In a bid to ensure
that Nigeria is in safe and secure hands for socio-economic and political
regeneration promised during his campaign, president Muhammadu Buhari, has
spent the better part of four months into his new administration scurrying
around the country for Nigerians, incorruptible and professionally competent to
serve in his cabinet....
For a country located at the bottom rung of Transparency
International, TI global corruption perception rating index, finding thirty six
(36) good men to fit the lofty expectations of PMB in consonance with his high
integrity persona is akin to identifying the cleanest dirty shirts in the
laundry.
Although the task is
as arduous as seeking for a needle in a hay stack, it would appear that PMB may
be on target to accomplishing his mission as he prepares to roll out the list
of the Change Agents that I would like to refer to as his economic 'Husband
Men' in the coming days. Already, security agencies have been putting the
potential candidates in the crucible and quite a number of names floating
around in the main stream and social media seem to have passed the litmus test.
In a country where
people are judged based on ethnic bias and religious inclination rather than from
the prism of their character and content, PMB, APC and indeed Nigerians should
brace up for the flurry of criticism that would trail the official release of
the names of the 'few good men' to the National Assembly, for scrutiny and
approval as ministers.
One way of vitiating
the associated agony and stress is for PMB to take solace in the wise counsel
of a philosopher, John Adams, who posited that "Politics, as a practice,
whatever it's professions, has always been the systematic organisations of haters".
The quote above underscores the fact that political hate is not peculiar to
Nigeria.
While the aphorism
that one can never be prepared enough, holds true in almost all instances, a
counterstrategy against the aforementioned onslaught of ethnic jingoist and
religious bigots that would seize the media space to literarily slay the
president as soon as the list is released, may not be a media management master
stroke, but suffice it to say that the initiative would evince similar benefits
realizable when measures are put in place to mitigate an anticipatory response
to an uncommon policy.
By that I mean that
president Buhari's spokesmen and APC's reputation managers should proactively
hedge against any backlash by preparing upfront, information underpinning the
principles behind the choice of the candidates and the values they are bringing
to the table.
As image and crisis
managers would agree, the efficacy of preemptive actions is undeniable and one
way of justifying the appointments is by engaging their principal, PMB
rigorously in dialogues that would elicit reasons for his choice of the
candidates for the cabinet positions-professionally, ethnically and
religiously.
In a highly polarised
country, where divisive factors such as the tongue, tribe and worship pattern
of candidates were freely used as commodity, currency and fuel during campaigns
for the general election, appointments into public offices have assumed an equally
combustible dimension, so one can never be too careful.
For instance, two of
the recent appointments made by President Buhari that generated the most public
opprobrium are the military service chiefs and his choice of Secretary of
Government of the Federation, SGF and Chief of Staff. While the appointment of
his Chief of Staff and SGF were later explained – he choose people he can trust
having worked with the appointees over the years which was deemed treasonable –
his explanation that professionalism was purely the criteria applied in
choosing the top brass of the three arms of forces – Army, Navy and Airforce –
has been received with skepticism.
Dissenters believe
that it is unlikely that in the entire armed forces of Nigeria, no south-east
or south-south candidates were qualified enough to fit the bill. Against the
foregoing background, it would be deft if detailed professional competence and
political balancing factors that came into play in selecting the proposed
cabinet members are availed members of the public to enable them judge for
themselves, the rigor invested in the exercise by the president and how
altruistic his intentions are.
The idea that the
National Assembly should also be furnished with the proposed portfolio of the
list of nominees being sent for clearance (recently canvassed in an editorial
by a newspaper) should also be given due consideration as such facts could
serve as public enlightenment that could take the wind off the sail of critics
or those who may have some axe to grind.
As we all know,
putting a round peg in a round hole can hardly attract sustainable criticism
and fundamentally, facts are antidotes to rumour mongering. Expectedly, there
would be the tendency for some hawkish advisers to contend that the president
does not owe Nigerians such detailed explanation, but such people would be
misguiding PMB because the ultimate objective of any good politician is to
carry the populace along in his policies and programmes.
In my experience from
studying politicians over the years from
Winston Churchill's (1940-45 and 1951-55) war time exploits in Great
Britain encapsulated in his "battle of Britain" speech to parliament
before the war against Germany; Franklin Delano Roosevelt, FDR(1933-45) 'New
Deal' to Americans during the great depression and Deng Xiaoping's (1978-92)
introduction of 'Four Modernizations' in China after the Cultural Revolution,
nothing engages the mind of a great politician and leader more than how to get
his voting stakeholders to buy into his programs and policies.
To achieve that
objective, a lot of what is today referred to as Emotional Intelligence, EI had
to be invested. Emotional Intelligence being the ability to recognize one's own
and other people's emotions is the skills required to better understand,
empathize and negotiate with others.
Churchill relied on
it in Great Britain, when he made the famous speech to parliament that Brits
should prepare for "the battle of Britain" that enabled the country
hold out against Germany and thus led them out from the brink of defeat to
victory.
Roosevelt deployed it
in the USA, when he re-established hope during the Great Depression through his
pursuit of the three Rs policy of Relief, Recovery and Reforms conveyed in the
New Deal and Xiaoping adopted it in China, when after the calamitous Cultural
Revolution, he had to deftly negotiate with the communist party leadership to
allow a bit of openness in order to introduce the "Beijing Spring"
that allowed criticism of government and enabled him pursue the policy of
" Four Modernizations" which entailed the opening up Chinese economy
to foreign investments in the economy, agriculture, scientific and
technological development and national defence.
Now, PMB had
mentioned in his Chatham House, UK presentation last February that one event
that significantly inspired his change of ideology from autocracy to democratic
system of governance is the fall of the Soviet Union. So, I assume that PMB has
abiding interest in history of how nations leap forward or collapse. That’s why
I chose England, USA and China as references in my analogy as models for
success.
It might interest PMB
to note that in more ways than one, he is like Winston Churchill of Britain as
both were soldiers and both also ruled their country twice - first as soldier
and later as politician. PMB is also to some extent, like Deng Xiaoping of
China who sought to foist radical changes to leadership and fell from grace
only to return to power later. The Nigerian leader is also basically similar to
Franklin Roosevelt of the U.S. as both governed their countries in the period
of economic recession.
Let me to elucidate:
After being appointed prime minister in 1940 by King George Vl to lead Britain
in war, he reigned for some time after he won the war but was thereafter
defeated in a general election due to his radical approach to leadership.
Winston Churchill switched parties and in 1951, he became the prime minister of
Britain again through election. Recall that PMB ruled Nigeria 1983-85 before
his incarnation in 2015.
Similarly, it is on
record that Deng Xiaoping was 'purged' or expelled three times by the Communist
Party due to his independent mindedness before he was pardoned and accepted
back into the party after which he cleverly took over the party and subsequently
led the country into prosperity through his policy of one country two economic
philosophies.
PMB seized power in
1983 and was toppled in 1985.
On his part, Franklin
Delano Roosevelt, FDR defeated incumbent president Herbert Hoover in 1932 ostensibly
due to the economic depression in the U.S. as is the case in Nigeria today with
Buhari, who defeated incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan as a result of the
decision by Nigerians for a change in how an equally debilitating economic
recession is managed.
Remarkably, it is
FDR's economic recovery policy in the mid-1930s, that has given rise to modern
day Keynesian economic policies of STIMULUS-injection of funds into ailing
industries, which is still in practice till date – currently driven and given
public face by renown economist, Paul Krugman, Nobel laureate and New York
Times columnist. It is worthy of note that PMB's policy of releasing bailout
out funds to the 27 insolvent states in Nigeria and financial stimulus packaged
as intervention funds to other sectors of the economy such as aviation and
textile amongst others are derivatives of the FDR economic recovery policies of
the Great Depression era.
In a nutshell, PMB
has many great leaders to emulate and benchmark.
For the avoidance of
doubt, I'm not averse to positive and radical changes in the Nigerian polity as
enunciated by the APC and the postulations in my articles are not rendered as
an adversary of PMB's government, but rather as a patriotic Nigerian
stakeholder-leader, who is independent-minded and leading from the streets as a
public intellectual, who does not play to the gallery.
In the meantime,
before PMB releases his much awaited list of cabinet members, he might want to
consider the merits or demerits of VISA credit card co-founder and former CEO,
Dee W Hock's admonition: "Never hire or promote in your own image. It is
foolish to replicate your strengths and idiotic to replicate your weakness. It
is essential to employ, trust and reward those whose perspective, ability and
judgment are radically different from yours. It is also rare, for it requires
uncommon humility, tolerance and wisdom".
Ultimately, it is
hoped that from positive contributions in the form of critical analysis being
unleashed on a daily basis into the public arena by patriotic Nigerians like us
who strive to air their views against all odds, that viable solutions to
Nigeria's myriad challenges would be wrought and PMB's name would be written in
gold at the end of his tenure in 2019.
This intervention
would be incomplete without pleading with the major players in the political
arena to exercise more caution in the way they assail the integrity of some of
our leaders and country in the media. Need I remind politicians that every
diplomatic office in Nigeria has a team collecting data and sending same back
to their home countries which is analysed and used to gauge Nigeria to make
them simmer?
Given the bile in the
brush with which some of us are tarring our country men and women black as we
accuse ourselves of mind-boggling financial embezzlement that portray Nigeria
and Nigerians in the media as a country of artful thieves, we don't need a
rocket scientist to remind us that our rating by Transparency International, TI
would drop further and to the extent that the international community could
demand that every Nigerian be literarily put in the laundry for a clean wash to
make Nigeria an attractive place to live and do business by international
investors again.
It is my hoped that
we don't descend to the ugly past when Nigerian government through the CBN,
bought advert spaces in Financial Times, FT and New York Times, NYT to warn
foreigners of Nigerian scanners. What a disservice because it's tantamount to
washing Nigeria's dirty linen in public. The aftermath of that negative
initiative was that Nigerian travelers were separated and subjected to
humiliating experiences at airports abroad and they were also targeted by law
enforcement agents in foreign countries for persecution because Nigerian
government had alerted those countries that her citizens are fraudsters and
criminals.
Vicariously, and as a
result of the flawed process, along with the few 'bad eggs' that the warning
was meant for, hard-working Nigerian
aeronautic engineers in NASA and hordes of medical doctors contributing
positively to their host societies and academicians imparting knowledge in
renowned institutions of higher learning in their communities of abode, amongst
other professionals resident abroad became victims.
Some may argue that
despite all the opprobrium being heaped on the economic team of the immediate
past administration, most of them are getting appointed into top positions in
global and African financial organisations: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, appointed
chairman of the GAVI foundation and Advisor to Lazard bank, one of the oldest
investment (merchant) banks in the U.S.; Akinwunmi Adesina, CEO of Africa
Development Bank, ADB; Arumah Otteh,
Vice President/Treasurer of the world bank and Bright Okogwu, Executive
Director at ADB but it may be too early for the damage being done presently to
Nigeria's image to take its toll.
Without further
equivocation, let it be known that my contention is not that financial
misconduct should not be punished, but let it not be said again, that in the
bid to be holier than the Pope or Imam, Nigeria practically threw away the baby
and the bath water. After all said and done, there is a lot of good in
Nigerians but as in all things in life, there are bound to be imperfections, so
there is room for improvements.
That's why we all
probably need to literally put in the laundry, our minds from where all our
actions are initiated and of which change is needed the most.
Unfortunately, the
much vaunted change is so far not focused in the direction of the mind set of
Nigerians and our value system. Nigerians, who have been around in the country
in the past 30 years, may recall the positive effects that the War Against
Indiscipline, WAI initiative, introduced by Buhari as military head of state in
the mid-1980s had on the society. We probably need to re-enact it with a human
face and in consonance with democratic tenets.
Equally, Mass
Mobilization for Social and Economic Orientation, MAMSER, promoted by former
military head of state, Ibrahim Babangida, aimed at bequeathing on Nigerians
national ethos and common sense of belonging, may need to be re-introduced.
These would realign our minds to progress and development rather than
concerning ourselves too much about, who holds political power which currently
occupies 80% of the time and mind of our leaders in the National Assembly and
Aso Rock.
Yes, Nigerians
probably need to be 'brain washed' – no pun intended – into positive thinking
about our economic future as opposed to who becomes president in 2019, which
the current power struggle in National Assembly and Aso Rock has turned out to
be about. Perhaps, after the wash, instead of just PMB's cabinet members, all
Nigerians may become the cleanest dirty shirts out of the laundry so that the
next generation of Nigerians will be more prosperous than the present, as we
are presently witnessing in China.
Source: ThisDay
0 comments:
Post a Comment