Zulum: Many of us in power don’t want to hear the truth

Babagana Zulum, governor of Borno state, says telling the truth is a problem in Nigeria. 

Zulum said this on Tuesday while delivering a lecture at the National Defence College in Abuja.

His audience included senior military officers and policymakers within and outside Nigeria. 

Zulum said the unwillingness of persons in the corridors of power to tell leaders truth about issues and the unwillingness of leaders themselves to hear the truth, are some of the major problems confronting leadership in Nigeria. 

“A strategic leader must be a strategic listener and reader. A strategic thinker must also be a strategic learner. A strategic leader must be willing to hear the truth and to learn,” he said. 

“However, telling the truth and accepting the truth has been our major problems in Nigeria. Some people will never tell you the truth when you are in power and honestly, many of us in power also do not want to hear the truth, we prefer to be told what we like to hear and that is a serious deficit in strategic leadership.” 

Zulum had honoured an invitation by the college, to deliver a paper with the titled “Strategic leadership: The challenges of Insurgency in Borno State.”  

The governor discussed different aspects of strategic leadership, situating them with Nigeria’s in the last 50 years.

He also gave an account of experience working as commissioner from 2011 to 2015 and as governor in the last eight months.

Early in January, the governor came down hard on soldiers manning Damaturu-Maiduguri road whom he accused of extorting road users.

The army, however, said the accusation could affect the fight against Boko Haram.