15 Jan 2008 |
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After witnessing the last eight months of the Yar Adua administration one is keen to ask the question is Umaru Yar Adua another Shehu Shagari? After reading newspaper reports (January 15, 2008) where President Yar Adua explains that he has withheld putting money for power in the 2008 Appropriation Bill because so far Nigeria has expended $10 billion in the last eight years with the aim of achieving increased energy but have made no substantial gains (an implicit indictment of the Obasanjo administration) he would be “exercising caution” in making further commitment to the task, one must ask is history not repeating itself? One should not view this article as a castigation of the Yar Adua leadership as I have canvassed for more time for the President but in light on the ominous signs, one needs to make one’s voice heard. On the surface the President’s comment beams of wisdom, a country as ours with profligate and corrupt civil servants, politicians and contractors should not be trusted any further with more investment till we are sure the money would be put to great use especially just after the country had been regaled with the Siemens systemic bribe scandal that spanned about two administrations. The other side of the coin would be to ask what the opportunity cost of withholding investments into the same sector the president has declared a state of emergency and he recognizes as his foremost priority? The President should be told by his handlers (his special assistant on the media should take note) that he had just shown the lack of depth Nigerians suspect besets the President and his infant presidency, apart from showing a lack of depth the President also testifies to his lack of preparation to be president further cementing the fact that the presidency was thrust on him, a key trait in “Shagarism”. One would have expected a man aspiring to be president of Nigeria and an academic to have done due diligence about the most important problem besetting the development of the country he intends to lead. One would have expected that in his years as executive governor, he would have taken due interest in the energy sector and got acquainted with the facts on investments being made and progress or lack of it and fashioned a solution. For the sake of argument we would assume that governing Katsina was so tasking that the President did not have spare time to educate himself on the issue while he was Governor, in the months towards the elections when the president went campaigning, one would expect that in the those months the President would have being acquainted with the facts and his proposed changes would have been part of his election promises rather than tell us generally that he would “address the issue of energy”, rather, eight months after his inauguration the president tells us that he would withhold further investment till he truly understands the situation showing his lack of understanding of issues another key trait in “Shagarism”. What the President has told the Nigerian people is that we would have to suffer for his lack of preparedness and understanding of the issues, the president is in effect telling investors thinking of investing into Nigeria who are worried about the lack of stable energy to hold still their investments as he has not come up with a solution. The President is telling those going to hospitals for life-threatening operations to tell their hospitals to have diesel filled generators on stand-by while doctors labor to save lives as he cannot figure this energy issue out yet, the President is also telling us that prices of necessities needed to survive in Nigeria would continue to increase as the few manufacturers and businesses shift the additional energy costs to consumers making life harder for the pressed populace because the President did not do his homework. The President is telling us we would not sleep often with light, that our children would be exposed to mosquitoes as there is no energy to power our fans and thus with how our lives are pressed in this country we might still have to bury our children that die from malaria because the President did not do his home work. The President by putting his head in the sand is playing the waiting game like our sufferings would be on hold is showing another key trait in “Shagarism”. The President in covering his lack of preparedness uses piety as an excuse and indicts the Obasanjo administration, that the Obasanjo administration was not transformational is not in contention, we have gone as far as we can with Obasanjo, but this is his government. The emergence of Yar Adua was meant to signal not only an attitudinal change in governance but also in the delivery of the gains of democracy to people as we believed that a generational change would be a dramatic change from the status quo. The President’s unraveling lack of comprehension and ideas about leading Nigeria forward is becoming rather embarrassing, making one believe that there is actually no “intellectual radical reasoning or plans” to lead us out of the quagmire we are in and that like the last generation this generation does not understand that governance is more than presenting budgets. President Yar Adua is trying hard to convince Nigerians (and he is successful at it) that he is a President bent on maintaining the status quo which has always been bereft of ideas, that turbulence is not his thing, that we should not expect anything new. The Nigerian people are crying for bold, audacious, informed leadership that would take the initiative and solve issues and not give us a thousand reasons why the problems still persists, Nigerians are seeking a President that is going to tell us what we do not know not what we know such as corruption, power transfer problem e.tc. As President Yar Adua continues to play out of the old book and is keen in maintain the status quo he is showing another key trait in “Shagarism”. That the President eight months after the elections is just coming to this conclusion and would then engage in another bureaucracy creation to help him figure out what to do (he asks to be given one month more!) seems to be his set modus operandi when dealing with issues, as seen also with issues such as police reform, and if this be the case we know from history that there would be no change in Nigeria. If the President with access to resources both human and material above the 140 million people he leads comes up with such plebian conclusions after eight months and cannot tell precisely what has been developed to address the issue presents an indictment of the the caliber of people surrounding the President and his style of leadership. One can forgive such action if it were on the issue of tourism the President made such assertion, but to “exercise caution” in the issues of energy leaves much to be desired. The President should realize that his office cannot afford not to show leadership, his assessment and pronouncement justifies the actions of bureaucrats in government who rather than effect change go on fruitless studies or commit to inaction, the President must be made to see that his action and utterances affect the psyche of those that believe in Nigeria and his solemn leadership is scoring high points at being bland but not at being transformative as we mistook his sobriety for genius thus the President’s slow and ambiguous approach to problem solving is worrisome as this is another key trait in “Shagarism”. Those who are President Yar Adua’s advisors should take a moment to reflect, of the leaders of Nigeria I believe none was as pious, humble and simple as Shagari, yet when it comes to reckoning even infamous leaders as Babaginda are reckoned above Shagari. The Nigerian attitude towards the “Shagari” legacy is that of indifference, which I believe is worse off being infamous. This indifference is because though the man Shagari is an impeccable and distinguished fellow he failed to assert leadership or transformation, and this void in leadership resulted in the wholesale pillaging of the country and engendered many problems we still face as a nation. President Yar Adua is not showing himself to be any different from the gentleman Shagari, like Shagari he possesses such likeable pious individual traits and like Shagari he is showing a deficit in his ability to assert leadership and deliver on issues that matter most. The President flirts with a legacy of indifference, but of greater concern to Nigerians is the attendant problems this inaction and lack of preparedness would cost us and generations unborn, the President cannot keep awaiting the ruling of the election tribunal as an excuse for inaction, if the President believes he is incapable to transform Nigeria he should honorably resign (and I say this with all humility and frustration) rather than wait on a tribunal because we cannot afford another Shagari in power. Shagari sat glued to power even when he could not effect change, it is beginning to look like the President’s game plan, sitting put in power when one is convinced he lacks the ability to effect real change is another key trait in “Shagarism”.
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