I hope I am right to announce the arrival of the express train, '(President) Yar' Adua Express.' What else can we say of a man who literally jumps out of his sick bed (for those who rumoured him dead, rises from the dead) to effect dramatic changes in government?

I just hope that we now have a Yar' Adua Express, a fast train that hurries to its destination, making only a few stops, instead of stopping at every single station. This looks like the right train for the country's long-term goals and even some short-term ones, because although widely used in long distance rail service, it has also proven successful in many rapid transit systems.

I have seen so much clowning around and dribbling in governance - state and corporate - that I don't easily hop with joy at mere announcements or changes. So I hope that we are really on an express train now and that when it eventually leaves the station with the new ministers, I can say, "hear yea, hear yea, the Yar' Adua Express is on the move" and then add stylishly as they do in American streets, "you heard!!!"

Nigeria is in a hurry for socio-economic development. With the country's ample natural and human resources, what is required is a dedicated, selfless and visionary leader, who like a good entrepreneur, will combine our resources in the right mix.

We have done so poorly that after very many attempts, and three oil booms, basic human needs taken for granted elsewhere have become luxury. Poverty is widespread and unemployment, even among university graduates, is soaring.

At his inauguration Mr. President delivered a very inspiring address. Nigerians and friends of Nigeria were happy. So Mr. President drove back from Eagle Square, a spot noted for electoral clowning, to Aso Rock to call the shots, as Nigerians waited with full expectation of, to borrow a word from the Grand Master's Wife, Better Life. (I call former President Babangida the Grand Master for both positive and negative reasons I will explain another day).

Relating the share price slump at the Nigeria stock market to dwindling confidence in the economy and government's ability to deliver, an economist and an active member of the Nigeria Economic Summit Group, advised me to go and read the President's inaugural address. I read some of the paragraphs thrice.

Mr. President said, "let us stop justifying every shortcoming with that unacceptable phrase 'the Nigerian Factor' as if to be a Nigerian is to settle for less. Let us recapture the mood of optimism that defined us at the dawn of independence, that legendary can-do spirit that marked our Nigerianess. Let us join together, now, to build a society worthy of our children. We have the talent. We have the intelligence. We have the ability.

"Our goal now is to build on the greatest accomplishments of the past few years. Relying on the 7-point agenda that formed the basis of our compact with voters during the recent campaigns, we will concentrate on rebuilding our physical infrastructure and human capital in order to take our country forward.

"We will focus on accelerating economic and other reforms in a way that makes a concrete and visible difference to ordinary people.

"Equally important, we must devote our best efforts to overcoming the energy challenge. Over the next four years, we will see dramatic improvements in power generation, transmission and distribution".

Indeed the action plan of the beautiful address was the Seven- Point Agenda, which aptly captured the immediate needs of Nigerians.

President Yar' Adua did make some bold decisions initially, and then there came an era of flip-flops on major policy decisions. The noise generated by that in public commentary soon died down but with it, expectations of actions that could make "concrete and visible difference to ordinary people".

From time to time, the President's health took centre stage with rumours, some really unkind. When his recent long sojourn in Saudi Arabia, regenerated the rumours, what was left of hope took a hard hit.

As the rumour mill swirled faster, Mr. President returned into the inner recesses of the Presidential Villa. And when he surfaced, he was in a hurry to deliver. He was on an Express Train. As he did, dropping baggage before he travelled, he sacked Babagana Kingibe as Secretary to Government of the Federation and appointed a more loyal and better team player, Yayale Ahmed to the position. Two days later, he restructured the Federal cabinet, serving notice that non-performing Ministers would not make the rest of the trip. He boldly announced the creation of a Niger Delta Ministry. Before he travelled, he scrapped the office Chief of Staff and Deputy Chief of Staff and replaced them with Permanent Secretary and Principal Secretary. Defence and Service chiefs were replaced two days later.

Hope has been raised again! But according to one of his close aides, unlike the Eagle Square hope-hoisting event, painstaking preparations have been made for these doses of hope to work. He said the preparation was the reason people thought the government was slow.

An Express Train does not tolerate distractions, so as the President gets ready to start the train, he should be mindful of the need for the critical mass in the governance of this rich but poor country: A strong, selfless and visionary head of state with a strong will, with at least eight ministers and 10 governors of the same mould, complemented with good leadership of the legislature and the judiciary.

He should also, as promised at Eagle's Square, "be a listener and doer, and serve with humility".

This is where many Nigerian leaders have failed. At a point, they do not listen to know the pains of the electorate. Some politicians are already feeding Mr. President through newspapers the rubbish that some people wished him dead, when he was ill in Saudi Arabia. If the ordinary man in the street has enemies, how much more a head of state. Mr. President should not listen to cock and bull stories of what is already human nature. Not everybody will like him. Even in the small state of Katsina, where he was Governor, not everybody liked him. People cannot get everybody to like them and that should not be an excuse for non-performance.

As we have seen before, now that it is becoming obvious that he is going to move faster, it will not be unexpected for some politicians to feed him names of people who hate his guts or are planning to kill him. It is an old political trick of pumping fear into leaders to control them. That causes massive distraction an Express Train can ill-afford.

These politicians, who also double as cheer leaders, do everything to stop their victims from hearing anything contrary to stories they feed them. In one of the many factions of another African country, this group of mind controllers went as far as feeding the President with false media reports. His Press Secretary, who eventually resigned was shocked to know what was happening.

The Press Secretary, hereinafter called Toff, visited a friend at the office of one of the President's kitchen cabinet members. The friend is called Duma here.

"Toff wanted to leave after a short stay, when Duma out of sympathy pushed the door to his left open and said 'Welcome to Spin City'. The door had been camouflaged to blend in with the wall of the office.

"'Oh, my God!' Toff cupped his mouth in his hands. Ahead of him an array of Apple computer page makers, photocopiers and newspapers littered the floor.

"You don't have to go in. From there and the small press behind it, we produce newspaper pages with screaming headlines to scare the president or stories and editorials that give him strong approval. That was why my boss asked you for press cuttings, to suggest that the president reads them," he said.

Toff was transfixed where he stood, his hands still covering his mouth.

"So, on a day the president receives a media bashing, we ensure that all the cuttings he reads praise him for his action," Duma continued.

"And he doesn't get to read the real newspapers?"

"Sorry, but there is no opportunity for him to see them. He is too busy. And the president doesn't buy newspapers, remember?"

"His wife, his ministers "

"Toff!" Duma stifled a laugh. "He doesn't discuss media reports with anyone. You were the only one, but now you're out of the way."

"What about my reports that are sent to him every morning?" Toff persisted. "Sorry, there is a big shredder out there, bigger than the one used at Enron. Your reports go there and ours go to the president. He has been conditioned to hate newspapers."

"And you are part of all this, Duma?" Toff couldn't hide his frustration. "I'm sorry. As you know, once you're in the intelligence circles, there is no going back. The only way to do that is in a casket - that is if they find your body."

"That's so true," Toff nodded heavily. "So the president hears or reads what you want him to read?"

"You bet!" Duma said, nodding his head. "You see, it works this way. Normal decision- taking, goes through all the various steps. The President doesn't have that kind of time on his hands. Every second of his life is scheduled and micromanaged. Therefore, he must set aside the process of long, drawn-out thinking and replace it with quick decision making. That's why he has a kitchen cabinet and, and my boss is a senior member. To save the President, you have to find a way of reconnecting him to the people, so he can sense what they feel."

Getting back on the President's Express Train, Nigerians expect the momentum created by the recent changes to be sustained and to deliver the Eagle Square promises. They hold onto this renewed hope!