If a Memo Stays 24 Hours on Your Table, You’ve Failed

 


Professor Gbenga Ibileye of the Federal University Lokoja has just given every Nigerian university the one rule that can kill bureaucracy.

I watched the Vice-Chancellor of Federal University Lokoja, Professor Gbenga Solomon Ibileye, speak. No big grammar. Just a simple principle that should be framed in every Vice-Chancellor’s office.

His admonition to his management team was direct and clear:

“Registrar, Bursar, University Librarian, DVCs if a memo stays on your table for more than 24 hours, consider yourself a failure.”

The same applies to Deans, Heads of Department, Directors, and every officer down the line.


No Face, Just File

No one should look at faces when considering and processing a memo. Whether the answer is yes or no, the memo must move promptly.

The staff member waiting on a promotion file, the student pursuing a transcript, and the contractor awaiting payment their faith in the system lives or dies on that table.

A delayed memo is a delayed life.

Why Memos Bury Men

1. It Breeds Corruption

When files do not move, “facilitation” begins. ₦5,000 to trace your own letter. ₦20,000 to make it urgent.

2. It Kills Morale

A lecturer whose conference request is ignored for three months may stop applying altogether. The university loses.

3. It Buries You

Untreated mails pile up. Soon, you are no longer leading; you are digging yourself out. The system calls it “workload.” In reality, it is failure.


CampusDialog Position: Push or Perish

As mails come in, push them out. Otherwise, you will be buried beneath them.

This “Ibileye 24-Hour Rule” is a template every university should adopt from the Vice-Chancellor to the lowest desk officer.


The New Standard for Principal Officers

1. 24-Hour Maximum

Every memo must receive action within 24 hours—approved, queried, rejected, or forwarded. Whatever the decision, it must leave your table.

2. Digital Timestamp

All memos should pass through a central registry with electronic timestamping. No more “I didn’t see it.”

3. No-Face Policy

Memos should be addressed based on the merit of their content, not on who submitted them. The son of a Vice-Chancellor and the son of a cleaner should be subject to the same timeline.

4. Weekly Clearance Report

Every DVC, Dean, and HOD should submit a one-page “Table Status Report” every Friday. How many memos came in? How many went out? How many were carried over? Zero carryover should be the goal.

5. Failure Must Have Consequences

If your table becomes a cemetery for memos, you are unfit for that office. Step aside.


The Real Work of Leadership

Leadership is not about big cars and convocation speeches. It is about clearing the table so others can work.

St. Matthew’s showed a new sense of purpose. ACCI demonstrated revival. This Lokoja rule, championed by Prof. Gbenga Ibileye, shows how effective administration should function on a daily basis.

The confidence of staff, students, and other critical stakeholders depends on the prompt treatment of official correspondence.

Kill the delay. Kill the excuses. Kill the “come back next week” mentality.

The Ivory Tower must move at the speed of excellence, not at the speed of ego.


Ambrose Odiase, FIPMA, MANUPA, MAUA (UK)
Founding Editor/Publisher, CampusDialog.blogspot.com


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