Buhari should appoint ‘Chief Worrier of the Federation’

He needs a catalyst or catalyzer who will speed up political, administrative and bureaucratic reaction for things to move more quickly. He needs someone who will remind him constantly of what needs to be done; someone who will nudge him to take action where he, for whatever reason, appears to be dithering; someone who will […]

He needs a catalyst or catalyzer who will speed up political, administrative and bureaucratic reaction for things to move more quickly. He needs someone who will remind him constantly of what needs to be done; someone who will nudge him to take action where he, for whatever reason, appears to be dithering; someone who will keep track of promises he has made and the need to get them fulfilled; someone who will troubleshoot for him when troubles inevitably arises from all fronts and angles and someone who will do everything to give and maintain momentum in his administration. The officer should be a man who is in his 40s or 50s and
Is energetic, focused, intelligent, bold, courageous, self-confident, loyal (to Buhari and Nigeria), selfless and a very, very patriotic man who loves Buhari and Nigeria enormously and wants both to succeed beyond measure. Such a man must be one who enjoys Buhari’s confidence and respect and above all, has the clout to deal with anyone in Nigeria and abroad on behalf of Buhari. It is equally important that such a man is given latitude by Buhari to carry out his work in his name. He should, in addition, be a man who knows the workings of the system and can cut his way through, sometimes by claiming that “I am speaking the mind of the President’’. He should not
be a politician but a well- bred man with a good heart who despises the self-seeking ways of politicians. He should be onewho is impatient with bureaucratic lethargy and is most anxious that things have got to be done quickly in the interest of the progress and development of Nigeria. Another designation I may give to such an officer is The Chief Worrier of the Federation. For his daily work schedule is to worry about all the minor and major things that need to done, some of them at the speed of sound, so that things can move well for the Buhari presidency and for Nigeria. He should worry constantly about the image of Buhari and his place in Nigerian history.
This officer will be in cabinet meetings, sit- in at meetings where the President would chair and when the President is receiving anyone and making promises or policy statements and when he is travelling anywhere in the world. He will simply be the alter ego of the president. The only place he will not be with the President will be the presidential bedroom! His work is to make sure that whatever policy, plan or programme the President has it is his remit to see to it that they are carried out; none is forgotten or neglected or no form of distraction is allowed to destroy their implementation. Since Buhari may be held hostage by politicians who are forever concerned about what they will get for themselves and the ‘’party’’ and not what needs to be done for Nigeria to move forward, it will be this officer’s daily duty to nudge Buhari to stay on course and fulfil his many campaign promises to Nigerians. For instance, during the campaign, Buhari drew a list of 82things he said he will do very urgently in the first 100 days of his presidency. Buhari has now entered the fourth week in power how many per cent of those 82 promises has he achieved? What is being done to ensure that the remaining percentage is accomplished before 100 days come and go? That is one of the duties of that officer: to constantly worry, remind and even irritate the President about the main goals he ought to pursue. The officer may also be called The Man Who Keeps His Eyes on Buhari’s Ball and His Goal Post so Buharican score his goals. The job schedule I am designing here ought to have been performed by a Secretary to the Government of the Federation. But as we very well know in our country, an SGF is more interested in the political functions of his office than the administrative or performance aspects of it. They worry more about
how to give lucrative political, administrative and bureaucratic appointments to their kinsmen, classmates, girlfriends and out- of- work buddies than about helping a president to succeed in discharging his obligation to the people who elected him.We have also found out that some Chief of Staff to our presidents have also not performed any better. Some of them behave like our policemen at road blocks. They start collecting tolls from persons who want to see the president rather than seek to help the man to do his work better. The time has therefore come, in my view, for a man like Buhari to seek for a man who can truly serve him by sometimes telling him inconvenient truths he may not like to hear from a subordinate but which he nevertheless needs in order to succeed. Someone who can say to him: ‘’Mr. President, we are not doing well here. I suggest we need to do this’’. ‘’Sir, if you take the action you intend to take, we may reduce our goodwill’’. ‘’sir, we are moving too slowly. We need to step up the pace’’. Stuffs like these because Nigerians are impatient for a change. Once Buhari finds such a man and appoints him, he should give him a copy of all the campaign promises he made to the electorate and ask the man to remind him daily what steps need to be undertaken to fulfill each one of them. In some of the promises, he said he will work with the National Assembly to make laws to address some specific problems, has such moves been made? If not, what needs to be done, how and when? Who needs to be seen so that real action can commence? There is no time for Buhari and Nigerians are becoming impatient already. He promised to hit the ground running. Nigerians have started complaining that he has hit the ground and got stuck in the mud of politics. A wag even suggested that the new name for Buhari’s party should be ‘’Action Postponed Congress’’.