WE ARE ALL MANAGING
Text of the Address Delivered by the Vice-Chancellor, University of Ilorin,
Ilorin, Prof. Is-haq O. Oloyede, on the occasion of the Inauguration of the
Nigerian Institute of Management (Chartered), University of Ilorin Chapter,
on Thursday March 11, 2010 at the Auditorium, University of Ilorin, Ilorin.
WE ARE ALL MANAGING
It accords me great pleasure to welcome you all to this occasion. I especially welcome the leaders of the
Nigerian Institute of Management to our campus. The last time I am aware some of you were here was
last September 3, 2009 when this programme was initially scheduled to hold. But as we all come to
appreciate, it is God’s plan that the inauguration of the University of Ilorin Chapter would hold today and
God’s plan is perfect. I thank you very much for coming and wish you safe departures to your
destinations.
Many of us here would have at one time or the other heard of the Nigerian Institute of Management and I
believe many of us would have had reasons to think they do not have any business to do with it. It is my
hope that your participation in this programme will change your thinking and re-affirm your resolve on
the imperative of self-development, self-improvement, self-discipline which are all parts of the benefits
of management. I also hope that at the end of this programme, those who do not see themselves as
managers would realise that they are, and as such would appreciate the need for becoming better
managers.
Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, the role of management cannot be over-emphasized in any
organisation, group, community or nation. It is actually the heartbeat or life-wire of any social system as
it is functionally concerned with organising, planning, coordinating, administering, leading, guiding and
influencing people towards the achievement of organisational objectives. Nations have risen and fallen
on account of how they are managed at one time or the other and individuals have evolved, with many
examples we can think of, from nonentities to personalities, on account on how they manage their time
and activities. Everyone is a manager just as everyone is a leader though it is not everyone that realises
himself/herself as such. Improving one’s managerial skills and acquiring leadership qualities are thus
essential to a successful life.
Conceptually speaking, whether one sees management as a process or a product, as art or science, the
whole essence of management is the maintenance of five m’s: manpower (staff or human resources),
matters (issues, situations), materials, money and machinery in such a way that all are effectively utilized
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in, and efficiently deployed to, attaining the desired goals. In all human activities thus, be they social,
religious, economic, political, educational, technological, temporal (relating to time) or otherwise, there
is none where management does not play a role. Even a social unit as small as a family, married and
divorced people know, would collapse without proper management. Based on this premise, if we say that
management is life and all life is management, we would be saying the truth.
Managing the five m’s mentioned above is difficult and tasking. Without realizing the challenges
managers or leaders go through, many people only associate management with influence, power and
authority. It is agreeble that the major problem confronting any troubled country, and Nigeria is a case
study, or any organisation, is a function of management or leadership. Most people would tell you that
the successive managers of the Nigerian affairs at all levels since the attainment of Independence have
not managed Nigeria well. It is easy to blame managers or others. In fact, it is the easiest thing for simple
minds to do and they often do it: to criticize and blame other people without offering suggestions.
Football spectators are the best players ever and I believe that many of us, including those who cannot
even kick a ball, must have condemned professional players for not playing well as if we can play better.
Yet, it is ironic that we are all managers and indeed we are all managing. A person who is not managing
is the first to proclaim that he is managing. All of us would have heard somebody say I am just
managing. When Africans are not contented, they manage. We manage our jobs, we manage our
salaries, we manage where we live and we even manage our wives or husbands for the simple reason
that we lack contentment and self-discipline. In other words, instead of us to put our best in our job and
achieve fulfilment in it, we manage until we get another one, even if the dream job is unavailable or
beyond our reach. Instead of people to plan their income and live within it, they manage their salary
because it is never enough. For instance, if you ask people who earn millions naira per month, they will
still tell you that they are managing and don’t be surprised that some of them are indebted to banks.
And, instead of many people, not all though, to love and cherish their spouses, they manage them while
many even venture outside their home until they have to ‘manage’ disgrace or disease. Thus, it is ironic
that everybody manages but few people know management.
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Ladies and gentlemen, one of the rationale behind the formal inauguration of the Nigerian Institute of
Management in the University of Ilorin is, along with our tradition of embracing best practices, to
provide a forum through which staff can develop themselves and make themselves more professional and
competitive in a competitive world. The training and experience, the certification and the status
conferred by membership will no doubt add to the quality and quantum of service delivery in running the
academic and administrative business of the University, in which all staff, especially the senior ones, are
involved in. We are all involved in managing the affairs of the University and we are all managing, at
various levels, our co-staff in our offices, students in the classrooms, documents and resources at our
disposal, etc. although some of us bear the tag of management. I recommend a deep reflection on the
NIM-code which is contained in the programme we are all holding.
It is in this respect that I believe that we have many things to gain by being members after fulfilling the
conditions of membership. For people who think they don’t have anything to gain, I still enjoin them to
join because their thinking may not be right and they have nothing to lose by joining. Let us remember
always, as Warren Bennis, tells us, that “leaders are people who do the right things. Managers are people
who do things right... A profound difference.” So leaders should be managers and managers are leaders.
I therefore wish to accept, whole heartedly, the inauguration of the University of Ilorin Chapter and to
categorically state that as an educational institution we are ready and willing to train our staff and
students to be leaders and managers through appropriate in-house training and curriculum.
Finally, for leaders and managers, the following ten points which I heard from a source which I cannot
immediately remember and which I shared with some people some time ago are worth reflecting on:
 3 things in life that, once gone, never come back: time, words and virtue.
 3 things that may never be lost: peace, hope and honesty.
 3 things that are most valuable: faith, love and good friends.
 3 things that are never certain: dreams, success and fortune.
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 3 things that make a person: hard work, sincerity and commitment.
 3 things that can destroy a person: alcohol, pride and worry.
 3 things that once lost, are hard to build up: respect, trust and integrity.
 3 things in life that never fail: true love, determination and belief.
 3 things that can make a person succeed: knowledge, hard work and good deeds.
 3 things that guarantee good life: taqwa (piety), amaana (trust) and ‘adl (justice).
Thank you very much for coming; thank you very much for your attention.
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