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var sbtitle8674=encodeURIComponent(Inauguratio...Read the full article.

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Why this hot-pursuit of the new president? Why this gyrations?

This is a fishing expedition to find fault! We should give the man a chance to settle down! We should give a break already!

Why these maddening efforts to pigeon hole this brand new president of Nigeria/

Nigerians are certainly not easy to govern!

This is a fishy fishing expedition, if I have ever seen one!

Biko, leave President Yar'Adua ALONE! It is too early to rush to judgment! Haba!

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Okaaaaaay.....???

This is one hell of a jaundiced report, Ladies and Gentlemen.

Kinda like what America's Bill O'Reilly will draft about the Bush Admin.

Hi, Author, if you read me, find another way of relieving your boredom.

Auspicious.

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=Auspicious;179610>Okaaaaaay.....???

This is one hell of a jaundiced report, Ladies and Gentlemen.

Kinda like what America's Bill O'Reilly will draft about the Bush Admin.

Hi, Author, if you read me, find another way of relieving your boredom.

Auspicious.

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You are right on point brother. This is a lazy and unintelligent write- up.

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Let me be the first person to write that if what the writer wrote is true about the appointments, I agree with him/her that the president has stumbled and will not recover easily. OBJ would not have made such mistake.

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=UglyMan;179639>Let me be the first person to write that if what the writer wrote is true about the appointments, I agree with him/her that the president has stumbled and will not recover easily..

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:confused::lol::confused:

Auspicious.

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The reality is that Yar-Adua is yet to demonstrate that he is a clean break from the past. He still needs to prove that he is not tied to the apron strings of the political elite of Nigeria.

However, i am willing to cut him some slack. These positions he just filled do not require the ratification of the National Assembly. They are almost personal to him in the sense that he has a lot of latitude in who he appoints. Let us hope that in the sensitive positions of defense, oil, finance, foreign, education and energy ministries he will prove that he is willing to elevate our national sensitivities and excellence above party and sectarian loyalties.

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=Auspicious;179641>:confused::lol::confused:

Auspicious.

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What do you expect from an illegitimate govt. He has to cotour initially until he can plant his feet on the ground.

I think the Kidney Bag Prez (KBP) can only thread carefully until the Supreme Courts gives him legitimacy ala Objoke.

Lest I forget, I wonder what Okey Ndibe and the Objokephobes would do since the man has gone to Ota/Owu to die? Are they have depression, withdrawal or dejection syndrome yet..............since it would take time for them to have a whipping boy to jerk off on?:lol:

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This NVS report is hasty and unwarranted. To make such sweeping generalisations is immature and premature.

Nigerians are really the most difficult people to govern!! The man has not spent 1 full day in office and the picketts have started on him. Someone has even compared him to Obasanjo that OBJ would not have done this. Haba! Yaradua is going to have a very tough time with Nigerians.

We need to note however that aside from Kingibe (who is a brilliant choice), the others are retained in their positions until the man settles down. Coincidental that they are all northern (and this is the sensitivity Yaradua should be most wary off), but as a new man in the block, he cannot just come in and make complete changes when he does not know how the place runs. We should remember that OBJ had previous experience and he too when he arrived in 1999 he brought the people he worked with in 1979.

As the dust settles and Yaradua begins to see clearly, we can then judge him by his actions. The most important indicator however would be the choice of his key ministers - finance, energy, foreign affairs, education, IGP. These would tell a lot about what hope we can muster from his administration. The Senate presidency would also give a filip of what to expect in this dispensation (and I hope Nuhu Aliyu clinches it, rather than the establishment backed David Mark).

So my exhortation to everyone, at least for the first 100days of Yaradua in office is to be quick to hear but slow to speak. There is still ample time to lambast him if he starts to derail.

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A highly analytical take on what to expect from the new government in Nigeria.

DW

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Nigeria
New government, old problems

May 24th 2007 | LAGOS
From The Economist print ed...
Why should the new government do better than its predecessor?


EXPECT a different style of leadership but little change in the government's way of working. That, in effect, was the message of Nigeria's outgoing president, Olusegun Obasanjo, to party stalwarts this month before the inauguration of his chosen successor, Umaru Yar'Adua, due on May 29th. As the gruff, short-tempered and evangelical Mr Obasanjo leaves office and the mild-mannered, reclusive and devoutly Muslim Mr Yar'Adua moves in, the big question is how much authority the new man will bring to bear on Africa's most populous nation (of 140m or so), one of the most ungovernable on the planet.

The elections that brought Mr Yar'Adua to office last month were so badly run and marred by such widespread rigging that they lacked even a pretence of democratic plausibility. While opposition groups have filed petitions to annul the results, an outcome unlikely to happen because of Nigeria's tortuously slow legal process, Mr Yar'Adua may find that the failings of his own party are largely responsible for his doubtful legitimacy. Many Nigerians see Mr Yar'Adua, who has little experience of the world beyond his northern state of Katsina, as a puppet of Mr Obasanjo, a tough paternalist and former military ruler who is due to become chairman of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) after the inauguration.


Speaking to newly elected officials this month, Mr Obasanjo emphasised that the party—and by implication he himself—would map out Nigeria's future. “We will ensure that it will be a party of policy and the government will be a government of programmes to implement the policies of the party,” he said.

Despite steadying the macro-economy, boosting private-sector investment and clearing Nigeria's $35 billion of debt, Mr Obasanjo leaves Nigeria in a pitiful state. Electricity supply remains patchy, graft in public offices is still rife after an anti-corruption war that was largely rhetorical, and the oil-producing Niger Delta is a zone of almost permanent conflict.

While Mr Yar'Adua has so far spoken in platitudes and given few details of how he expects to make changes, he may approach problems more calmly than his predecessor did. Mr Obasanjo was a micro-manager who concentrated power in the presidency and entrenched Nigeria's ruinous culture of patronage. But the new man is unlikely to take dictation from Mr Obasanjo, even if the outgoing president does manage to exert a lingering influence.

One big problem for Mr Yar'Adua, if he is truly keen to tackle poverty, is that the 36 new state governors, who have vast power, have even less incentive than their predecessors to stop looting their state treasuries. They know that votes count for little and that the constitution still gives them immunity from prosecution in one of Africa's most corrupt countries.

Mr Yar'Adua has to decide which influential power-brokers he needs to court and which of his venal campaign financiers and backers he can dump without hurting his authority or compromising himself over corruption. Nuhu Ribadu, the country's anti-corruption boss, says he is concerned that some of Mr Yar'Adua's backers may have financed the new president so that they can later get him to nominate allies in his new government. These backers could then have a “shield or protection” for their more nefarious activities.

Moreover, Mr Obasanjo has made things worse by authorising the sale of a rash of state assets: an auction of oil fields benefiting some obscure companies with political connections; the sale of Nigeria's largest oil refinery to a consortium that includes a company he has shares in; and the award of around 1,000 licences to mine and explore minerals. The opposition has accused Mr Obasanjo of a “fire sale” before he leaves. Mr Yar'Adua will have to review these sales, unless he wants people to think he really is a puppet. But in doing so he could upset the political apple-cart.

With a population growing so fast and a government that performs so dismally in providing basic services, Africa's biggest oil producer may face a crisis unless drastic change occurs soon. In the oil-rich delta, Nigeria's biggest earner, militants claiming to be fighting for the rights of the delta's poor have upped their attacks on oil facilities and are kidnapping more foreign workers. The American Energy Department reckons Nigeria has lost $16 billion in revenue since December 2005.

Mr Yar'Adua says he has a “Marshall Plan” for the delta up his sleeve and that his new deputy, Goodluck Jonathan, a state governor from there, will play a big part in settling the unrest. But the delta's main militant group has already called Mr Jonathan a traitor. Last week, attackers blew up part of his country home.

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