businesses or sharp practices stand little chance of ever erasing the fear of tomorrow. Politicians, knowing that they have a limited time in office, for the same reasons, steal as much as possible to hedge against the uncertainties afterwards. Same goes for many in positions of authority.

*Myopic Perception of success. It is quite common in the world for success to be viewed in the customary form of money and material possessions such as cars, houses and titles. In Nigeria, this myopic perception of success has assumed alarming levels.

This has inevitably led many to view any effort, task or activity that will not yield instant cash as useless and a waste of time. In the opening quote, The great Physicist, Albert Einstein advised that “One should guard against preaching to young people success in the customary form as the main aim in life. The most important motive for work in school and in life is pleasure in work, pleasure in its result and the knowledge of the value of the result to the community”.

Anyone who understands that the most important reason for schooling and working lies in the satisfaction that comes from knowing and seeing the positive results that your contribution brings to the society, will find it extremely difficult to pursue vain money or be corrupt.

But how can we make this radical change when a large segment of the moral leadership in the country promote the concept of success and breakthroughs in the forms of new jobs, promotion, increase in profits, new cars, new houses, overseas travel, obtaining US and UK Visas, winning Visa Lotteries and others with no reference to societal value addition!

The irony in the perception of money and material things as primary definitions of success is that real enduring wealth can only come from sustainable value creation and addition to the society.

When you chase after value addition (solving society problems), you not only derive lasting joy from seeing the impact of your work, but you find that money pursues you. And because you never chased after the money, you’ll remain focused on further problem solving ventures. Ultimately, you end up having more money than you need.

The same mindset allows you to continue the society problem solving activities by contributing generous cash amounts to Charity. People who understand this principle know very well that even if they lose 100% of their wealth today, under a new name and in a new locating, starting from scratch, they’ll become millionaires and billionaires again in a few years or less. The happy and truly successful millionaires all fit this profile. We continue next week.