Daily Independent (Lagos)
Uzoukwu Ejekwumadu
6 January 2009
column
The much-awaited cabinet shake-up and appointment of new ministers to work with President Yar'Adua was finally wrapped recently. It was capped with the usual ritual of swearing in ceremony, photo-shop, press releases and funfair welcoming the new henchmen on board. We all felicitate with the king's men and women and wish them success in their Herculean task of helping Mr. President to deliver the trumpeted dividends of democracy.
Ministerial appointments in Nigeria attract a lot of attention for obvious reasons. The quality of candidates who work with the head of state to a large extent determine the altitude the administration can reach in achieving its programmes. It informs the reason the President dedicated enormous time and resources in the recruitment process and the legislative assembly exercising its constitutional oversight responsibility of ensuring that credible candidates with demonstrable tract record of achievement were selected. For political reasons as well, the President in conducting the executive search and selection, painstakingly head hunt for men of timber and calibre who will provide group representation of various sectional interest and be an asset in his re-election campaign strategy. The position of ministers in the control of economic resources, patronage and influence on key policy decisions and implementation cannot be over emphasised. The average Nigerian is very much aware of this fact.
The first set of President Yar'Adua's cabinet received less than average grade in their over all performance rating. It has been alluded by the media that the President himself did not betray his dissatisfaction with many of the ministers, some who could not understand their briefs properly and lacked the experience, vision and capacity to make significant impact in the various ministries and agencies under their supervision.
The major reason attributed for their lack lustre performance was that the party 'stakeholders' who put him in power imposed the candidates on the President. In view of the peculiar circumstance of his election, the legitimacy question and the distracting long drawn electoral battle up to the Supreme Court, it was crystal clear that his hands were tied. For political expediency, President Yar'Adua had to make do with what was available in the absence of the desirable, while he gradually consolidates his power. The cabinet was a collection of the good, the bad and the ugly.
However, after nearly two years in Aso Rock and a season of motion without movement, there were suggestions that things will get better with his pyrrhic victory at the court. Expectations were high that President Yar'Adua's rebranded cabinet would reflect his learning experiences so far. Rather than a standing ovation, loud and clear enough to inspire a team and restore confidence among the populace that the government is now ready for business, there appear to be much misgivings and despondency on the new cabinet composition.
The public has right to feel so that this is another missed opportunity. It is not that the individual ministers lack CVs that can be an eye catcher. Certainly far from that. Many of them are achievers in their own right. However, there is a mismatch in placement of these ministers in the departments they are to supervise. That is the critical missing link. Like their predecessor, these ministers will spend much of their time trying to learn the rope and understand the working of the departments and their strategic roles in implementing the administrations programme. It is unfortunate that there is no luxury of time for that. What were required were people who are ready to lead from day one and hit the ground.
A cabinet is akin to a football team. A collection of star players does not necessarily make a winning team. The individual players must be played in key positions, which they are best suited. No case of round peg in a square hole. Imagine Kanu Nwankwo featuring as a defender and Taribo West as a striker in our Super Eagles team. Such team will wobble and fumble to relegation. The assigning of Prof. Dora Akunyili as Information and Communication Minister is like the above scenario. Her new portfolio is at best promotion into irrelevance. Giving her background, pedigree and knack in getting results and coupled with her 'task-force' personality traits, one would have expected that she would have been assigned to such 'disaster' area requiring urgent national salvation such as health, education, power and works to mention but a few.
Dr. Rilwan Lukman is a distinguished and highly respected Nigerian. His wealth of experience cannot be questioned and he has an inside out understanding of the petroleum and energy industry. He is a man who has seen it all and there is nothing left to prove. The octogenarian was said to have shown less enthusiasm in taken a full time appointment as a cabinet minister. However, considering his age and health, one can only but adopt a 'siddon look' approach this time around. It is like over labouring a willing horse. It again raises the question of how much we are doing in grooming the next generation of leaders and how healthy is our leadership pipeline.
The inclusion of some governors whose performance were below acceptable standard during the immediate past administration also kept many wondering on Mr. President's motive and creates doubts about his determination to get things right this time around. Chances are high that with a team composed of so many 'over aged players' this administration may perform worse than the much criticised President Obasanjo's government. This category of cabinet members judging by their antecedents as governors, are not likely to deliver much except as foot soldiers for the re-election project.
The presence of few top-rated performing candidates notwithstanding, the current administration has definitely squandered another golden opportunity to create a high performing team, infuse dynamism and kick start its much advertised hollow 7-point agenda. It may never recover from this mistake till the next general election, which is fast approaching.
It is painful that opposition parties are in limbo, rudderless and scrambling for crumbs and patronage from the ruling PDP government. They have not positioned themselves well to earn the confidence of the electorate nor articulated any clear identifiable alternative programme other than how to share offices.
The result is that the present administration with all its avoidable blunders and failings will still get away with it unruffled come 2011 general elections. The endless wait for change continues.
Ejekwumadu, a post-graduate student at East London University, wrote in from the UK
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