Assistant Politics Editor, DANIEL KANU, takes a look at Nigeria’s leadership under President Goodluck Jonathan as he leaves Aso Rock in a matter of days.
On May 29, 2011, during his swearing-in as the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, excited President Goodluck Jonathan said passionately: “My dear compatriots, I stand in humble gratitude to you, this day, having just sworn to the oath of office as President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of our great nation. I thank you all, fellow citizens, for the trust and confidence, which you have demonstrated through the power of your vote. I want to assure you that I will do my utmost at all times, to continue to deserve your trust.”
After serving the nation for four years from then, Jonathan sought another term, which would have afforded him a record nine years as a civilian head of state. He had finished the one year left by his former boss, Umaru Yar’Adua who died in the saddle. As fate would have it, Jonathan lost to the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Muhammadu Buhari, in the March 28, 2015 presidential election.
This Friday, May 29, 2015, Jonathan’s era will come to an end, as Buhari takes over leadership to form a new government.
In the beginning
Jonathan was busy preparing for re-election to his first full term as substantive governor of Bayelsa State, when his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), obeying the command of then President Olusegun Obasanjo, nominated him as running mate to its presidential candidate, Yar’Adua.
After a keenly contested election, the Yar’Adua/Jonathan ticket won, and on May 29, 2007, he was inaugurated as Nigeria’s vice president.
However, on February 9, 2010, Jonathan assumed office as Nigeria’s acting president by virtue of a National Assembly resolution (Doctrine of Necessity), following Yar’Adua’s long absence for medical attention in Saudi Arabia.
He was sworn-in as president on May, 6, 2010 following the passing away of Yar’Adua on May 5, 2010.
On May 29, 2011, Jonathan took oath of office as President and Commander-in-Chief, after his victory in the 2011 presidential election. He won on groundswell of popular support.
Reports of that election show that he was voted for overwhelmingly from all the six zones in the country. Defying all predictions of Armageddon and prospects of the nation shattering to smithereens, the election held largely peacefully. Not without some hitches though, it still bore a semblance of fairness and a reflection of the people’s free will.
Political observers agree that his emergence as president changed the political equation of the country. The reason is simple: A decade before his emergence, it would have been a mere daydream to think that a citizen from a minority ethnic group could galvanise national support, on an unprecedented scale, to discard ancient prejudices, and win the people’s mandate as president of Nigeria.
Under the most daunting circumstances, Jonathan took over the leadership of the land then faced with several long-standing challenges.
The promise
After his swearing-in, he promised to take the nation to the next level, armed with a transformation agenda, discarding, or so it seemed, Yar’Adua’s seven-point agenda.
For him, transformation was the solution: a radical, structural and fundamental re-appraisal of the basic assumptions that underlie the nation’s reforms and developmental efforts.
Jonathan pledged that his determination to transform Nigeria was unshakeable, just as he stressed that the country shall be a nation where positive change would continue to take place, for the good of the people. According to him, time for lamentation was over, adding that he would stop at nothing to lift the country to the joy of all Nigerians.
In his conviction, he said the ultimate transformation of the country was inevitable during his tenure as he would take the nation on the right part of development.
Said Jonathan: “This is the era of transformation. This is the time for action. But Nigeria can only be transformed if we all play our parts with commitment and sincerity. Cynicism and scepticism will not help our journey to greatness. Let us all believe in a new Nigeria. Let us work together to build a great country that we will all be proud of. This is our hour.
“Fellow compatriots, lift your gaze towards the horizon. Look ahead and you will see a great future that we can secure with unity, hard work and collective sacrifice. Join me now as we begin the journey of transformation.”
Legal practitioner, Abbass Enang, told TheNiche that he firmly believed that the transformation agenda as enunciated by the Jonathan presidency, if well implemented, is the best hope for economic prosperity for the generality of Nigerians and the best window for the realisation of the national renewal the people yearned for in order to fulfil manifold destiny.
He said he was also under no illusion that his accomplishment of the blueprint would influence the place of Jonathan in Nigeria’s history.
“Given the goals Jonathan set for himself, it was my considered opinion that after his tenure in office and beyond, the transformation agenda which seeks to overhaul the country and launch it on the path to prosperity, will form the critical mass which critics will use to judge his performance in office,” Enang noted.
On how a manager is assessed, he said: “It’s a fairly simple answer: results. We judge with results because you cannot argue against results. If a manager inherits a very challenging business, you have to judge by the differences he has made during his stewardship. Is the business better off today than he met it? Are there enough facts on the ground to prove it?”
Nigerians today are still divided as to whether Jonathan delivered the needed results or not. This is because while some seem to be praising Jonathan for the infrastructure he was able to fix, there are many who say the country has been badly destroyed under his watch.
Transformation blues
The Nigerian nation is no stranger to economic reforms. Before the 1980s, the reforms were purely in the form of extended national perspective plans that attempted to mobilise human, material and natural resources of the nation to achieve goals of national life.
There were, for instance, the 1962-68 Plan, then the 1970-1974 Plan, the 1975-1980 Plan, the 1981-1985 Plan, the Obasanjo NEEDS, and the Yar’Adua’s 7-Point Agenda. Often, these plans went beyond mere economic prescriptions to address social, human and political goals.
Jonathan’s agenda covered almost all critical areas. They include: economic diversification, power, agricultural transformation, oil and gas, security, private sector-led economy, human rights and electoral reform.
According to Jonathan, “My government is determined to pursue policies that will ensure a stable macroeconomic environment through a strong and prudent fiscal policy, manageable deficits, sustainable debt-GDP (Gross Domestic Product) ratio of no more than 30 per cent, and single digit inflation, thereby promoting real growth. We believe that these measures would engender a stable and competitive exchange rate and help to reverse the declining trend of our international reserves.”
Controversial sectors
Economy: Jonathan said he made remarkable progress in the development of critical sectors of the Nigerian economy. It is believed in most political and economic quarters that Jonathan’s economic team undertook far-reaching reforms and policies conceived in the economic blueprint which seek, among other things, to revive the country’s infrastructure, diversify the economy from oil and create a vibrant economy.
Even international audit firm, KPMG, said the economic prospect of the country was improved under Jonathan.
Said KPMG in one of its statements: “In terms of Nigeria’s economic policy, prospects have improved with President Goodluck Jonathan in the driving seat, with a strong technocratic economic team lending support.”
Also Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) spokesperson, Olisa Metuh, said under Jonathan’s administration, Nigeria became the preferred destination for foreign direct investment (FDI) in Africa, leading to unprecedented economic growth and job creation.
“Under President Jonathan’s leadership, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) rebased Nigeria’s GDP, securing the country’s rightful place as the largest economy in Africa and the 26th largest economy in the world,” Metuh noted.
But Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, faulted the transformation agenda claims of the Jonathan’s government, arguing that it has no positive impact on the lives of Nigerians.
Whether the transformation agenda programmes of Jonathan has rubbed off positively on Nigerians will remain a great debate.
Security: Knowing that security of lives and property is essential in order for Nigeria to realise its potential, Jonathan said he prioritised measures to enhance security.
Arguably, Jonathan became President of Nigeria at a very critical and challenging moment. Given the security challenge that confronted his tenure, his government implemented a process of overhaul and renewal of personnel and systems in the armed forces, security agencies and police, so as to meet the task of the new, unconventional and asymmetric challenges it faced, particularly in the North East by the Boko Haram onslaught.
Boko Haram terrorists, despite all efforts of the administration to smoke them out of every known hide-out and stronghold, continued to give the administration and Nigerians nightmare.
Commentators are of the view that the inability of the Jonathan’s government to subdue the scourge of the group and guarantee safety was among the reasons he lost the election.
Rightly or wrongly, the impression in many quarters is that his government played politics with the tackling of Boko Haram.
Nigeria in the view of most observers is at war with itself given the Boko Haram menace and thousands of lives wasted.
Oil and gas: In line with global best practices and the principal aim of the Nigerian Extractive Industry and Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Jonathan forwarded the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) to the National Assembly for passage into law.
Expectedly, the passage of the PIB into law would have successfully taken Nigeria out of the league of nations where global business rules and practices are flouted with impunity.
Petroleum Minister, Deziani Alison-Madueke, said government took steps to increase its non-oil revenues by blocking loopholes in the system, including partial removal of subsidy on imported petroleum products.
But crude oil theft and other sharp practices, to commentators, could not be said to have been combated with much vigour by various security and regulatory agencies under Jonathan.
The fuel subsidy regime became conduit pipe through which huge funds were siphoned from the National treasury.
Power: Jonathan’s administration claim that power supply in many parts of the country has improved to a consistent level of 15 hours per day. The government said rehabilitation of existing power infrastructure yielded significantly considerable megawatts of additional electricity.
The power ministry told Nigerians that the prospects for progress in power supply increased expressively with the conclusion of the privatisation programme.
Government launched the Roadmap for Power Sector Reform, which was expected to set out a clear implementation plan of the Electricity Power Sector Reform Act (2005) as a commitment to resolve the power crisis and setting the path for power sector improvement.
What is obvious is that the cabal in the power sector held Jonathan to ransom, as the result on the ground has not been commendable.
The majority decision
The verdict of the majority is that Nigeria under Jonathan was under siege. Although Jonathan is known to be humble, he did not have the courage to punish offenders that were bad influence to his government.
Corruption, as far as most Nigerians are concerned, was not confronted frontally.
There were loopholes in almost all the sectors and impunity reigned supreme.
Already the in-coming government says it is inheriting the worst economy in history. A bad testimonial.
Jonathan’s verdict
Jonathan has expressed confidence that posterity will judge his outgoing administration right. He said his government delivered the dividends of democracy in various sectors of the economy convincingly.
Last line
Most observers that spoke to TheNiche are of the opinion that the task of transforming Nigeria, from a socio-political and economic perspective, requires more than the hard factors of growth and development.
Also needed are the soft factors of management and leadership skills. Rightly has it been said that there are no under-developed countries; only under-managed ones.
The need of the hour, many contend, is emergence of transformational leaders able to articulate their vision, possessing assessment skills, communication abilities, and at the same time very sensitive to the skill deficiencies of their subordinates.
They must be men and women who will lead by example, who have the courage to tackle the status quo, and who will place character and integrity above every other consideration in assembling a winning team.
According to Prof. Benjamin Osisioma, “The leader Nigeria needs today must satisfy two indispensable conditions: he must be trustworthy and be able to communicate his vision.”
Nigeria, the giant of Africa, seems to be proving the point that possessing mere potentials seems to be inadequate for transformation to greatness.
Good leadership, political analysts insist, is critical, as it provides the required governance that can exploit all the potentials for the good of the citizenry.