Waiting for PMB

A reflection on today will help avoid a repeat of events and guarantee a better tomorrow. Final impressions are the ones that last. President Goodluck Jonathan will not be remembered for any transformation other than the worst fuel scarcity Nigeria has ever recorded, the lowest delivery of electricity ever, and the most trying period for […]

A reflection on today will help avoid a repeat of events and guarantee a better tomorrow. Final impressions are the ones that last. President Goodluck Jonathan will not be remembered for any transformation other than the worst fuel scarcity Nigeria has ever recorded, the lowest delivery of electricity ever, and the most trying period for the national labour force. Yet he saw to some good deeds, which goes to say that how one ends his game, truly matters.
As true of the adage, it gets worse, only to get better, Nigerians hope that the low ebb that obtains now will be followed by a high tide of fortunes that take account of the painful national maladies. It is on this note that we can look towards the future and postulate on the Buhari Presidency for which specific challenges are imminently evident. They have to do with systemic failure, epitome do by lack of electric power supply, and petroleum products. The temptation of the Buhari Presidency may be to attempt to address the challenges immediately with a Marshall Plan that immediately provides the Nigerian people with palliatives. President Muhammadu Buhari is not one to be short of ideas of how to deal with the Nigerian complex predicament. For one reason, he is at the third painful try, finally the President and should have a plan nurtured in twelve years of struggling. For another, the last few weeks have seen Nigerians screaming their heads off as boxing coaches are wont to do in time outs, suggesting to President Buhari how to win the fight that he alone stands in the ring, gloves in hand, to wage.
President Buhari surely faces a daunting task – Nigeria has never been this bad. Yet expectations have never been as high as they are today, of a leadership, accredited with great promise of change, and empathy. Is there a magic wand? To me, the magic wand to address Nigeria’s myriad of challenges lies in character, which Buhari is blessed with. This character must address specific institutions from the onset, failing which it will not be possible to rewind up our loose spiral. The marshall plan may end up in failure and waste. An institutional approach would serve better. President Buhari must take off with a slim and highly disciplined executive, of technocrat politicians. The idea of Minister of and Minister for was one reason the Shagari Government was toppled by no less a person than Muhammadu Buhari. Now is the time to walk the talk. The cabinet must be slim, and predicated on strategic competence and capacity, while at the same time taking care of the sentiment of ethno-religious and regional representation. So far, the President-elect has held his cards close to his chest. Hardly anyone has an idea as to how the cabinet will emerge, or what it would look like. I hope sincerely that Buhari heeds advice on the need for his appointments to speak the change promised in his campaign, which part determined his mass support. It would be disappointing to see some recycled and overused personalities.
Nigeria has the most corrupt National Assembly, we must not fear to point this out. It has institutionalized extortion and blackmail of the executive. It is significant that the Buhari Presidency is fresh and presently untainted. This affords a clean slate upon which to start, a factor that President Olusegun Obasanjo did not reckon with and ended up mired in brick bats of ghana-must-go bags with the National Assembly, to the extent that at the height of the tenure of President Jonathan, a system of pay-per-bill including the Appropriation Bill became operational. This is replicated by every State Assembly. Buhari will ill afford this rot that must be stopped. It seems that Nigerians desire the emoluments of the National Assembly, and indeed State Assembly members pegged to what the Revenue and Fiscal Mobilization Board has specified. Fiscal discipline furthermore requires that the legislature is not involved any longer in the execution of constituency projects. Truth be told, funds shared for constituency projects were misused and served only to enrich the legislators. It is desirable that Buhari subjects dealings with the National Assembly to public scrutiny enabled by exposure of all ploys to blackmail and extort the executive. Nigerians will use the initial attitude of the Buhari Presidency as a barometer for measuring the life to come.
In tackling the problem of corruption, the Buhari Presidency will face serious challenges with Nigerian Justice System. A regime of conflicting processes ensures that corrupt camels walk freely through the eye of the needle of the Nigerian Judiciary. As it is, not one single accused corrupt top politician has been convicted. The regime ensures the cases are so dragged as to allow the accused walk freely investing their loot in the political economy, succeeding in perpetuating themselves in the system. With the Judiciary in its current hunchbacked nature, one hardly sees how Buhari can successfully deal with corruption and abuse of office. As we speak, independent oil marketers and subsidy scammers have only graciously loosened the shackles with which they held the nation to ransom, withholding distribution of petroleum products in a manner that practically grounded the entire country. Transportation, commerce, operations of banks, and ordinary enterprise of common folk was grounded. Losses are unquantifiable. Nigerians expect President Buhari to deal a blow to these opportunists by boldly removing the subsidy which the nation can ill afford. This is not to leave unattended, recovery of all I’ll-gotten subsidy pillages that run into trillions of Naira.
No one qualifies more than President Buhari to undertake the necessary overhaul of the security and armed formations in the country. One can only hope that President Buhari scrutinizes credible profiles of persons to be appointed to head the security institutions. Many of the names being bandied have luggage that will compromise all expectation. Buhari needs to look, and look again. As we brace up for the inauguration on May 29th, we can only pray the line in our National Anthem that says Oh God of creation; direct our noble cause.