Issues on Jonathan’s transformation agenda

As the case with Yar’adua’s government, most regimes in the country are guilty of missing the essence of a realistic development agenda and often come up with mere slogans that are not deeply-rooted in research and efficacy. I will give it to the military and even the government of General Obasanjo that there was some […]

As the case with Yar’adua’s government, most regimes in the country are guilty of missing the essence of a realistic development agenda and often come up with mere slogans that are not deeply-rooted in research and efficacy.

I will give it to the military and even the government of General Obasanjo that there was some work thoroughly done before such programs were rolled out. For instance, MAMSER, DFRRI and NEEDS during the regimes of Ibrahim Babangida and Olusegun Obasanjo were contained in well articulated documents that reached all the nooks and crannies of Nigeria. The success or otherwise of these programs are a matter of analysis in any case.

When President Yar’adua came up with his 7 Point Agenda which basically was clutched out of the campaign rhetoric of PDP in the process of their traditional hoisting of leaders, the government didn’t put any serious study to what the agenda was and how they could be achieved. It was mere rhetoric and thus never saw the light of the day until the government left.

Similarly or even worst is the current scenario. The idea of transformation agenda by this government in my view is the worst rhetoric of all rimes. I did not know that there was any document containing the slogan until mid week when I had to participate at a public lecture and the top government officers that seemed unhappy with the views that some of us from the academia held because we never saw or heard that any such government existed, came down hard on us. They revealed that a document containing the agenda indeed exists, adding that though it may not be perfect but it is in the process of fine tuning.

Accepted that such government programs evolve over time, one important gap that seem to exists in recent policies is that while other serious societies put their human resources to maximum utilization, in my country, it is never or hardly done at all. Any serious transformation must take as a matter of priority certain critical aspects of the society and must be rooted in the very objective realities of the society.

In a country where education is receiving the least attention, it is my view that it will remain a fallacy to imagine that any road to transformation is yet identified. Education is the bedrock of human development. It is necessary that all efforts must be put in place to educate the society so that an enlightened society is in place.

Education at all levels in Nigeria is facing the worst of time and it is not yet a priority of government to address the rot in the sector. The best transformation that Nigeria needs today is in the area of education and national orientation and not all the ungrounded theories and bureaucratic cum political discordant tunes that are sang on a daily basis by government officials.

My view about this transformation seems to be that a government has emerged out of a political party that lacks manifesto but is readily anxious to brag at all times that it is the largest party in Africa and that it will be in power for sixty years. Whenever elections are held and rigged, out of the confusion, those who find themselves in positions of power begin to craft different unthought-of strategies as a matter of fire brigade in order to reach out to the Nigerian people.

It is not done like that and such random approach only results in waste of time and opportunity and the implication is continuous loss of faith in government and representatives by the people. This is the perspective that I see this government’s agenda and unless a more serious redirection is thought of, the nation may as well continue to grapple in the dark while tremendous revenue is wasted in white elephant ventures with no result to show.

In China and other serious nations developed and developing, one critical resource that is maximally exploited is the intellectual community. In the process of policy design and formulation, the most important component is not necessarily the bureaucracy but the academia. That is what for instance the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences does to the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing and other provinces. That is what the Ivy League schools in the United States do to the White House and respective states.

It is through this that you come up with people-oriented policies and programs because the process of design took into cognizance the essentials that are critical and that could lead to a systematic implementation of such programs and policies.

What we have in Nigeria is a running battle between the academia and those in positions of power and authority. The reason is not farfetched. Those in power starve the institutions of funds to conduct studies. They failed to expand the spaces for learning and research and view academics as mere noise makers.

Government business is run in a cult-like manner and the entire system has been reduced to few circles at both low and high places and as such things are disproportionately done; the result thus is what we get every day. It is unlikely that things will change for the better if the strategy is not altered to achieve otherwise.

I am of the view that the government has time because it is just one year old to redraw the map and come up with more meaningful strategies that will see programs and policies see the light of day. There has to be a connection between policy design and how they are programmed for implementation. A synergy is necessary between the various critical sectors of Nigeria’s national life and items critical on the agenda of national transformation.

Transforming Nigeria is too serious to be left in the hands of politicians and the bureaucracy. It is a business that every one of us must be taken into confidence. Consideration must thus be given to the critical segments that would help in churning out people oriented and realizable government agenda capable of truly transforming Nigerian from this endemic backwardness to a more prosperous entity where life will be more abundant to all and sundry.

Nigerians have no business in poverty; the problem is not lack of resources but mainly poor planning. I am of the view that things can work out for the better. The government is just a year old. It has ample time to get it right.