Time for redemption of campaign promises

Hearty congratulations to the new federal and state executives who are billed to take their oaths of office today, May 29. These include President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo as well as 29 governors and their deputies who either won a re-election or are being sworn in for their first term in office. Among the lucky few who won re-elections are Simon Lalong of Plateau State; Samuel Ortom of Benue; Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto; Darius Ishaku of Taraba; Aminu Masari of Katsina;  Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna; and Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano. Others include: Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta; Nyesom Wike of Rivers; Ben Ayade of Cross River; Emmanuel Udom of Akwa Ibom; and Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia. Governors Jubrilla Bindow of Adamawa and Akinwumi Ambode of Lagos were not so lucky. The latter did not get his party ticket to re-contest while the former lost his re-election bid to the Peoples Democratic Party candidate, Ahmadu Fintiri.

As this new set of Nigeria’s political leaders get inaugurated today, I write to remind them of their campaign promises which they marketed to Nigerians for 90 days in the lead-up to the 2019 elections. The All Progressives Congress and indeed President Buhari promised to take Nigeria to the “Next Level”, while many of the governors also set agenda for themselves upon which they were voted into power. It is now tome to fulfil those pledges and promises.

Apart from Buhari’s “Next Level” document upon which the President campaigned, he has also made a number of commitments for implementation during his second time in office. Among them were that he would run an inclusive government; pursue police and judicial reforms, return the country to true federalism, fight insecurity, corruption, unemployment and poverty, among other things. This is the time to walk the talk.

The President has promised in his media chat of May 27, 2019, on NTA, to shed the toga of “Baba Go-Slow” in the course of his second term in office. That is heart-warming! It is therefore hoped that we can see him form his new cabinet latest by July rather than the six months it took him in 2015. Nigerians also look forward to his prompt filling of many vacant leadership positions in the Ministries, Departments and Agencies. As I have previously recommended, three months to the expiration of the tenure of any incumbent head of MDAs, the President should nominate their successors so that for those who need parliamentary approvals, this can be got before their due date for assumption of office. This will ensure a seamless handover and transition from one leader to the other. This will be a clear departure from the practice in the first term of the President where vacant board positions and leadership of many MDAs were left unfilled for over one year. Recall that it took months after the tenure of Prof. Attahiru Jega ended before Prof. Mahmood Yakubu was nominated alongside few other national commissioners of the Independent National Electoral Commission in 2015.

In case the President does not know or choose to ignore the public perception that he is clannish in his key appointments, he needs to correct that impression in his second tenure. Having 90 per cent of the security chiefs from a part of the country and from one religious persuasion does not do the President any good. Thankfully, soon after being declared winner of the February 23 presidential election, he promised to run an inclusive government. I do hope that this inclusivity will factor in gender, youth, Persons with Disabilities and adequately reflect ethnic and religious considerations. That is what federal character is all about.

As noted by this newspaper in its editorial on Tuesday, May 28, there is a need to retool the anti-corruption campaign of this administration. According to the editorial, “An anti-corruption crusade that works requires the synergy of all the relevant institutions of the state – the EFCC, ICPC, State Security Services, the Police, Judiciary and the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation. Ironically, some of them work at cross-purposes, thus helping to strengthen the audacity of suspects. Such a brawl had existed between the office of the AGF and the acting EFCC Chairman, Ibrahim Magu, and between the EFCC and the SSS.”

I completely endorse the submission that “a retooled anti-corruption framework that is pragmatic, its operators not selective in choosing suspects for prosecution, is the only way to make a dent in the scourge for public funds to work for common good. Nigeria has no reason to be home to the poorest globally. Ultimately, the country has to enact a law on unexplained wealth, similar to that of the UK.” The current perception of sacred cows and scapegoats or use of “insecticides and deodorants” to fight corruption must be changed.

Another great burden President Buhari needs to discharge in his second term beginning today is to lay to rest the petroleum subsidy conundrum that has become a drainpipe on the country’s meagre resources. The fraud-ridden scheme has become the honey pot of some privileged business elite. First, the President should recuse himself as the substantive Minister of Petroleum Resources and appoint a capable hand to handle that sensitive portfolio while he provides some oversight.

Also, the Federal Government will do well to resolve the endless importation of refined petroleum products into the country. We should be self-sufficient in domestic crude oil refinement. Whatever the government can do to incentivise private sector participation in the downstream petroleum sector should be encouraged. The support for the establishment of modular refineries that the youths of Niger Delta were promised is long overdue to be fulfilled. Furthermore, I hope the President will now sign the revised version of the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill after the National Assembly had removed the objectionable parts that made him withdraw assent previously.

The President will do well to initiate any constitutional cum electoral reforms he may wish to pursue before the end of this year so that the National Assembly can pass them in time to be able to impact on good governance of this country.

I dare say that no matter the innovations and noble gestures of the executive arm of government, without a patriotic support of the other two arms of government, little success will be achieved. It is therefore imperative for the National Assembly and the Judiciary to offer unflinching assistance to the initiatives of the President, in as much as it’s being done for public good.  In a similar manner, the support of the state and local governments are needed for better life to be experienced by people at the grass roots. As the saying goes, a tree does not make a forest neither can a bird fly with only one wing. State and local governments must lend support to the Federal Government in the areas of improved security and social amenities, reduction in unemployment and poverty as well as accountable leadership.