BUHARI, GOVERNORS AND CABINETS OF SIGNIFICANCE -BY MARTINS OLOJA
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| Executive Council Meeting. |
I
am fully persuaded that this is the right time to encourage our leaders at all
levels, notably the president, the governors and national assembly leaders who
are on the verge of dissolving old cabinets, advisory boards and making new
ones to consider the time and the season that are shaping our destiny in the
country at the moment.
Elections
are over. It is time for governance. So, from the office of the citizen should
flow constructive suggestions on how to evaluate the effects of the rains that
have been beating us since 1999 generally and specifically since 2015.
It
may not be a time to share blames. But our leaders should not entertain
sycophants at this time. They should be prepared to listen to some voices of
wisdom, which an ancient word says is the principal thing. That word says if
you are blessed with wisdom, that power (of wisdom) will promote you in any
office you occupy and that same power from above will decorate you ‘with
ornaments of grace’.
That
is why leaders need to ask for wisdom, which is different from knowledge or
high intelligence quotient. Young readers need to note this distinction.
We
pray therefore for the spirit of wisdom for our leaders and their advisers at
this time of political recruitment, which is the foundation of success or
failure.
Doubtless,
the decision our leaders are about to take will either make or mar the economy,
peace and stability in the nation, among others in the next four years.
The
decisions most of the leaders took concerning appointments in 2015 have been
consequential and all of us have been affected by such judgment, one way or the
other.
The
consequences of the quality of presidential and gubernatorial bureaucracies
appointed four years ago have been visible. The implications of the quality of
security and intelligence chiefs, chief executives of agencies and others
procured in 2015, too have been glaring. The consequences of the quality and
quantity of the executive councils of the federation and the states (cabinets)
since 2015 have been reflecting in so many indices and the way the citizens and
indeed the world have perceived us.
As
I noted the other day here, ‘it is a period of consequences’. Whatever our
leaders sowed into their appointments since 2015, we have been reaping. Some of
our fathers have sown and eaten sour grapes and so their children’s teeth have
been set on edge.
Our
leaders are on the march again. They are compiling names of citizens,
especially party members who helped well in the last elections. They are about
to fill the many vacancies all over the place. It is not a time to leave this
process again to the vagaries of party and cabal manipulations.
Four
years ago, there was no sense of urgency. Instead of asking for quality,
equality and thoroughness, most party chieftains and enthusiastic supporters
shouted, ‘let the president, for instance, take his time to select his ‘dream
team’ from anywhere he liked’.
We
have all seen the consequences of our naivety and absence of wisdom in that
attitude. Today, some sections of this complex federation are complaining about
lopsided and parochial appointments. Just as some others are complaining about
low performance index of even the federal cabinet.
Some
of the poor performances have manifested in the states recently from the way
some sitting and immediate past governors, specifically in Oyo, Ondo, Gombe,
Akwa Ibom, Delta, etc could not win senatorial elections in their states. These
are significant developments about stewardship of some governors. Most of them
have been wasters and under-achievers – for eight years.
Unfortunately,
here is a country that celebrates mediocrity. We have been nurturing democracy
with prominent people who are not in any way significant, as Rick Warren would
like to observe.
There
is indeed a time for everything. We have all stayed on this side of the
Mountain where we have not been making progress. It is time to move to the next
level – of real development with significant people who may not be prominent
and boisterous.
Our
President, Muhammadu Buhari left Nigeria before the weekend for the United
Kingdom on a 10-day private visit during which period, decent sources had
noted, the president might decide on cabinet and key positions for his second
term. A credible newspaper had last month hinted at this possibility: that the
president would compile his ministerial list during his vacation abroad. He is
abroad now and we have been told to stop inquiring into what Nigeria’s
president has gone to handle in the U.K. Although that is not a decent response
from the reputation managers of a country’s leader, what can we do?
But
Alan Paton, in his classic, ‘Cry the Beloved country’ says, ‘when the storm
threatens, a man is afraid of his house. But when the house is destroyed, there
is something to do. About a storm he can do nothing, but he can rebuild a
house…’
We
can begin process of rebuilding our broken walls too by suggesting to the
president wherever he is making his appointments. The simple suggestion is that
he should this time consider a cabinet of significance to the country.
The
cabinet he made in 2015 was with due respect what Benjamin Disraeli once
described as ‘a cabinet of mediocrities’. One is not too sure even the
president has been proud of his (2015-2019) cabinet – that has not been
remarkable, anyway. I hope people are aware that those of us in the newsroom
have to sometimes use Google to find the names of some ministers and heads of
agencies of this government. They have neither been prominent, nor significant.
This is not peculiar to Abuja alone. We are quick to fire some regular shots at
Abuja only, without considering the fact that there are other 37 centres of the
peripheries and 774 local government councils in the federation.
Here
is the thing, if the party system had been working well, there would have been
a reflection of the ruling party’s programmes in most parts of the country. But
we have been developing our own peculiar democracy without an ideological road
map known as manifestos.
That
is why I would like to recommend immediately that the president’s good men
should dust up the abandoned Steve Oronsaye Panel Report of 2012.
It
is one of the best documents that I have read as a public service journalist.
It can be dispassionately studied as a policy document by any good government.
The 2012 presidential committee on reforms of government agencies’ report can
be adopted to restructure the public sector for efficiency and development.
There
should be no argument about the profile of chairman of the panel that wrote
that significant document. The 800-page report submitted to President Goodluck
Jonathan in April 2012, is a classic on efficiency, prudence and lean
government at all levels. It is not about Oronsaye. It is about the content of
the document – that can be used to transform public service. For instance, the
panel recommended the reduction of statutory agencies of government from 263 to
161. Besides, the Oronsaye panel did not see any reason why NTA, FRCN and VOA should
be separate entities with three directors-general and three boards of
directors. The panel would like the three media outfits to be merged and headed
by one director general as it is with the ‘BBC’ U.K and ‘SABC’, South Africa,
etc.
I
am aware most government agencies’ heads then compromised the White Paper
Committee – to remain as entities. And president Jonathan was careless about
this remarkable document that would have reformed the public sector
significantly before 2015.
The
reason for a specific reference to Oronsaye report is that this is not a time
for big government. It is not a time for more ministries and agencies,
especially as revenue has been dwindling and oil remains a major source of
revenue for all the states and local governments.
Meanwhile,
there have been dark hints that the president would likely expand his cabinet
in line with the promise he made to members and officials of his political
party the All Progressives Congress (APC) in October 2017, during the National
Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the Party. He had then disclosed his
intention to expand his cabinet. “Apart from appointing one minister from each
of the 36 states as enshrined in the constitution, the president would also
pick one person from each of the six geo-political zones in the country,” one
of the sources had hinted. The source added that more ministries would be
created and others split in line with the exigencies of the moment. The plan in
the new cabinet, it was learnt, would also enable the president accommodate
some governors who lost their second term bids and senior party faithful who
couldn’t secure seats in the National Assembly.
This
is a time to encourage the president to reconsider the absurdity of allocating
more than 70 per cent of the national budget to recurrent expenditure just for
public servants and political office holders. This is a time for his party
officials to put heads together on prudent management of the nation’s
resources. The president needs to cut costs by merging ministries, agencies and
even embassies we don’t need.
He
needs to talk of Nigeria first, not party men first. That is the significant
commitment that has made Donald Trump to be both prominent and significant as a
leader in America and indeed the world today despite all the bashings by the
opposition and the powerful media. He says he will do all that is needed to
fight the opposition and indeed the trading partners just to put America first.
That
is why Nigeria’s president, the governors, federal and state legislators who
will be inaugurated in May and June respectively should note that Nigeria is
indeed a very poor country. The country needs competent and prudent managers of
the scarce resources at this moment.
Meanwhile,
we are beginning to see signals that most of the state governors are not aware
of the state of the nation from the way they have begun appointments of state
officials and advisers.
For
instance, the Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi recently announced the
appointment of six Special Advisers, Chairmen and members of some Boards and
Corporations in the state. According to a statement, the appointments of the
Advisers have been made to further position the present administration in the
state for effective service delivery. Following a list of 14
commissioner-designates transmitted to the House of Assembly for screening and
confirmation two weeks ago, the same Ekiti State Governor Dr. Kayode Fayemi
also approved the appointment of additional five more advisers. He now has 11
advisers. His Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Yinka Oyebode, said: “In the bid to
further position the administration for effective service delivery, Ekiti State
Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi has approved the appointment of five additional
Special Advisers.” Do you need more advisers for effective service delivery?
In
August, 2017, there was a report that the Office of the Senate President, Dr.
Bukola Saraki sacked 98 of his aides, a figure disputed by Mr. Saraki’s
spokesperson, Yusuph Olaniyonu; who, however, did not provide the actual number
dismissed.
All
told, we need our leaders to know that this time does not require for instance,
an 84-year old Nigeria’s Ambassador to the United States, among other public
officers who cannot be productive at this time. It is a time for ‘dynamic
capabilities’ in public service for the most populous black nation on earth to
be a country of significance too.
Note:
This article was first published in The Guardian of Sunday April 28, 2019, on “Insde
Stuff with MARTINS OLOJA”. Used by
permission.
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