Sunday, March 26, 2023 

Distinguished Ladies & Gentlemen,

Happy Sunday to each, and every one of us and I hope that we are all good? I do not intend to intrude on your Sunday, and it will therefore be understandable if some of us do not acknowledge in good time because under normal circumstances, I would have been in the Church too, but realized I need more rest today.

I went to bed about 4 hours ago and I slept over a defect I was seeing in our organization and which is natural. There will always be changes and corrections to be made here and then, until we have an organic whole. I have said it that we can only make rational decisions when we are not captivated by sentiments and emotions.

I woke up and read the message of my dear Regent for East Africa, Mr. Michael Athow; the man is just indefatigable and restless to achieve results. I am really impressed that now I can pick up my phone or laptop and visit our platforms and see what is going on at WeDo African Operations. He made some observations, and which was what troubled me before I went back to sleep. The follow-up on our observations is outlined below:

1. Everyone on this list belongs to the Executives of WeDo. The Regents’ and Deputy Regents is field people who will always not be in the African Operations Headquarters, and I think we should now know and be conscious of this; nonetheless they are part of our Exco.

2. The other executives are the ones who will take care of the running of the Organization and who will always be on ground. It will take a lot to oil the running of an organization of presently over 80 staff and when we start with other local staff to be employed in the field, we will be well over 100. A lot is needed to manage over 100 staff cut across the whole continent.

3. I have said it many times that I am not the CEO for Nigerians, but for the whole of Africa. When anyone upsets the system, it will be shown on my pendulum which can be seen by every one of us. We must remove every temptation to build a bureaucracy and that is why decision-making will always be decentralized.

4. It is only in Africa that we see someone who is not prepared for a position and still want it at all costs. An average European or American will not take a position he or she is not prepared for. We must imbibe the same culture as we are prepared to change the narratives in Africa.

5. Once again, I am indeed proud and humbled with the selection of all of us into this cabinet; we must however note that when something is wrong it will be shown and seen by all. We will see who is working and who is not. I am going to continue to trust your judgements as we navigate this ship. Even, if the CEO is leading wrongly, it will be seen. PLEASE BE ASSURED THAT I WILL ALWAYS BE HUMBLED ENOUGH TO APOLOGIZE WHERE I LEAD WRONGLY AND I WILL REMOVE THE MYTH OF INDISPENSABILITY. It is brass immaturity and arrogance for a leader to refuse to apologize to his team when it becomes necessary. A good leader must build an organization that is all-embracing.

6. We expect our Human Resources & Administration to be more active, focused and dynamic. I have repeated that HR & Admin is the most important leg of the tripod on which this organization stands.

7. I will very soon highlight to the division of the Duties of Head of HR & Admin and his Deputy Head and down the line what will go to the Training & Development department and what will trickle down to the translators/interpreters. A new staff just confided in me that the person has seen “is unhealthy” and that is true.

8. The Regents, Deputy Regents and their CMs & DCMs have provided us with a good model of what a functional organization should be. They are well coordinated, and I can see that they are now working on the Interactive and Informal presentation I gave. I suggest that all others should follow suit. Your deputy or assistant should be seen as your colleague and not as a rival. Within 24 hours of appointment of a new employee, the most senior should onboard and brief the person appropriately. You will enjoy your subordinate better if you use the participative style of management; autocratic style is only reserved for junior staff because of their IQ and is used in the military because of the need for unity of command.

9. Once, a new appointment is made and added on the platform, Head of HR & Admin through the Deputy Head of HR must make announcements and inform the functional head of where the new employee will be posted. I will always consult the HR & Admin on appointments, promotions, demotions, transfers to be made at every point in time. I know they are professionals and will keep classified information classified and I will always respect their expert opinions.

10. It is for the Head of HR & Admin or his colleague to introduce any new staff to the CEO, VC, and others.

11. It is advised that we all work in a holistic fashion as we all depend on another. We are a chain, if any knot of the chain is broken, the chain becomes useless. Let us work together as a team as exhibited by the Regents.

12. Furthermore, we are all here to work together as a team and not be engaged in any unhealthy rivalry and I will continue to count on your support and cooperation, and

13. Henceforth, the Head of Internal Audit will be discharging her functions and be alerting us where the internal control mechanism is breached. She will therefore be our provost indirectly on where weaknesses are noticed.

I will be directing the concerned individuals directly and when any of us in the Exco, need any information, feel free to ask from the right person and I trust that we will continue to respect classified and secret information. Thanks to all of you for your belief and confidence in me.

Regards,

Chris Boyejo, PhD, FCMA