Leadership (Abuja)
E.C. Mogbo
9 June 2008
opinion
Even before Umaru Musa Yar'Adua assumed office as President, some political opponents were already accusing him of being too slow. That preconception is now widespread, fuelled by rumours that the President's health is unable to carry the full weight of his official commitments.
During the first anniversary of the Yar'Adua administration, it became obvious - as Steve Nwosu rightly observed in his article in the Sun Newspaper of Wednesday, June, 2008 - that there is, indeed, "an anti-Yar'Adua mob" that is heavily blinkered against anything positive in the President, and is determined to reduce every bit of his achievements to nothing.
Since the anniversary, cartoons, features and opinion articles have been flooding the nation's newspapers, depicting President Yar'Adua as abysmally slow, non-productive and even rudderless. Two former Governors of Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarabe Musa and Alhaji Lawal Kaita even declared publicly and on the pages of newspapers, their dislike for Yar'Adua.
There are Nigerians, however, who are honest enough to admit that President Yar' Adua has performed extremely well drawing attention to the adage that "slow and steady wins the race". For many others, nothing productive has been undertaken by the President since he assumed power.
Are we really fair to the president? First, every leader is unique in personality, disposition and style. Admittedly, when compared to his predecessor, Chief Olusegun Obansajo, President Yar' Adua is not a very rigorous person. But, then, good governance is not determined by physical rigour. True, Yar'Adua is not known for throwing himself around as most Nigerian leaders do.
However, although meek-looking and self-effacing, President Yar'Adua is an extremely intelligent and deft politician who hardly claims credit for his natural endowments. It is, perhaps, for these personal virtues that his approach to governance is unobtrusive, gentle and methodical as against the brusque and arrogant approach of his predecessor. It is, therefore, unfair to condemn Yar'Adua for his unique and accommodating style.
The accusation that Yar' Adua has been slow and ineffective is understandable, considering that his intangible achievements in areas such as due process, rule or law, freedom, human rights, etc, hardly gain recognition. They are not like quantifiable physical structures and facilities such as roads, buildings, equipment and gadgets. There are Nigerians who do not have the slightest idea of what due process or rule of law or freedom means, even though they would welcome such conditions when made available.
President Yar'Adua's seemingly slow pace in governance has been explained severally by the president himself and by his aides. In the President's anniversary media chat, he gave an insight into his philosophy and style of governance and the need for proper planning. Also, in an interview with the Financial Times of London, he explained: "The quality of your planning, the quality of your programmes, determines the nature of their achievements. What we have to learn to know is that you cannot achieve anything without planning, and planning is a long-term process."
The Special Adviser to the President on Communications, Mr. Segun Adeniyi, emphasised the President's commitment to strategic planning when he said that "the President has adopted an approach which does not lend itself to easy applause… and that his approach requires planning, something that has been in short supply in our nation in recent times. It also requires putting in place the relevant legislative frameworks which also involves painstaking efforts to guard against future pitfalls."
In conjunction with rigorous planning, Yar'Adua believes in the power of ideas. He is convinced that the problems of this country are due mainly to the haphazard and uncoordinated efforts resulting in the loss of colossal amount of money. Resolving difficult problems, especially problems that have festered for decades, takes time, which is why Nigerians must exercise patience.
To illustrate Yar'Adua's systematic approach, his plan for a peace summit on the Niger Delta has been on for quite some time. But the summit he has in mind is not an ordinary one. What he has in mind is "a summit at which concrete agreements will be put on the table and signed by all stakeholders, followed by the immediate commencement of an implementation plan that will fast-track all efforts towards the development of the region, while restoring law and order."
Governance involves a lot of consultation, and rather than jump before looking, a systematic and methodical approach is needed. Therefore, those who accuse Yar'Adua of being too slow need to reflect more deeply on the matter. Take another good example - the energy sector. This area of our economy requires rigorous understanding and planning. In fact, the mess in this sector, now being probed by the legislative arm of government, was caused by the practice of "spending without planning". President Yar 'Adua believes that he must plan sufficiently before investing funds in projects. Again, well - meaning Nigerians must make effort to understand the President's approach instead of accusing him of being slow.
Yar' Adua is a classic example of a leader who is committed to the care and service of the people. What he has done in the past one year has been genuine efforts to undo the brutal and predatory legacies of his predecessor so as to pave way for the nation to move forward. It is a process of socio-economic restoration, which takes time.
What some Nigerians want is an urgent and quick fix of the nation's problems, which is not possible. We all know that President Yar'Adua's predecessor, Chief Obasanjo, was no lover of democracy; he could not even pretend that he had any such disposition. Not only did he hold due process in contempt, he had no respect for the rule of law, and even overtly subverted his own war on corruption. Isn't it obvious that President Yar' Adua has a gigantic task in his hands. What happens when a man carrying a heavy load on his head tries to run fast? He stumbles!
The view that President Yar'Adua has not achieved much since he came into power is based on a misunderstanding of the process of governance. In the natural process of transition from one government to another, it is imperative for the new government to undertake a general policy review, study what it has inherited from the preceding order and unpopular government, and make adjustments needed for a viable take off of the new order. This is what President Yar'Adua has been doing, and which is being mischievously interpreted as sluggishness by his political opponents.
Yar'Adua is undertaking the subtle revolution of changing our approach to leadership. He is insisting that we must embrace due process, respect the rule of law, and do things properly. His Seven-Point-Agenda is a resolve to comprehensively tackle problems that have, over the years, deferred solution in Nigeria . They include the problems of food production, energy, education, wealth creation, security and the Niger Delta, none of which can be executed without adequate planning.
Those who accuse Yar'Adua of being slow fail to realize that governance is a collective business involving the three arms of government, the Executive, Legislature and the Judiciary. They ought to know that the Executive cannot function effectively without an approved Budget. The process of approving the 2008 Budget took almost a year after Yar'Adua had assumed office. The question is, how fast could the President have moved without an approved Budget? It is important to note that the passage of the Budget was delayed because President Yar'Adua insisted that the National Assembly must conform to due process.
Nigeria is blessed with a leader such as Yar'Adua who had previously worked to the levels of command and leadership before his present office, and who, arguably, is the most educated President the country has ever had. Therefore, we must do our best not to rubbish him. Years of military rule seemed to have conditioned many Nigerians to develop the mind-set of perceiving governance by fiat and brute force as a normal way of life. We must avoid the aberrations of the past and embrace modern democratic practices. That is what the Yar'Adua revolution is all about. It may appear slow, but it is thorough and proper. President Yar'Adua should not succumb to intimidation and blackmail by those who are unduly hasty.
Mr. Egbenedu is a legal practitioner based in Abuja
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