Managing Niger: A candid advice to Governor-elect

Congratulations on having been elected as the fifth governor of our state. I think you and your team deserve a lot of credit for a landslide victory.  Your party, the All Progressives’ Congress (APC) routed the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in what looked like a game between the varsity team and junior high school kids. […]

Congratulations on having been elected as the fifth governor of our state. I think you and your team deserve a lot of credit for a landslide victory.  Your party, the All Progressives’ Congress (APC) routed the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in what looked like a game between the varsity team and junior high school kids.
In your race against Umar Nasko, you ran a careful, well-scripted campaign that minimised your exposure, and insulated you from attacks. In other words, you played the role of the front-runner and never looked back. You did not only run hard against Nasko, but against the state government under the leadership of the out-going governor which did not only oil the PDP’s campaign, but supported him with every necessary apparatus,. Your political skills are considerable, having been a former commissioner, though much of your career had been in the private sector, now you have found yourself as the chief executive of a state. A new government will be pieced together in less than two months and we are waiting to see what you’re going to offer. You are about heading a state that has been wandering for too long. The state has waited too long for leaders who know that quid pro quo should not be the status quo. The state’s decline can be arrested if you can run a clean, focussed, accountable and transparent government. The proverbial dog has caught the car, and now everyone is wondering if you and your team can govern.  
Complicating matters for you will be the countless phone calls, lobbying, e-mails and texts from supporters and those looking for that invite or job-appointment or favour. What to do with those who spent the past years but now scramble to cover their tracks. They, too, now want to be ‘in’ with the new administration. But be warned: The short-term rentals, new best friends and sycophants will return to form at some point over the next four years. So, deal with these obstacles as required, and always remember that your real friends and supporters will be there regardless of circumstances. This knowledge will keep you going through the roughest of patches.
We want to see our state under your leadership with measures that will help root out corruption and waste from government agencies. The state has had enough of elected and appointed officers who have turned its agencies and programmes into their own personal piggy bank, granting favours to their families, friends, god-fathers, thugs, ballot-box snatchers, election riggers, mistresses, rewarding donors, and furthering their own interests. The governor’s job is too important and demanding to be left to incompetent and untrustworthy staff.
When it comes to personnel, it’s my opinion that you must seek, recruit, and empower men and women who are professionals, trustworthy, experienced and loyal. In addition to hiring and surrounding yourself with good people, setting priorities is essential. For example, scheduling, administering, delegating, lobbying, and governing the affairs of the state will require that your staff are taught to run without interference, you have to balance a lot of things, got to have thick-skin, sense of humour, and be a change agent-all in one. We’ve got to be true to ourselves, our principles, and to be pragmatic. Public service should be about serving the public, not setting up a future payday. Learn the rules, master the rules and play by the rules. You have to like people and let them know that you remember them and like them.
There is this fear that our best years are behind us, but we want you to prove to us that our best is still ahead. It is now a time for healing. We want to have faith again; we want to be proud again, we want the truth again. It is time for the people to run their government and it is time for us to take a new look at our own way of governance to strip away the secrecy of governance. We want you to work day and night to ensure our children have access to a great and better education, affordable college, and  good paying jobs after graduation, to see that farmers have enough fertiliser, seedlings, tractors, pesticides and insecticides to boost their agricultural activities, to see that our hospitals are renovated and equipped so that they don’t continue to wear the look of abattoirs, to see that our schools don’t look like abandoned farm houses, to see that our roads are fixed, to see that the masses have potable water, to see that more communities are connected to electricity and embark on policies and programmes that have direct and positive impact on the masses instead of white elephant projects.
Mr. Governor elect, sir; it will require your leadership and your steadfastness in the face of predictable criticisms. You have the opportunity and know-how to manage government spending, especially with your experience in the private sector. As the state celebrates your journey to the highest office, there is a thrill of recognition that Niger State is still alive and walking. We want our state to move ahead when you are walking and awake. If the destiny of Niger State under your leadership remains crafted in such dilapidated schools, hospitals, and infrastructure – history will judge you to be a part of that karma as well. His Excellency Sir, you need not to remain confined to chessboard manoeuvres inside the government house. I hope you will inspire politics of conviction that has been usurped by the politics of convenience. We have had a plethora of leaders who behave more like statues than statues themselves. Even statues are demolished when regimes change. However, it is difficult to demolish the statuesque inertia in dealing with corruption. We want you as a governor who will close the credibility gap between rhetoric and reality.
Finally Sir, Your true victory will be when the state is back on track, don’t forget that you are surrounded by the hawks, professional politicians (looters), cabals and godfathers who contributed to the failure of Kure’s administration and also that of the out-going governor who are on standby to find their way into your administration. Our state has lived through a time of torment and let us feels that your leadership will be the golden opportunity for healing. May Allah guide, protect and give you the zeal to lead the state to the expectation of the masses.

Mr. Yahaya wrote from Jagbele Quarters of Muye, Niger State. [email protected]