How far can Tinubu and his ministers go?
By Emeka Alex Duru
People have reasons in demanding a lot from their leaders. A leader is not just any other person but one who encapsulates the vision and aspirations of his followers. Leadership is about guiding a group of people or an organization, towards a common goal.
At the level of the presidency of a country, it becomes a job to be done, not a prize to be won. That was the point by American essayist, John Dickerson, in describing the US presidency as the hardest job in the world, and that it is expected that when the national fabric rends, the president will administer needle and thread, or at least reach for the sewing box of unity.
Followers look at the leader to draw strength at their low moments. That was what the former president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, meant at the Albert Luthuli Centenary Celebrations, on April 25, 1998, when he said that “real leaders must be ready to sacrifice all for the freedom of their people.”
Mandela had earlier written on the topic in his great work, “Long Walk to Freedom, The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela”, where he lectured that “A leader…is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the nimblest go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind.” Madiba knew what he was saying. He had come a distance in leading his people at the expense of his personal comfort and freedom.
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Great leaders read the mood and environment around them and act accordingly. They are usually on ground and apply themselves to the realities of the day. This is the simplest way in understanding the raft of actions and initiatives by the 32nd US President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) that eventually saw his country rising from its worst economic crisis and depression to a leading world power.
During his first 100 days as president, Roosevelt initiated legislations and issued executive orders that instituted his economic recovery plan, commonly referred to as the New Deal. In it, numerous programmes were created to provide relief to the unemployed and farmers. He also instituted major regulatory reforms related to finance, communications, and labor.
Many thought that was the type of leadership they would get under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Like Roosevelt, Tinubu is coming on board at a time Nigeria is down in many parameters of development. The economy is at its lowest point. The cost of living is high. With inflation rate estimated at 22.97 percent as of June, the N30,000, it has been quite tough for an average Nigerian worker. The rate of unemployment, has remained conservatively at 33.3 percent since 2020, thus putting many families under pressure. The people are suffering. 133 million Nigerians are already classified as multi-dimensionally poor. To worsen matters, the value of the national currency, the Naira, has been on steady decline. The security situation continues to deteriorate daily. This is a time to worry.
Though Tinubu’s election is still disputed in the courts by other presidential candidates, the assumption was that with the number of years and efforts he put in to grab the office, he would be adequately prepared for the job it entails. During the campaigns, he had advertised his life-long desire for the office in his “E mi lokan” (it’s my turn) dictum, in which he insisted that the president was his, as if by divine injunction. He came more forceful after the poll, assuring that he was prepared for the job and nobody should sympathise with him.
The pronouncements were expected to be matched with actions. But it took the President 60 days to release the list of his ministerial nominees. That was the first sign of lethargy, not minding that some may say it is too early to pass judgement. When the nominees were eventually announced, the names were not spectacular but rehearse of faces that were not particularly known to have added values in their previous places of work. Such figures as Festus Keyamo, former Minister of State, Ministry of Labour; Nasir-el-Rufai, immediate past Kaduna State governor, his Rivers State counterpart, Nyesom Wike; Bello Matawalle (Zamfara), Gboyega Oyetola (Osun), Ibrahim Geidam (Yobe), Simon Lalong (Plateau), David Umahi (Ebonyi) and Badaru Abubakar (Jigawa), were among the lot.
These are obviously not the expected ministerial nominees that would lift the country from the blocks. In their previous assignments, some of them reduced governance to objects of tomfoolery. Keyamo elevated clownery to ridiculous height, often engaging those with contrary views in uncouth language. His altercations with lawmakers over allotment of slots in the 774,000 jobs for Nigerians in the Special Public Works Programme of the Muhammadu Buhari administration, was quite unbecoming of a minister.
Wike, despite his claims of infrastructure uplift in Rivers, made a jest of the office of the governor. By engaging in regular tantrums with real and perceived opponents, he gave himself as one that did not know the requirements of his job and what to do with his time. Oyetola’s record in office was so poor that he could not win a return to Osun Government House, despite being Tinubu’s candidate. In Kaduna, El-Rufai, was a disaster in human resource management, always playing up ethnic, religious and other divisive tendencies among various groups in the state.
His last public outing as a governor was to mock Christians in the country over the emergence of Tinubu, boasting that he would ensure an uninterrupted Islam-dominated government in Kaduna and at the national level for the next 20 years and beyond.
Plateau under Simon Lalong, became a theatre of crisis among the component groups and blood flowed freely. Of course, Matawalle still has issues with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), over the management of the Zamfara finances.
Their backgrounds offer little cheer in whatever claims Tinubu makes in repositioning the country. It sounds illogical that people who could not advance comparatively smaller units as the States, can perform wonders at the national level. It may sound easy to wave off the fears that they are after all, aides, whose individual shortcomings may not affect the totality of governance. But they are the President’s representatives in their respective ministries. So, they matter and may determine how fast or slowly the wheel of governance turns. Tinubu may therefore need to do more to convince Nigerians that he is prepared for the task ahead. The job at hand is much and Nigerians need actions. The honey moon is over.