By Sufyan Abbas Mohammed
I am a very proud Nigerian in spite of our challenges and our not-so-pleasant external image. Very few countries have what we have. Nigeria is blessed with diverse ecological zones and natural resources, and most importantly the highly invigorated human resources.
I am convinced that we will surely overcome our temporary impediments and be able to assert our country in its appropriate position in the comity of nations. I have no doubt that Nigeria will one day harness its potentials to be counted among the greats. But to get there, we have to get our priorities right, especially the way we play our partisan politics.
President Muhammadu Buhari took over power and in a couple of months, power improved significantly and the refineries, we were told, have started operating close to their maximum installed capacities. This shows that with proper planning, policies, programmes and diligent implementation, this country will surely achieve its dreams.
However the missing link that is already very glaring in Buharis Administration is his utter disdain for, or deliberate denial of the place of continuity in governance. The blanket condemnation of the preceding Jonathan Administration and the attendant premeditated nauseating denial of any link with its policies is, to say the least, pushing the limits of partisan politics.
We all know that it takes years to build generating plants and install conductors across a vast country like Nigeria. For refineries of the sizes we have, it takes a minimum of 18 months to complete one turn around maintenance (TAM). Although this is not been admitted, it is obvious that a three-month old Government couldnt have done this. Same way as the Buhari Administrations war against Boko Haram gained steam and speed with the arrival of weapons purchased by his predecessor. Unfortunately this is a reality which the government of the day would rather cover up, by diverting attention to the prosecution of Jonathans security advisers.
Be that as it may, if we can reach this level of refining and power generation in the search to improve the nations infrastructure, then the sky is our limit, given the determination of the current administration. However for us to reach the skies, Nigerians and the leaders should know and admit that governance is a relay race. Thus, while blaming any of the team members for poor performance, we must also appreciate that every member is an important link in the chain, and should be commended if he has done some good for the team.
In America power has been alternating regularly between Republicans and Democrats, but the world is yet to see an American administration so senselessly savage its predecessor, as is happening in Nigeria. The only time brickbats are exchanged is at the level of campaigns and debates, understandably, in search of votes. But once a new government is in place, it sees it as a duty to protect the policies of Government. Even when ideologies differ, and policies are altered, the new Government quietly effects the necessary changes, in a manner that will not pour odium on the image of the country.
Can it honestly be said that the Jonathan Government has no hand in the improvements in the power situation in the country, as well as the positive change in the level of local refining capacity being recorded today?
Could we again say that the Jonathan Government has no hand in the success story being told in the health sector, as Nigeria gets ready to celebrate the forthcoming polio free declaration?
What most public commentators have been saying is that the Jonathan Administration was the most corrupt. Some say so out of ignorance, some because they have to follow the trend while others say so because they are looking for something from the Buhari Government, given its stance against Jonathan.
But is the Jonathan Administration really the most corrupt, as is being claimed in some quarters? How did we come to that conclusion? What is the yardstick used in benchmarking it against various administrations?
Globally, the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index (CPI) has long since emerged as an acceptable yardstick to rate nations. However, beyond emotions, the figures for the past sixteen years, either in terms of placing or CPI points, do not support the claim that the Jonathan Administration had been the most corrupt, since the return to democratic rule in 1999.
While the Government in power spends quality governance time, trying to degrade the Jonathan Administration, it is instructive that many other countries are perfecting plans to copy some of the policies of the past Government. As a regional bloc, West African States, through its administrative organ, the ECOWAS Commission, are currently working on partnering with the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC) with a view to developing a framework for the establishment of a regional automotive policy in West Africa, in line with Jonathans automotive policy.
Recently a delegation from the ECOWAS Commission Secretariat, led by Kalilou Traore, held talks with officials of NADDC on the possibility of replicating the policy in other ECOWAS countries.
It is also no secret that South Africa has indicated interest in emulating Nigerias power sector privatisation model for the transformation of its energy sector. If all these point to anything, it is that the policies and programmes of the Jonathan administration are durable and bankable, even if they did not yield much dividend during his time.
It is also telling that two members of the Jonathan Economic Team have been elevated to commanding positions in global financial agencies. One has assumed office as the President of African Development Bank and the other, a vice president of the World Bank . Would they have been so honoured if they had been part of a disastrous experiment in governance, as the Goebbels of this Government want us to believe?
The Coordinating Minister of the Economy Dr Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala joined the Jonathan Administration from the World Bank where she was the managing director. No matter the degree of attacks on them, nobody can erase their towering credentials which they brought to bear on the work they did under the Jonathan Administration. The Treasury Single Account (TSA) which APC celebrates today as their invention, was actually launched by Okonjos finance ministry in December 2014 with February 2015 given as deadline for compliance by all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of Government. The initiative came in the wake of dwindling earnings due to falling oil prices and the need to boost revenue. Same for other new tools in public financial management introduced by the finance Ministry under her, including the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) which eliminated 46,000 ghost workers.
Mr Olusegun Aganga joined the administration from Goldman Sachs while Omobola Johnson joined from Accenture, an international management consulting firm. Just like other ministers, these two made their marks in their various ministries . Under Omobola, the nation recorded increased access to ICT Services with the sector contributing significantly to the national GDP. Similarly, Aganga introduced the National Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP) and the National Automotive Policy, aimed at stimulating growth in the manufacturing sector. These, no doubt, gave rise to the establishment of many motor manufacturing and assembly plants in the country in the last two years.
So those who say the Jonathan Administration was the most corrupt must also tell Nigerians how they came to that conclusion. Did he allocate oil wells to his cronies, compared to other regimes? I think Nigerians should be told more of these specifics, than mere emotive postulations.
We are yet to see the Angels that will make the Buhari cabinet, but judging from the names that have been speculated in the media, one could safely say that the beautiful ones are not yet born. I can bet that it is not going to be different from what we have already seen, where appointments into key positions are reserved for close ones from particular zones, tribes and tongues.
Those who already say that sectionalism, nepotism and tribalism are the great grandmothers of corruption, may not be wrong. This is because in places where agitations and misgivings from such misguided style of governance had been allowed to go out of control, the challenge of containing ensuing ethnic tension had always proven to be worse than the fight against corruption.
Sadly, the likes of Prof Itse sagay, Chairman of the seven-man Presidential Advisory Committee on War Against Corruption, do not see tribalism as corruption. In a recent newspaper interview (Sunday Punch of Sept 6, 2015), he tried to draw a distinction between tribalism and other vices which he described as doing a wrong thing.”
With one wave of the hand, he is eager to dismiss President Jonathan for the indiscretion of allowing a university campus to be situated in his town. But the all knowing Senior Advocate became embarrassingly defensive and found nothing wrong with the incongruity of President Buhari leaving out the entire south east geopolitical zone in his appointments. As divisive, controversial and disingenuous as the pattern of appointments have been, all Prof Sagay could tell people from the neglected zone is to be calm and wait for Buharis plans for the Second Niger Bridge.. for erosion control and all those bad roads in the South-East .
The question is, if tribalism and nepotism are not corruption in the eye of Buharis anti-corruption sheriff, what then is the real definition of corruption?
Take a place like the State House Chapel for instance. When Jonathan was a Vice President and President, the chaplain was an Igbo man from south east. The signatories to the chapel account were people from different parts of the country. Jonathan had nothing to do with church funds. Now the government of Saints has taken charge with Professor Osibanjo as the Vice President and the political head of the chapel. Osibanjo a Yoruba man now give approvals and the two signatories are both Yoruba people. No other Nigerian is fit to be involved in the management of the chapel funds, despite the fact that the pastor from Borno state is still there as the chapel administrator.
The likes of Prof Sagay should tell us if this is not tribalism. To me tribalism, the grandmother of corruption is right there in Gods own House in Nigerias State House.
When President Buhari decided to appoint the INEC Chairperson and other key officers of Government from his own enclave, some Nigerians argued that it was based on competence and loyalty. I will not question the propriety of such claims as even thieves are known to be loyal to their masters. But, I guess we have to be careful the way we push the bounds of loyalty, lets we not only stoke the embers of tribalism, but also raise the risk of breaching the constitution in a federal state.
For instance, this is the first time in our political history as a nation, that security operatives would invade a state Government House. Let us not forget that this agency that invaded Akwa Ibom Government House is headed by an appointee from President Buharis village. Is this then competence or loyalty taken too far?
Sagay, a professor of law, in the same interview condemned anything bad as corruption. But here we are, witnessing blatant abuse and disregard of our laws on a daily basis. No doubt, these are all good in the eyes of Buharis minders like Prof Sagay!
It is only in Nigeria that people will listen to a carpenter discussing petroleum engineering or a mechanic discussing medical science. Or how else could you explain it when a man, who had a third class degree in literature, claims to understand economics better than a World Bank Vice president?
Another character, who had a modern III certificate and rose up to grade level seven equivalent in a small textile company, claims to understand economics more than a PhD holder in economics!
In Nigeria as long as you have a big mouth, you become an Angel, a saint and a First Class expert in every subject. In other societies the opinions of the likes of former Governor Rotimi Amaechi and Governor Adams Oshiomhole would have stopped to count. But here, their lies and ignorance are not only accorded ample media space, they are celebrated by the likes of Prof Sagay and other lackeys of the Buhari Government.
Definitely the Jonathan Administration and indeed all other administrations from independence to date had issues with corruption. We hope that Buhari will be the first Head of Government that will deal a fatal blow to the demon. That will be indeed a pleasant development, and we will all praise him.
But while condemning members of the Jonathan Administration in areas of alleged weaknesses, President Buhari and the ruling party should also commend them in areas they had done well. As far as the ruling party is concerned, all the positive attributes they are claiming today are due to Buharis body movements. But we all know that body movement and intimidation alone cannot generate and transmit power, nor transform refineries, nor stop the endemic corruption in the system. You definitely need infrastructure to do all that.
Mohammed wrote from Yola in Adamawa State.
