Jonathan, Maku and critics

He manages to send out the message that he is not just any salesman doing what he was recruited to do and he has to do the job irrespective of his personal conviction about the character of the government he is working for or the chief minister of government it is his remit to market. […]

He manages to send out the message that he is not just any salesman doing what he was recruited to do and he has to do the job irrespective of his personal conviction about the character of the government he is working for or the chief minister of government it is his remit to market. No. His salesmanship seems to go beyond that. Anyone perceptive person who has followed Maku at close range can easily ‘see’ (not hear) an element of deep conviction in his voice. He is doing a job he loves in, and for, a government he is convinced is doing its level best for Nigeria.
Some Nigerians have openly disagreed with Maku’s belief that Jonathan is doing well but the man is convinced that his boss is slowly and steadily doing the needful for Nigeria.
 The lithe, articulate and youthful minister speaks with the energy and vibe of a convinced patriot and ardent believer in the leadership that Jonathan is providing for Nigeria. You cannot help but reach the conclusion that he is actually convinced that Jonathan means well for Nigeria and that he has also done a lot for Nigeria. He also seems pained that instead of showering praises on his boss for his monumental achievements; showing him understanding for his shortcomings and pledging support for the good work he is doing for the country and giving him encouraging words so he can do more for Nigeria; some seem to take delight in dismissing him.
In fact, what cannot escape any observant listener to Maku is that he feels a genuine sense of injury that a lot of Jonathan’s critics are unfair and uncharitable to the man. Some of these deep feelings of Maku’s which I have deduced from my close reading of him and some of which he has expressed at many occasions and some which have remained unexpressed but which can only be deduced, arise from his inner knowledge of what Jonathan is thinking about Nigeria and what he has actually done for the country. This deep feeling of his is no doubt responsible for two of Maku’s initiative that may in the end become legacies of some sorts which succeeding administration may adopt either in whole or in modified form. The first of them is the National Good Governance Tour (NGGT).
This initiative markets not just the achievements of Jonathan but democratic governance since the advent of the Fourth Republic.
Under this platform he aims to legitimise and show the superiority of democracy to every form of unelected governance. What this democracy has achieved surpasses what all of military rule has done for the country. Although this initiative is not entirely original, it is something Maku inherited and has modernised or modified and it has become an effective tool for monitoring the performance of the various cadres of leadership in the country. There are many governors, especially those of them who have so many good things to show, who pray that this impartial assessment should be institutionalised as a way of monitoring performance. Any system that does not have a way of assessing performance and encouraging competition will not achieve much.

The second of Maku’s legacies that have potential to become enduring is the Ministerial Platform in which ministers and heads of key federal agencies and departments are required to mount the rostrum and give account to Nigerians of what they have achieved. With both the NGGT and the Ministerial Platform, Maku is seeking to institute a culture of accountability and national conversation. Some of us may think that the ministers and the governments are not doing much but we now have platform for engaging them and letting them know the feelings of the led. This type of thing is very good for a democracy in which most of the institutions to encourage checks and balances have collapsed. In these two platforms the voice of the people are clearly heard. No attempt is made to stifle public opinion.
Now that ministerial platform has become an institution the job of the voiceless is to ensure that they use the opportunity it offers maximally. They should take full advantage of it and constructively challenge those who are governing on their behalf. No one has any excuse to be quiet now. During the good NGGT town hall meetings there is opportunity for even opposition party members to voice their feelings if the ruling party will not allow them access to publicly funded media of mass communication in their states.

It is largely a credit to Maku’s salesmanship that many Nigerians are now beginning to see what Jonathan has done and is doing for Nigeria. Many Nigerians wants a quick fix path to national development. It is true that millions of us want Nigeria to develop quickly and become a powerful nation where its citizens do not have to contend with the basic necessities of life as we do now. But the truth of the matter is that nation building is always a work in progress. It is not ever a completed work at any point in time until the world comes to an end. It is quite often a tortuous journey; it is not a 100-metre dash as many of us naively wish or expect.
Those who tend to be dismissive of Jonathan have their match in Maku. He keeps no one in doubt that he is the salesman of government. His distinction is that he does not use intemperate language that has unfortunately become the mode of conversation in our country. He seeks to reason with his critics and the critics of his principal. He does not get into unnecessary arguments or picks unnecessary bones with those who criticise the work the government he is serving is dong. And he is so articulate and so passionate and so believable that you cannot but agree with what he is saying.
He believes that President Jonathan is a silent achiever who does not boast about what he is doing but he is nevertheless doing great things for Nigeria.
 Maku comes from a student activist background; little wonder therefore that he has been so passionate about democracy, accountability and the need for perennial national conversation about the way forward for our nation. In a land where loyalty to a cause is in very short supply, the example of Maku is to be commended.