A word of caution for el-Rufai

But in the course of this quest, el-Rufai often makes mistakes that have detrimental effect to, or liable to compound the problems of the poisoned system, which he is trying to provide antidote to.The wider narrative is that civil service is corrupt, redundant and inefficient. It is the task of government to make it less […]

But in the course of this quest, el-Rufai often makes mistakes that have detrimental effect to, or liable to compound the problems of the poisoned system, which he is trying to provide antidote to.
The wider narrative is that civil service is corrupt, redundant and inefficient. It is the task of government to make it less corrupt, vibrant and efficient. Throwing the baby with bathwater is never the solution. In view of the explosion of population, demand and supply in Nigeria, I think there is no better time the public service needs adequate personnel and creation of new departments to deliver service to the people than today.
In the light of the foregoing, one will understand that even some of the ministries Governor el-Rufai purged and merged are still relevant and important to the state. Take for instance the reduction of Ministry for Rural and Community Development to a department in the deputy governor’s office. In my opinion, this decision is wrong as the rural communities still need the attention of government to focus on and accelerate rural development. A deputy governor may be too engrossed in the statutory functions of his office to devote the necessary attention to the myriads of needs in the rural communities. The governor’s decision may be borne out of desire to cut cost owing to dwindling oil revenues, but in really the amount is insignificant when one looks at how the reduction in number of ministries may affect service delivery to the people. The whole concept of public service is to serve the public. The sacking of permanent secretaries in the Kaduna State civil service was a wrong decision. It is ironical that the governor, who boasts of assembling experienced hands as members of his cabinet, is the one sacking experienced civil servants, whose expertise the state needs to turn around its fortunes.
Again, in the local government service, el-Rufai wrongly sacked Directors of Finance and Treasurers. Since el-Rufai has that super intelligence, why can’t he make them efficient? Stressing the importance of hand to humans, a Hausa proverb loosely says “you don’t cut off and throw away your hand when it’s dysfunctional”.  El-Rufai should rather repair the system to be functional. These are key personnel needed for the local government administration. Although on the surface el-Rufai’s appointment of technocrats into his government only ends at the state level, the story is different – on the surface and beneath – at the local government level. We were baffled when a number of the caretaker chairmen failed to express themselves in English during screening. Many of the local government caretaker chairmen are lacking in both education and experience to be in charge of that office. More worrisome is the fact that el-Rufai has amputated the experienced hands in the local government administration, persons who would have cushioned the upshot of this deficiency. In  a real sense, Kaduna local government councils are rudderless.
Another problem with Governor el-Rufai is that he placing too much trust on friends and cronies who always have a field day whenever he is occupying public office. Of course he cannot work alone, but he should carefully watch the conduct of his friends. In the selection of local government chairmen, it is speculated around that one of his friends was instrumental to the selection of the chairmen.
Politically speaking, some of the commissioners shouldn’t have been appointed for their anti-party activities. It is also on record that the service records of some members of his cabinet may not also be presented in glowing terms. As politicians, we always look beyond the honeymoon after winning election to the chances of winning another election after the honeymoon.
Malam Nasir el-Rufai should also look into the administrative process of fertilizer distribution in LGAs of the state as it is said to be worse than the immediate-past government’s distribution system. Allocating trucks of fertilizers to the state assembly members is not the best way channelling the product to the grassroots, and must be investigated.
Soba wrote from Maitama District, Abuja