CHUKS OLUIGBO
Reading through Governor Babatunde
Fashola’s remarks at the 2014 Christmas Eve party of Island Club/Yoruba Tennis
Club in Lagos the other day, something struck me: the vote of confidence the Lagos
State governor passed on Akinwunmi Ambode, the man whom his party, the All
Progressives Congress (APC), has chosen to succeed him – that is, if elected at
this year’s governorship election in the state.
“Akinwunmi Ambode served with me as
accountant-general for six years. He worked in the local government for many
years. He was part of the building process. He understands how government
works; he will not be guessing on day one if you elect him as my successor
because he is experienced. The alternatives to him will be an experiment with
your lives, your businesses and the future of your children,” Fashola had said.
The above statement is very instructive.
What it says, simply, is: experience counts. Chinua Achebe’s assertion in his
1983 book, The Trouble with Nigeria –
that “the
trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership" – has
become some kind of singsong among Nigerians. Everybody agrees. And not many pundits
will dispute the fact that part of this leadership problem is the lack of
preparedness among the leaders we’ve had in this country since independence. Experience does matter a lot. And
with it comes preparedness to lead. Though it can be argued that even with all
the experience in this world some leaders still fail, yet inexperienced, ill-prepared
and accidental leadership is worse.
There is a generally held view that
Nigeria since independence has lived with the curse of accidental and
unprepared leadership – from Balewa through the incumbent Goodluck Jonathan –
and this has been the bane of our development. As Tajudeen Alabede, a
commentator, wrote in a September 2010 article, “Accidental ascendancy to leadership is a
big gamble. It often comes with bitter consequences. We have not been blessed
with capable and well prepared leaders whether under democracy or military
rule. We have only had flashes of great performers on the centre stage. With
not too many glittering moments, the memories have been fleeting indeed.”
To buttress this point, I refer to
an article by Reuben Abati when he was still on this side of the fence.
Entitled “The speech Jonathan shouldn’t have made”, the article was a reaction
to a speech made by the then newly-elected President Goodluck Jonathan at a pre-inauguration lecture on May 26, 2011. While responding to a presentation by the guest
lecturer, Ladipo Adamolekun, Jonathan reportedly declared that four years were
too short for a president or a governor to embark on any meaningful programme
because “it takes about a year or two before the administration settles down
even with the right set of ministers or commissioners. Then, if the latter turn
out ‘not to be good’, after one year or two, the president or governor is
compelled to reshuffle his cabinet and by the time the new cabinet settles
down, it is time for another election, and everyone is busy trying to win an
election”.
To the above
claim, Abati responds point-blank: “It is not true that four years ‘is too
short’ for a president or a governor to make a difference. The president didn't
get it, and it is important that he does. The period appears too short because
many of our elected governors and presidents (well, we have had only a few)
begin to think of what to do only when they get to office. They have no
blueprint, no clear understanding of what is required; they do not even listen
to the people well enough, and the parties that brought them to power have no
manifesto, no plan of action, no defined contract with the Nigerian people. Given
such background, the complexity of bureaucracy and the enormity of official
powers could prove so intimidating that the typical overnight man of power
could find himself or herself completely ill-prepared for high office. But this
is what we want changed. In states where the governors are prepared, we have
seen so much done in four years.”
Then he goes
on to cite Gbenga Daniel, Bola Tinubu, Babatunde Fashola, Rotimi Amaechi,
Emmanuel Uduaghan, Bukola Saraki, Mohammed Goje, Adamu Aliero and Godwin Akpabio
who, in his view, made great impressions and strides in their first four years.
Whether you agree with Abati or not on this list is all up to you, but I think
the point is clearly made.
And he goes
on to offer a piece of advice. “We all know it takes a while for the wrong kind
of ministers and commissioners to settle down, and that such persons can waste
everyone's time, but those are not the kind of ministers Nigerians want.
Nigerians want President Jonathan to choose his cabinet wisely. He must avoid failed
politicians who lost elections and are looking for another job in government by
any means, PDP chieftains who expect to be rewarded for their contributions in
their states, and definitely not the wives, sons and daughters of
self-appointed godfathers and political entrepreneurs. Nigerians don't want
ministers who will take two years to settle down. They don't want the federal
cabinet to be turned into a classroom where ministers have to spend a whole
year learning what a policy means, while they collect fat allowances and do
nothing.”
Finely put,
you would say again. And that goes for all those who will emerge at different
levels in the 2015 general elections. At this stage, Nigeria’s democracy can no
longer be referred to as nascent or fledgling. A child born 16 years ago should
be in an institution of higher learning by now. If such a child is female, she
might even be considering marriage – that is, if she is from those parts of the
country where early marriage is the norm. So, for a country that needs
leapfrogging in many aspects of its economic and social life, Nigeria can no
longer afford the luxury of time-wasters.
Perhaps it
is time for those elected to lead to take the issue of succession more
seriously. I’ve always subscribed to the saying that success without successor is equal to
failure. While I do not support imposition of any kind, even if it comes in the
form of enlightened despotism, I believe, however, that a good leader should be
able to groom a number of possible successors so that when the time comes for
him to bow out, the people would have a bunch to choose from. Isn’t it
interesting to hear Fashola say that “almost all of the aspirants have worked
in our government and with me in building the progress we now have”? That’s the
way to go if we are to have true leaders who will hit the ground running from
day one.
