Tinubu’s First 100 Days in Office
Relax, I am aware that the man has only been in office for one month. From the way he is going, he certainly has a thing or two to celebrate thus far. But there is no real need for such a celebration, which will probably be accompanied by a public holiday this time. It will not add any real value to his performance, or historical track record, as a leader. Tinubu must keep his eyes on the ball. Let us begin to do things differently.
So, before his handlers prance off, in a frenetic pace to make a good impression, and show off their superstar, they should first answer this question: Does this government need to organize a State Event, complete with government officials, sniveling crumb-crunchers, genuine stakeholders and the president’s party members all lined up to reel off his specific and general achievements? I think not. We have had nore than enough of such charades over the years. And this is at all levels of government in Nigeria. TlTinubu can create a new precedent by putting an end to it. There is an Igbo saying that when impropriety, or even an abomination, lasts long enough, it gets absorbed, applied and treated as tradition.
The first person who celebrated his first hundred years in office did so in a faraway country, on another continent. We have tried it, so our name is on the register. Now we need to move on, as a serious people. This pointless national engagement has cost the nation hundreds of billions of Naira in perfectly avoidable expenses for decades. Past governments at all levels have put too much energy, funds, fanfare and needless floodlights and festoons around it. And to what purpose? To tell Nigerians that the person they elected has been working for the first three months after being sworn in? Really? What else was he supposed to be doing? Why was he elected in the first place?
This sham proof of exceptional performance, and capacity to lead, is rarely ever followed through in the remaining 45 months of a 48-month tenure in office. So, let us show some sobriety and maturity here; knowing that the money to be thus squandered can be put to better use in these days of starving citizens, abominable inflation, unaffordable automotive fuel and much more – including trekking under the sun because of high transport fares.
Tinubu should, instead, let his foot soldiers do more work of explaining and justifying all the moves he has made so far. Some of them are clearly unsettling for many people. Even the supporters are unable to present a coherent narrative. Yes, whoever must make an omelet has to break some eggs; but the government must avoid a situation wherein the perception is that eggs are being broken just for the heck of it. The federal Government’s current decisions, actions and policy initiatives are foundational measures on which it is expected to build. They will make or mar Tinubu’s tenure. That is why their intent and purport should be simplified in the public domain.
A nation in crisis of the worst type, across all frontiers, cannot afford the additional crisis of avoidable confusion and quarrels arising from good but mismanaged, misrepresented, misinterpreted or simply misunderstood good intentions. The dumb-witted attempt to push forward the idea of a salary raise for the president and elected official, for instance, is so silly that it may well be a deliberate “enemy” action. Of all things on which to send a hurried memo to the president at this time? This degree of insensitivity says a lot about the level of disconnect between most managers of agencies of government and the Nigerian reality they are supposed to be dealing with.
With teachers, ASUU, doctors and sundry labour unions on the war path with government, amidst unprecedented rise in transportation and foodstuff for the citizens, the most brilliant idea a presumably serious agency of government can think of is increasing the pay packet of the president? A president who ordinarily lives at public expense? Ejikwa m ogu o!
While not agreeing pointedly with those who have gone so far as to say that the fledgling Tinubu Presidency has already outdone in three weeks what his predecessor would not have accomplished if he was given another eight years in office, it must be said and noted that the painfully lethargic, somnambulistic and purposeless eight-year tenure of former president Muhammadu Buhari has helped to project the actions of the current president as nothing short of the eighth wonder of the world.
Buhari’s tenure is likely to go down in history as the period of the greatest spiritual and material damage to the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The North, in particular, will take decades to get out of its present bind. The loss of lives, property and means of livelihood, the spate of banditry and general insecurity and the cheerful waste of human capital in an ill-informed insistence on trekking thousands of kilometres to feed cattle will yet rebound. The damage done by Buhari to the APC, national cohesion, service delivery, leadership sensitivity, equity, natural justice, genuine democracy in a plural society and the idea of leadership and responsible self-presentation as leader is immeasurable.
Practically everything that spoke to a better, and greater, humanity, suffered shipwreck under Buhari. That is partly why what is going on at the moment looks, or seems, a bit dizzying for most Nigerians who lived for eight years with a president who did nothing, knew nothing and was bothered about nothing. Tinubu took over from a man who was not on the job at all.
It took Tinubu’s predecessor six months to appoint ministers. It took him practically one year to dissolve the Governing Boards of MDAs, and more years to reconstitute them. He retained most government functionaries for eight years, thereby forcing many carrier officers to either stagnate or retire without deserved fulfilment. That is why the apparent ease and speed with which important decisions and appointments are now being made, as well as the excitement of those who kept telling us that Tinubu would hit the ground running once sworn in, is understandable.
But, let’s get real; and remain real. A leader is supposed to lead, is he not? This leading means, first, designing a comprehensive engagement strategy. It means, second, thinking through the appropriate policies for dealing with various problems. It also means finding and deploying the right type of human capital for implementation. The criteria here must include competence and sensitivity to the existing, and subsisting, sociopolitical realities; two paradigms on which Buhari performed disastrously and delivered miserably. This will then all be capped by a credible compliance system that is driven by cost-effective implementation, monitoring, evaluation, feedback, recalibration and re-engagement – within a self-correcting framework.
It would seem that Tinubu has set out with some kind of broad strategic framework. That framework, whatever it may be and in whatever way it is conceptualized, must run on the path of equity, natural justice and good conscience. It must also note the right type of investment that will lead to national development, instead of merely recording expenditure on all manner of projects; with neither positive impact nor tangible benefit on the people.
I cite as example in this regard one of the very telling decisions of the previous leadership under “investment in education”. The sum of N4.7 billion was approved for the construction of seven Models Schools in the six geo-political zones of the country and Abuja. This was totally unnecessary. As was pointed out here on May 31, 2019, “To build new model schools is to award building contracts to “reliable” contractors. Construction of the schools will take years, to be followed by the provision of state-of-the-art amenities; which essentially boils down to a series of procurement contracts.”
Would it not have been better for the federal government to upgrade the over 100 Unity School in the country into Model Schools, with even less financial resources? As said then: “A simple costs-benefits analysis shows that 4.7 billion Naira will go a very long way in rescuing the now-decrepit and derelict Unity Schools in the country and increasing their carrying capacity. It is not right that we should have such huge budgetary provision on record as proof of government commitment to education when it is not”.
With this new APC government, which probably came into office despite the efforts of APC stalwarts to abort it, things must be done differently. Doing things right, and differently in a positive and upbuilding way, is the strongest campaign any party in power can make for itself.
That is why this government should note, in particular, the following observation that was made here four years ago: “The school system is like a “factory” producing human capital for the nation. It needs “factory workers”, as well as facilities and the physical infrastructure housing all activities. Investment that focuses on factory machinery and the premises of our education industry is not the best approach to improving the quality of citizens (or “products”) we turn out. It is not enough for an investor to procure and install fine “machinery.” The equipment will not translate into quality products, or even any products at all, except there are also competent people to handle them”.
We can illustrate this with the example of a man who builds a bakery to the best global standards, “complete with a service and marketing templates that even the Jews would envy, but who fails to train bakers and install an efficient and effective management”. He has invested foolishly, has he not? Every industrialist knows that impressive installed capacity that is accompanied by poor capacity utilization and incompetent staff is a recipe for unmitigated disaster.
That is why we must consciously plan for national development with a holistic template and outlook. It is beyond hitting the ground running, or rolling out several decisions in a hurry. It has more to do with sustainability. The Tinubu government has much to make good, and for several reasons. One thing it can spare Nigerians is the celebration of its first 100 years in office. If anything, it can do first 30 days in office. Now, that will be something.
Thisdaylive.com
