Years ago I had a boss who frequently screwed up our paychecks. We clocked in and out, but the system was wonky and supervisors needed to make corrections before submitting printouts to payroll. 

He would apologize, hurry off to correct the problem for the next paycheck, come back to confirm he had taken care of it, and apologize again. 

Frustrating? 

A little, but he was a pretty good supervisor and a reasonably good guy – as Mark Cuban says, being nice is an underrated superpower – so we found it more amusing than irritating. But then there was the time I learned he didn't pass on my request to be part of a high-visibility process improvement team. 

When I asked why, he said he didn't want to lose me for three months. "That could have been a great opportunity for me," I said. "Maybe I wouldn't have been chosen, but I at least wanted the chance." He pursed his lips, shrugged, and walked away.

Apologize? 

Not this time. I was surprised, but as it turns, out I shouldn't have been.

Research shows apologizing for certain kinds of mistakes, and not for others, is surprisingly – and unfortunately – common: a study published in Basic and Applied Social Psychology found the average leader is much more likely to apologize for task mistakes than for relationship mistakes.

Messing up our payroll? Whether it was because of faulty math, inattention, or laziness, that was a task mistake. While it wasn't a good look, hey: no one is perfect.

Deciding not to submit my request to be on a process improvement team? That was a relationship mistake, instead of indicating a lack of competence in one small aspect of his job, it showed a broader lack of professionalism and integrity.

Putting who he was as a leader, and as a person, in question.

As the researchers write:

We found that task mistakes are viewed by leaders as more specific and less personal, and that relationship mistakes are viewed as more global, describing the leader's stable characteristics rather than a specific event.

From these findings ... leaders are more likely to apologize for task mistakes and are more likely to justify their relationship mistakes rather than admit wrongdoing for them.

"I messed up your payroll" is relatively easy to admit, and apologize for. 

"I screwed you out of a potential opportunity" is a lot harder to admit. As a result, when relational mistakes occur, the study found that instead of apologizing, leaders are more likely to try to justify the mistake they made. (After all, if I wasn't wrong, I don't have to apologize.)

All of which leads to what the researchers call an apology mismatch. Most leaders are likely to apologize when they make a task – think unintentional – mistake. Yet we really need an apology when a leader (or anyone) makes a relational – think intentional – mistake.

And then the relationship falls apart. 

A task mistake can be irritating, but correcting those errors is usually easy, and even if you don't apologize, most people typically move on. (I didn't need an apology when my boss messed up my payroll. I just wanted him to fix it.)

A relational mistake, one that results in a negative outcome for an employee, is usually harder and sometimes impossible to correct. Get defensive? Try to justify your actions? You just make a bad situation worse. 

By all means, apologize when you make a task mistake. That's just common courtesy. But always apologize – sincerely, without justification, without rationalization, and without qualification – when you make a relational mistake.

Because while you should apologize for a task mistake, but you definitely need to apologize for a relational mistake. Granted, it still might not undo the damage caused, but apologizing at least gives you a chance to repair the damage to the relationship.

Inc

The naira has continued its downward spiral, falling to N860 per dollar at the parallel market on Wednesday.

The figure represents a N35 or 4.2 percent depreciation compared to the N825 it traded on Tuesday.

With the depreciation, the gap between the official and parallel market exchange rates is widening once again.

The naira has consistently experienced fluctuations since the government unified the exchange rate windows.

At the investors and exporters (I&E) window, the local currency appreciated by 6.58 percent against the dollar to close at N742.9 on Tuesday, according to FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange — platform that oversees foreign-exchange trading in Nigeria.

Bureaux De Change (BDC) operators in Lagos and Ogun who spoke to our correspondent on Wednesday said there is high demand for foreign currency in the parallel/street market.

The street traders, popularly known as ‘abokis’ put the buying price of the dollar at N840 and the selling price at N860, leaving a profit margin of N20.

When asked the reason for the decline of the naira against the dollar, Abubakar, a BDC operator in the Agbara area of Ogun state, said there has been increased demand for dollars amid a supply shortage in the market.

The Cable

The Supreme Court and the All Progressives Congress (APC) have denied social media posts on an alleged secret phone conversation between the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Olukayode Ariwoola, and President Bola Tinubu.

They denied the reports in separate statements on Tuesday and Wednesday.

They were reacting to a media report suggesting that the two men recently had a phone conversation focusing on how to pressurise the Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja to rule in favour of Tinubu and his party, the APC.

Tinubu’s victory at the 25 February presidential election is being contested by two leading opposition party candidates – Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi.

There is also the third petition filed against Tinubu’s victory by the All Peoples Movement (APM).

The CJN wields enormous influence in presidential election cases, which will end up at the Supreme Court.

He can choose to appoint himself to head the seven-member panel that will give the final verdict on the cases. Whether he chooses to be on the panel or not, he has the prerogative to choose its members.

As the head of the Supreme Court, the CJN is also head of the entire Nigerian judiciary, who also oversees the National Judicial Council (NJC), the body responsible for the appointment and disciplining of judges across the country.

But reacting to reports over Ariwoola and Tinubu’s alleged phone conversation, Director of Press at the Supreme Court, Festus Akande, on Wednesday, said there was no such communication with either the president or anyone.

Akande also said, contrary to social media speculations, Ariwoola did not also have any phone call with the Director General of the State Security Service (SSS), Yusuf Bichi.

He said, “It is imperative to state clearly that there is no iota of truth in the narrative, as there was no such telephone conversation between the CJN and anyone.”

Akande said Nigerians “have been following the proceedings at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal with admirable enthusiasm,” urging that the public allow the suit to be determined “instead of relapsing into the realm of speculations and rumour peddling that will not do anyone any good.”

He warned that “falsehood and mudslinging” would stall Nigeria’s progress.

“The courts are statutorily established to serve the best interest of the masses, and we are ever poised to do that to the best of our ability,” Akande assured.

He further assured that the parties before the court over the disputed election would be treated without bias, adding that “The rule of law and supremacy of the Nigerian Constitution will always be upheld and applied in every matter that comes before the courts.”

“The public should be assured that justice will be done to all matters pending in the various courts across the country, irrespective of who is involved,” he added.

APC statement

The APC similarly denied the alleged phone conversation in a statement by Felix Morka, the party’s national publicity secretary, on Tuesday.

The party described the “speculations” as mischievous, adding that the Presidential Election Petition Court should be allowed to do its job.

“We have become aware of a decidedly mischievous and intentionally misleading tweet by Jackson Ude.

“He alleged that Tinubu had a telephone conversation with the CJN, in which the CJN purportedly told the president and the APC to prepare for a presidential election rerun,” Morka said.

He said it was disturbing and disgraceful for Ude to fabricate a falsehood of this kind on a matter of serious national importance that was actively under review by the PEPC.

He maintained that Tinubu and the APC won the last presidential election without a doubt.

Morka added that the party and Tinubu did not need to engage in side conversations with the CJN regarding pending petitions before the PEPC.

He said as the core democrat that he was, Tinubu respected the right of aggrieved candidates in the election to seek redress for any grievances they may have.

He noted that the Nigerian constitution and the Electoral Act provided effective guarantees of that right.

“The PEPC should be afforded the time and space to perform its important constitutional and statutory duty of adjudicating and delivering a verdict in the matter without needlessly calling the integrity of our Judges into question.

“Falsehood and conjecture by the likes of Ude only aim to inflame political passions, create doubt and panic, and preemptively undermine the verdict of the courts in this important matter.

“We are confident that Nigerians are smarter and more discerning than to be affected by this opposition brand of tasteless and crass mercenary expedition,” the APC said.‘Perceived secret relationship’

This is not the first media speculation about secret communications between Tinubu and Ariwoola since after the disputed 25 February presidential election.

In March, an online news platform, Peoples Gazette, reported that the CJN disguised in a wheelchair to meet with Tinubu.

Tinubu was then the president-elect, and by then, it was clear that his election was going to be challenged in court.

Both the Supreme Court and Tinubu’s presidential campaign team came out to deny any meeting between the two men as reported.

PT

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says the current price of a litre of petrol is “provocative” and that the product should not be sold for more than N150.

On Tuesday, oil marketers increased the pump price of petrol at retail outlets to N617 per litre in Abuja and N568 in Lagos.

The development elicited angry reactions from many Nigerians who held that the current price of the product will negatively impact a chunk of the country’s population.

Since the announcement of the removal of petrol subsidy by President Bola Tinubu on May 29, the price of the product has continued to rise.

The removal of subsidy on petrol means that the price of the product at filling stations will be determined by market forces.

Reacting in a statement on Tuesday, Debo Ologunagba, PDP spokesperson, said the price hike is “worsening the already suffocating economic situation” in the country under the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The party said Nigerians are losing their means of livelihood to the “badly planned and hurriedly executed” policies of the APC.

“The PDP is alarmed that with its ill-thought-out, badly planned, and hurriedly-executed policies, APC is running Nigeria’s economy aground with the value of naira rapidly plummeting, businesses and production shutting down,” the statement reads.

“The present dire situation comes as a consequence of APC’s insensitivity, seething corruption, scandalous cluelessness, and lack of capacity to effectively steady and manage the nation’s economy.

“The PDP dismisses APC’s insensitive and lame argument of market forces and comparison of price of fuel in Nigeria with those of other countries which have functional infrastructure, variety of affordable alternative transportation system and sources of energy.

“Our party insists that the N617 per liter of fuel is excessive, unacceptable, and cannot be justified under any guise. This is especially given the economic potential and prospects within our country.

“Even with the removal of subsidy on petroleum products, the PDP maintains that with a deft, transparent, and innovative management of resources, economic potentials, national comparative advantage, and expanded value chain in refining capacity, fuel should not sell for more than N150 per litre in Nigeria.”

In the build-up to the February 25 presidential election, Atiku Abubakar, PDP presidential candidate, vowed to end the petrol subsidy regime, while describing the scheme as a “fraud”.

The Cable

A Nigerian author and professor, Kole Omotoso, is dead.

He died at the age of 80 in South Africa where he had been ill for a while, a family source said.

Omotoso’s family is set to release a statement announcing his death later on.

Some of the works of fiction he authored include The Edifice and The Combat.

PT

Russian President Vladimir Putin will take part in the summit of BRICS leaders in South Africa via video link, spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said. The host nation announced earlier on Wednesday that the Russian leader will not attend the high-profile event in person.

Putin’s contribution to the gathering next month will be “comprehensive”despite its remote nature, Peskov told the Russian media on Wednesday. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will travel to Johannesburg in person to serve as Moscow’s representative, he added, confirming a previous statement by the South African government.

Earlier in the day, the office of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that the two nations had agreed that Putin would not travel to the country, sending Lavrov instead.

South Africa is a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which in March charged Putin with “kidnaping” Ukrainian children. Moscow dismissed the accusation as politically motivated, baseless, and coming from a Western-compromised entity.

Due to its status, South Africa would technically be obliged to attempt to arrest Putin and hand him over to the ICC, if he were to arrive on its soil. Ramaphosa’s office earlier warned that such a move could lead to war with Russia.

Peskov denied on Wednesday that Moscow had issued any threats to that extent, but argued that there was “no need for any explanation” of the risk.

BRICS is a club of large non-Western economies which comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. In recent years, it has held virtual summits due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Russia Today

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russia warns ships in Black Sea, Ukraine to create temporary grains export route

Russia warned that ships sailing to Ukraine's Black Sea ports from Thursday will be seen as potential military targets, days after its withdrawal from a safe-passage deal that threatens to worsen global food supplies.

Ukraine said on Wednesday it was establishing a temporary shipping route via Romania, one of the neighbouring Black Sea countries.

"Its goal is to facilitate the unblocking of international shipping in the north-western part of the Black Sea," Vasyl Shkurakov, Ukraine's acting minister for communities, territories and infrastructure development, said in a letter to U.N. shipping agency, the International Shipping Organization.

The year-old pact brokered by the United Nations and Turkey to provide safe passage for cargo ships from the war zone ended after Russia's withdrawal on Monday. The last ship left Ukraine on Sunday.

Ukraine and Russia are among the world's top grain exporters. U.S. wheat futures jumped 8.5% on Wednesday, their biggest daily gain since days after Russia's Feb. 24, 2022, invasion of Ukraine.

Russia's Defence Ministry said flag states of ships travelling to Ukrainian ports would be considered parties to the conflict on the Ukrainian side from midnight Moscow time (2100 GMT on Wednesday).

Russia attacked the Odesa region on Monday and Tuesday nights. Grains terminals and an industrial facility, warehouses, shopping malls, residential and administrative buildings and cars were damaged on Tuesday night, Ukrainian officials said.

Ukraine's southern military command said Russia had used supersonic missiles, including the Kh-22 that was designed to take out aircraft carriers, to hit Odesa's port infrastructure.

The Odesa region's three ports were the only ones operating in Ukraine during the war under the grain deal that allowed Ukrainian grain exports safely through a Russian blockade of ports.

"In the ports that were attacked there was about a million tonnes of food stored," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his nightly address on Wednesday. "It is precisely that amount that should already have been delivered to consumer countries in Africa and Asia.

"In the terminal damaged the most from Russian terror tonight, 60,000 tonnes of agricultural products were stored, intended for shipment to China," he said.

U.S. officials have information indicating Russia laid additional sea mines in the approaches to Ukrainian ports, said White House National Security Council spokesperson Adam Hodge.

"We believe that this is a coordinated effort to justify any attacks against civilian ships in the Black Sea and lay blame on Ukraine for these attacks," he said.

There was no immediate response from Russia on the U.S. assertion.

Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Western countries of "perverting" the U.N.-backed deal formally called the Black Sea Grain Initiative.

The International Monetary Fund on Wednesday said Russia's exit from the deal threatens to worsen global food insecurity and could increase food prices, especially in poor countries.

Putin said Russia would immediately return to the pact if all its conditions for doing so were met for rules to be eased for its own exports of food and fertiliser. Western countries call that an attempt to use leverage over food supplies to force a weakening in financial sanctions, which still allow Russia to sell food.

NO LETUP IN FIGHTING

Ukrainian officials reported no letup in fighting in areas of eastern and southern Ukraine where the army is pressing on with a counteroffensive it began in June to try to reclaim territory occupied by Russian forces. The Russians have dug into a heavily-fortified front line.

Valery Shershen, spokesperson for the southern front, told national television that Ukrainian forces advanced in two areas in order to reach ports on the Sea of Azov and sever the land bridge created by Russian forces between the east and Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014.

Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield reports of either side.

In Washington, the Pentagon announced additional security assistance for Ukraine, totalling about $1.3 billion, with the package including air defence capabilities and munitions.

In Brussels, European Union foreign ministers are expected to discuss a proposal on Thursday to spend up to 20 billion euros ($22.4 billion) on weapons, ammunition and other military aid for Ukraine over four years.

** Fire at military base in Crimea forces evacuation of more than 2,000

A fire that broke out at the military training grounds in the Kirovske district on the Crimean Peninsula has forced the evacuation of more than 2,000 people and a closure of nearby highway, the Moscow-backed governor of Crimea said on Wednesday.

"It is planned to temporarily evacuate residents of four settlements - this is more than 2,000 people," Russian-installed Governor Sergei Aksyonov of Crimea said on the Telegram messaging app.

There was no reason given for the fire, which also forced the partial closure of the major Tavridy Highway.

Russia's Telegram channels linked to Russian security services and Ukrainian media reported that an ammunition depot was on fire at the base after Ukrainian overnight air attack.

Reuters could not independently verify the reports. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.

Serhiy Bratchuk, spokesperson for the Odesa military administration in Ukraine posted two videos of a fire in an uninhabited area, saying, "Enemy ammunition depot. Staryi Krym."

Staryi Krym is a small historical town in the Kirovske district of Crimea. Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014.

Social media videos and photos showed big flames and a smoky fire in an uninhabited area, broken by series of detonations. Some Telegram channels said that by 0730 local time (0430 GMT), the fire was going on for about three hours, still not being contained.

The fire comes two days after a blast damaged a bridge linking Russia to the Crimean Peninsula on Monday that Moscow blamed on Ukraine and for which President Vladimir Putin vowed retaliation.

Overnight, Russia launched an air attack on the Ukrainian port of Odesa for a second night in row. Ukraine's military also said that a drone attack at Kyiv was successfully repelled early on Wednesday.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Failure of Ukraine's counteroffensive may lead to West's 'devastating defeat' — UK expert

The Kiev government, backed by the West may, be forced to agree to make territorial concessions to Russia, which would mean their "devastating defeat," an expert of the London-based Civitas think tank, Robert Clark, wrote in an opinion piece for The Daily Telegraph.

"If Kiev fails in its battlefield endeavors to split that land bridge, and retake much of its own territory by winter, then vocal calls of territorial concessions for marginal political outcomes will likely become far more prevalent - not just in Ukraine but likely from western capitals, as so-called "war-fatigue" begins to bite, international stockpiles of equipment and ammunition wither and politicians begin to worry about domestic budgets ahead of national elections," Clark said, adding that "governments across the west must be prepared for the grim prospect of territorial concessions."

In his opinion, the "long-planned counter-offensive, now in its second month, has run into several problems - not least that Kiev is still waiting for approximately half of the western military equipment promised earlier in the year."

"It is incredibly tough going for the Ukrainians," the expert continued. "This grueling endeavor was always going to take longer than the occasionally impatient international audience was prepared to wait for."

The analyst added that "the variable that isn’t on their [Ukrainian] side is time."

"The fighting will begin to grind to a cold halt as the freezing winter saps troops’ ability to conduct high-intensity warfare. This will only give Russia more time to further build up its defences, as it did last winter," Clark wrote. "By this point in the West, meanwhile, all eyes will be on the upcoming US election, with more political attention diverted by the UK’s general election. Kiev knows it has a shortened window of opportunity to capitalize on its battlefield initiative and take back as much ground as it can."

** Defense firm delivers new batch of T-90M, T-72B3M main battle tanks to Russian troops

The Uralvagonzavod defense manufacturer (part of the state tech corporation Rostec) delivered a new batch of advanced T-90M Proryv (Breakthrough) and upgraded T-72B3M main battle tanks to Russian troops, the Industry and Trade Ministry announced on Tuesday.

"Defense enterprises timely meet the needs of our Armed Forces for advanced and reliable hardware. This work is controlled by the Russian Government’s Coordination Council. Enterprises have gained a good pace. In particular, Uralvagonzavod has boosted output more than threefold over the past year and has now delivered the next batch of T-90M Proryv and upgraded T-72B3M tanks to Russian troops. This armor is especially in demand in fulfilling objectives in the zone of the special military operation," the statement reads.

Uralvagonzavod qualitatively and timely fulfils the tasks set by the state in providing the army with reliable military hardware, Uralvagonzavod CEO Alexander Potapov said.

"This is proven by invariably good assessments of Uralvagonzavod’s armor given by the military participating in the special military operation," the chief executive said.

T-72B3M and T-90M Proryv main battle tanks

The upgraded T-72B3M tank features new protection that considerably enhances its survivability and the efficiency of employing this armor both in a combined arms battle and in a combat environment with the massive use of anti-tank weapons.

The upgraded T-72B3 tank is also outfitted with a new fire control system that features an automatic process of preparations for fire and considerably raises fire accuracy. The tank is equipped with a 1,000 hp high-power engine.

The T-72B3M is an upgraded version of the T-72B3 tank that has received a new sight system with a digital display and a rear view video camera. The tank’s armor has been reinforced with Relikt reactive armor side plates. The tank has also received a new 125mm cannon with the enhanced barrel life, a new R-168-25U-2 Akveduk ultra-short-wave radio station, new fire-fighting equipment and a Sosna-U multi-channel gunner sight.

The T-90M Proryv is the most advanced armored vehicle in the family of T-90 main battle tanks and most of all fit for modern warfare thanks to its all-round armor protection, top-notch all-weather highly automated fire control and enhanced survivability.

The tank has received a fundamentally new turret differing from the serial-produced combat module and a more powerful 1,130 hp engine. The Proryv is outfitted with a 125mm tank cannon that can fire new powerful munitions and also missiles capable of wiping out enemy tanks from a range of 5 km.

The new multichannel sight enables the tank to employ its armaments at any time of the day or night. In addition, the option of exchanging data with other combat vehicles in real time has been one of the upgraded tank’s major advantages.

Reuters/Tass

In at least 70 recorded cases of police brutality in the United States, the victim cried out three words: I. Can’t. Breathe.

From Eric Garner in 2014 to George Floyd in 2020, people hogtied or put in a chokehold cried out those words but were ignored by officers who thought they were lying or exaggerating their distress. If they could still talk, they were still breathing. Such presumption of how far the police could stretch the thread of life caused many of them to be needlessly snapped. Those words would eventually become the rallying cry of the 2020 global #BlackLivesMatter protests.

That appeal for the breath of life has become another rallying cry. This time, in Nigeria, and against the strangulating economic policies of a government that seems bent on carrying out harsh economic reforms without either mitigation or assurance of how and when the pain will end. For a country where 63 percent of its population is officially classified as “multidimensionally poor,” far too many people are not breathing. All the time they have protested the chokehold, our leaders (and their arrogant spokespersons) took the wails as nothing more than outright lies, exaggeration, or mere expression of partisanship. As long as people can still talk, they cannot possibly be dying.

The cries for breath finally gained enough traction lately. “Let the poor breathe!” has become the contemporary slogan of Nigerians confronting galloping inflation and dwindling purchasing power. Given how virtually everyone is buffeted on all sides by a tottering economy and the concomitant rising unemployment and poverty, government aides cannot pettily chalk down the ongoing angst to “wailers” doing their thing. There is a crisis at hand, that much is clear to even the willfully blind. What is not evident so far is if the government thought through its policies to create well-structured plans to mitigate the hardship. Will the poor eventually breathe or the shock therapy will kill them?

Ironically, “let the poor breathe” was mouthed by Bola Tinubu, the very person whose administration rained down one harsh policy after the other. In an undated video circulating online you see him in his characteristic populist manner, asking the state to “let the poor breathe, don’t strangulate them.” Well, now that he is president and the appeal has become self-directed, we see how far from his mouth his heart is. Populism is cheap until you have to do the actual work of governance. Just like he loudly criticised former president Goodluck Jonathan on the removal of fuel subsidies only to go forward with the policy without either a coherent plan or even an adequate preparation for what would come afterwards, we are left wondering why the man who wanted the poor to breathe is raising the price of oxygen. By now, he has probably learned that governing a small territory like Lagos where the head of every key social and political actors have been forced in-between his thighs is not the same as ruling over the murky and unwieldy terrain called Nigeria. For someone who won the election almost five months ago, he has not even appointed a cabinet.

Let me be clear that some of the policies that have contributed to the hardship under Tinubu are not bad in themselves. Fuel subsidies, for instance, were long overdue for removal. As I have previously noted, asking the government to leave the subsidies and fight corruption instead is merely postponing the inevitable. The problem was the execution: abrupt removal rapidly compounded with taxes, and no clear plan to manage what would follow.

So far, nothing suggests that Tinubu planned for the fallouts of his policies and has the wherewithal—the intellectual and administrative means—to tidy up what he started. First, they promised a cash transfer of N8,000 per household for six months to mitigate the hardship unleashed by fuel subsidy removal, then his aides came out to clarify what everyone got wrong about the proposed intervention, and then finally announced their reversal of their plans. That indecisiveness does not demonstrate a certainty and purposiveness on their part. Like his predecessor who ended up thoroughly confused by the complexity of the Nigerian troubles that he simply gave up, Tinubu too is on his way to demystification.

These days, when you hear “let the poor breathe!” from Nigerians, it could be a genuine appeal for their survival, a sneer at the duplicity of the government whose interest in the poor does not run farther than the next election, or jeers at the folly of ever investing hope of economic and moral renewal in an unempathetic government. Unlike the African American victims of police brutality that were not taken seriously because they could still talk, the Nigerian government actually wants you to shout yourself to death. There is enough about their conduct and attitude to the public that demonstrates that they take some perverse pleasure in hearing Nigerians cry for breath.

In this same country where we are faced with skyrocketing food and energy costs, strangulating national debts servicing, and depreciating infrastructure, our leaders still manage to expropriate the oxygen of the impoverished for themselves. Look around Nigeria. Despite the crisis blowing up and causing genuine anxiety, the politically powerful and privileged are breathing just fine.

The lawmakers, for instance, will get a whopping N110bn to buy themselves SUV and other perks that will make their offices lush enough to make them forget what took them to the FCT in the first place. No matter how loudly we complain that they are draining our blood to pay for these privileges, they are not going to listen. If the poor dies, the poor dies! They did not become lawmakers because they had either an interest in the poor or were enamoured by the rigour that goes into debating laws. There are there because the office pays handsomely well, simple. There is little else to the enterprise of lawmaking in Nigeria than local politicians acquiring political and economic capital. That is why nobody ever sees them debate from any ideological angle eruditely, convincingly, and morally.

They are not alone. Several outgoing leaders who departed their respective offices on May 29 too will not release their chokehold on the nation. In four to eight years when they were in power, they took and took and took and gave nothing back. Interestingly, it is those who the least to show for their mandates that are carting away the most. There is some correlation between being lazy, unimaginative, and brazenly greedy. From Mrs. Aisha Buhari who demanded first ladies should also be officially apportioned retirement benefits, to the likes of former Benue governor Samuel Ortom whose officials carted away public resources, to recently retired service chiefs who will get humongous benefits, Nigerian leaders are a gluttonous lot. When it comes to self-enrichment and self-perpetuation in spaces of power, they can be more efficient than a factory machine. Ask them to transfer those skills to improve the lives of the poor, and they become genuinely confused.

In Nigeria, everyone shouts “let the poor breathe!” because “the poor” is no longer a distinct (and distant) category. Poverty is encroaching into everyone’s reality; each one of us is only a few steps away from being “the poor.” At this rate, it is only a matter of time and to what degree one’s social support networks can hold up.  The resonance of demanding for breath for a race across continents is uncanny. From institutional racism to unimaginative government, something must kill the black man. If we are not held in an economic chokehold, we are hogtied by spiritual and social forces, beaten down by the anarchy in our societies until we lie prostrate with the foot of our leaders placed around our necks.

Punch

Business leaders who walk in workers' shoes are better than those who spend their days holed up in their corner offices. 

The reason seems clear: if you experience the company through workers' eyes, you will know the pain your company causes them. From there, you can remove the barriers that keep employees from delivering the most value to your customers. That will be good news for workers and investors.

If you issue edicts from the confines of your spectacular office, you run the risk of angering workers. That could send the most talented people – who find it repulsive to follow blindly your edicts - running for the exits. 

The employees who stick around will lack the initiative and creativity to solve customer problems - costing your company market share and lowering its equity value. For these reasons, I think business leaders should consider the benefits of spending time in their workers' shoes. 

This could mean working undercover in jobs that interact with your company's customers. In so doing, you will gain much greater insight into what workers like and dislike about your company. 

Here are four examples of how undercover bosses made life better for their employees by eliminating processes that frustrated them.

1. Eliminating annoyances for Uber drivers

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi spent time as a driver to learn and fix what made life difficult for scarce drivers.

This experience resulted in changes that improved the driver experience. As the Wall Street Journal reported, Uber has since made several changes such as "streamlining the sign-up process for workers and giving drivers more information about the destination before they accept a ride." 

2. Cancelling 12,000 meetings at Shopify, Wayfair and others

Executives at Shopify, Wayfair and Reynolds American concluded that meetings waste thousands of hours and reduce employee productivity. 

Shopify freed up 12,000 events from employees' schedules - by canceling recurring group meetings, banning most Wednesday meetings and scheduling all gatherings with over 50 people in a six-hour Thursday window - to free up 95,000 staffer hours, the Journal reported. 

3. Making life better for cooks, servers, and bussers at Chili's

Over the last few years, I have seen firsthand how restaurants suffered because they lacked sufficient staff. The labor shortages reduced service quality and angered customers. 

While many restaurants raised pay, improved benefits, and provided workers more scheduling flexibility, the best ones have done more to make life better for workers.

For example, Chili's Bar & Grill rejiggered its menus and streamlined its processes to reduce wasted time. As the Journal noted, Chili's eliminated menu offerings, added bussers, and canceled tasks such as counting and bagging shrimp and deploying metal French-fry baskets. The last item alone eliminated the 40 million times each year workers formerly lined and cleaned the baskets.

4. Cooling off airport ground crews for British Airways and others

One of the more difficult jobs on the planet is working in an airport grounds crew helping airplanes that arrive and depart from gates. The job is so difficult that many workers can only do it for a couple of months and others "walk right off the tarmac and never return," according to the Journal.

Some airports are taking steps to enhance the airport ground crew experience. 

For example, British Airways provides its ground crew with more weather-resistant uniforms. airport contractor Swissport outfitted break rooms with TVs, lockers, and coffee makers and put up tents where workers get sprayed with cooling mist between aircraft turnarounds. The operator of Frankfurt Airport gives workers ice cream on the tarmac. 

I admire how these organizations identified and eliminated the unnecessary pain they used to impose on their workers. Business leaders who have yet to do this are at risk of losing their most talented people - costing them customers and shareholder value.

Inc

Women’s hurdles world record-holder, Tobi Amusan, on Wednesday said she has been charged with an alleged anti-doping rule violation, casting doubt on her participation in next month’s world championships.

“Today the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) has charged me with an alleged rule violation for having 3 missed tests in 12 months,” she said in a post on Instagram.

The Nigerian athlete set the current world record for the women’s 100m hurdles of 12.12 seconds at last year’s World Athletics Championships.

Amusan, 26, vowed to resolve the charges against her before this year’s competition, set to be held next month in Budapest.

“I intend to fight this charge and will have my case decided by a tribunal of 3 arbitrators before the start of next month’s World Championships,” she said.

“I am a CLEAN ATHLETE, and I am regularly; (maybe more than the usual) tested by the AIU – I was tested within days of my third ‘missed test.’ I have FAITH that this will be resolved in my favour and that I will be competing at the World Championships in August.”

On Sunday, Amusan took part in the Silesia Diamond League competition in Poland, where she set a new meeting record of 12.34sec.

At the Golden Spike athletics meet in the Czech Republic last month, she finished in third place in the women’s 100m hurdles, losing to reigning Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico, who claimed victory in 12.42sec.

When asked by reporters about improving her world record pace, she said: “Nothing is impossible and 11 seconds? Most definitely”.

But she was less confident about an ongoing debate on raising hurdles to give priority to technique over speed.

“Don’t do that, don’t raise the hurdles. Please,” said Amusan, who is 5’1 (156 centimetres) tall.

AFP