The MVP (Minimum Viable Product) for a career in Public Service — a book review.
A review of the upcoming book — “Never An Afterthought,” authored by Afolabi Imoukhuede
Upon reading the advance copy, I debated describing this book as a memoir or a manual. A memoir because it very beautifully tells the story of the author’s life and his achievements to date, or a manual because it is a practical how-to based on the author’s own lived experience, for anyone mulling a transition from private enterprise to public service.
Starting off, the writer sets the stage by painting a picture of the tsunami that was 2015 when for the first time in Nigeria’s political history, an opposition political party unseated a governing party in a general election. This transition in power from what some will describe as a center-right, economic liberalism governing philosophy set the stage for the work done by the author within the All Progressive Congress’s political framework of controlled markets and center-left views.
The author then proceeds to take us to his beginning, which was primarily underpinned by the impact his well-accomplished father had in shaping his life. He does this while speaking glowingly about the elder Imoukhuede’s achievements in academia. Then the civil service, culminating in his becoming the first Secretary and Head of Civil Service of the Midwestern, Regional Government of Nigeria.
Reading through the author’s telling of his father’s life, it was clear to me that this apple didn’t fall too far from the tree, then at the start of chapter 4, he writes; “ Those who know my background describe me as a chip off the old block. A glance at the picture of my parents, however, would show that the reference to my father has little to do with looks and more to do with character or the trajectory of my life” — further making my point!
This isn’t news to me as I had the pleasure of meeting the author in the last few days of 2014 when he was referred to me by a trusted friend as a strategy consultant. At the time, we were looking to engage an expert to moderate and manage our upcoming annual strategy retreat at what was then called “Emerging Platforms Group.”
As at then, we had a culture of having these rigorous multi-day retreats where we will be camped together for a few days to develop our plans and refine our strategy for the new year. Because we had worked with several consultants, I had very high expectations. I was looking for a consultant that would understand our organization and bring a fresh perspective in a way that we had never seen.
We were introduced via email and on first (email) and second (phone call) contact Afolabi impressed me, I found him to be professional, well-spoken, disciplined, thoughtful, and pragmatic. After a bit of back and forth, we agreed to engage his firm as our consultant for the retreat. There was just one last hang-up; “as a non-technologist, will he understand our work enough to be useful.”
By the end of that retreat, not only had Afolabi more than “cleared our doubts,” he had also endeared himself to our team of over 70 people. At this point, I was convinced that we had found a partner that we could work with long term.
Fast forward several months later, I get a call from Afolabi to inform me that he had been appointed to work in the area of Job Creation by President Buhari. While I congratulated him, deep in my mind, I was disappointed. Disappointed, selfishly, that we had lost our company strategy consultant, disappointed that yet another good one was going to go into government only to be stifled and frustrated, my list of disappointments was long.
Reflecting now, I was wrong.
Afolabi brought the same kind of professionalism, discipline, pragmatism, and thoughtfulness to government as he had wowed me within his private practice. Through my observation and our work with his office, while leading the N-Power Program, I found him to be thorough and mission-oriented. He always insisted on quality, pushed everyone around him to be better, and worked with a clear goal in sight. He held firm opinions that reflected in the work that he did. He treated government work like his personal work. Still, I guess his most disarming quality is the fact that he knew the difference between his customers and users and acted accordingly.
You see, his customer was the government and, by extension, the Nigerian taxpayer. He understood that in any transaction, the purchasing party required accountability and regular updates, and “boy” did he ensure this. Technology was his tool, ensuring that all the processes were digitized and that reports were detailed and timely.
But alas, he cared even more for his users or as they are described — beneficiaries, the 100’s of thousands of N-power volunteers whose lives were being supported by to what some including me initially despised as too small a social safety net. Afolabi would organize regular virtual town-halls on Facebook to keep these beneficiaries informed and to answer their questions. He ensured that the program had a command center where these beneficiaries received customer support. Even on social media, beneficiaries had a listening ear.
To further make my point in the book Afolabi dedicates an entire chapter to what he calls heroes and sheroes of N Power, highlighting exemplary beneficiaries from across Nigeria who leveraged the program to achieve what they were already on track to do anyway. There is no better case for the N power program than these young people.
Like a bridge, Afolabi speaks of the spiritual and international connections that were critical in his pathway to entrepreneurship and international development. Also quite striking is his telling of how his minimum viable product at MCS “Skill-Up” program inspired what later became N-Power, the author spends the rest of the book detailing the what, why, and how of N-power.
And so back to the gulf between users and customers — the genuine irony in my mind is the fact that Afolabi and his team empowered the users, as though they, in fact, were customers. This, I believe, was not an afterthought!
And this leads me to my theoretical departure from this approach to poverty alleviation.
While I remain a staunch believer in the superiority of the quad of; market-creating innovations, entrepreneurship, enabling regulation, and private markets over cash handouts to create prosperity. The redeeming quality of the N-Power program as implemented is that as opposed to other similar programs, the “users” here had personal agency. They could select and finance their devices from their stipends; they had to show up to work, and above all, their feedback was not only allowed but encouraged.
Their voices were heard.
This is why I believe that writing this book is indeed a gift to Nigeria because besides documenting a recent history, it provides a template to be built upon as Nigeria continues to muse our way out of mass poverty.
In summary, reading this reminds me of the complexity that is governing a country like Nigeria, hence the need for more competent people with private sector experience to step forward and work within our political realities and constraints.
Thank you, Afolabi.
Kola Aina
