Handing over confusion

Twelve former US presidents were also former Generals and once in office they were no longer referred to by their rank. Effective May 29th the President-elect would have attained the higher rank of Commander-in-Chief. The Boko Haram insurgency and national economic crisis confirm that for the past six years the nation was saddled with a […]

Twelve former US presidents were also former Generals and once in office they were no longer referred to by their rank. Effective May 29th the President-elect would have attained the higher rank of Commander-in-Chief. The Boko Haram insurgency and national economic crisis confirm that for the past six years the nation was saddled with a Commander-in-Chief who couldn’t command. His “transformation agenda” has been exposed as a scam, an elaborate hoax which elevated cronyism and mediocrity above vision and competence. Given the opportunity at the recent polls to return a corruption tolerant, perpetually dithering and incompetent government whose failure to solve mounting problems was portending disaster for the nation, the electorate voted massively for change. In voting Jonathan out Nigerians expressed their craving for the sort of strong, disciplined and decisive leadership, which is supposed to be the traits of Generals.  In spite of dropping his military rank the President-elect must be clear that as from May 29th he will be expected to command and lead decisively.  It will no longer be about Jonathan’s shortcomings and the full weight of our current crisis will be on his shoulders.
Absconding Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State had time to hurl this over-the-shoulder challenge at him: “you must fulfil your promises because there was no condition given on how to do it when you were campaigning for election”. As unpalatable as the statement may be to the All Progressives Congress (APC) supporters coming from that particular source, it’s nonetheless true. Nigerians won’t be interested in hearing details of the mess left behind. Revelations on how much contractors are owed, how much salary was left unpaid, or how much fuel marketers are being owed, are as irrelevant as explanations of the failed electricity privatization program. 
The fact is we are in a deep crisis in which the nation is shutting down. Practically every major trade union is either on strike or planning to strike and Nigerians first and foremost want a quick return to “normalcy”. This implies an immediate end to fuel queues and prompt payment of salaries. The real crisis facing the President-elect isn’t the calamitous economic situation it’s the crisis of expectations. He, as opposed to his party logo, is the symbol of change Nigerians want to see. Although clearly prevented from knowing the real extent of the mess, inordinate delay in solving the immediate pressing problems could quickly lead to a loss of confidence in him.
 There is a deep irony in the President-elect’s complaints about the outgoing administration’s failure to provide adequate hand over notes. Back in the day hand-over notes were never requested or obtained from the Shagari administration, it was sufficient to know that the nation was in a mess and something urgent needed to be done. Back then everybody knew that anything the toppled civilian government had to say would be a tissue of lies. The situation is the same today. No one seriously expects Jonathan’s government to document their failures in detail, or hand over false information which may be used against them later. The very act of demanding a situation report presupposes that they know the extent of the problems they either created or failed to solve.
The truth is that Jonathan lost the election because he was unconcerned about corruption and basically clueless as how to solve any of our pressing problems. Budgets were never implemented, billions went missing annually, and corrupt or incompetent Ministers were defended. No one should reasonably expect details of this to be put in writing.  Nigerians voted for change because regardless of all the propaganda and dubious “awards”, they knew government was in a mess. The matter of handing over notes should be left to rest. The incoming government must not open itself up to the accusation of preparing to rationalize its failure by predicating it on the abysmal mess left behind. Explanations of failed policies, and reports on all the meaningless costly initiatives are pointless academic exercises. At the end of the day Jonathan’s handing over notes can be concisely written 50 words! – “Epileptic power supply, no public water supply, mass unemployment, widespread insecurity, unpaid salaries, low life expectancy, debts owed contractors, ineffective education system, poor rail network, low manufacturing output, poor environmental sanitation, avaricious national assembly, unbridled corruption, fuel subsidy scamming, increased foreign debt profile, pitiable health sector, and 250 private jets!”.
The incoming government should never have expected co-operation from their predecessors.  There is confusion in the handing over simply because they are handing over confusion! Rather than waste more valuable time the president-elect should concern himself with selecting people who can think “outside the box”. His success or failure will depend less on knowing the full extent of our problems upfront, and more on appointing people who can conceptualize new systems, implement new ways of doing things, and bring patriotism, passion and creative solutions to into government.