If Not Sonala Olumhense, Who? And, If Not Now, When?

The Ministerial list is out. And the general consensus remains unequivocally and provocatively the same: “all too familiar.” So, where are the progressive analysts and the policy-savvy Fabio, Nasiru Oseni, Olumhense, Onumah, the scholarly Ndibe, Adesanmi, and the erudite Hannatu Musawa in the picture? We know their records. We know what they stand for. And we are quite familiar with their visions of Nigeria. For the record, the so-called tested Nigerians, including those with the Military background, slept on their rights and responsibilities, when land speculators, hoodlums, and hooligans took over Abuja. It was the youngish El" Rufai who literally, and yes, miraculously, discovered the original master plan of the FCT and thought it fit to repackage the new Capital City in the image and likeness of its creators. And the rest is now history.

This piece is not a citation of Mr. Olumhense's CV or a rendition of his literary and diplomatic accomplishments over the years. He has the best of both worlds, no doubt. This is simply a highlight, a reference to his unmatched involvement in the historic struggle that culminates in the rejection of President Jonathan at the poll – a struggle, the fulfilment of which Mr Olumhense and his fellow social crusaders are now being systematically sidelined. 

Indeed, the process is still evolving, but time is of the essence. So, what is "wrong" with Mr. Sonala Olumhense? 

If I may reminisce for a moment: On the assumption of office, I thought, President Jonathan, being someone from the academics, would readily call on Professor Festus Iyayi (now deceased) to join hands with him to resuscitate our derelict educational system. He never did. Festus died at Lokoja on his way to meet with some members of ASUU in Kaduna - fighting for the soul and survival of Nigerian Universities.

When President Buhari came to power, I was looking forward to reading a scoop about Mr Sonala Olumhense being secretly recruited by the President as one of his senior strategists with a view to developing a vibrant framework for public sector renewal. I was wrong. Chances are that President Buhari doesn’t know who Mr. Sonala Olumhense is.

Here is a man who never stopped explaining and defending his decision to endorse Presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari since 2011, when most of the characters the President now trusted to work with him did not show any interest in his candidacy or consider him electable. I do not ask for Sonala’s inclusion on Buhari’s team, based on Mr. Olumhense’s endorsement of the President via his weekly column. Sonata is a total package, internationally and domestically defined. So, I am not going to wait until the final list is released before expressing my reservation.

Mr. Olumhense is more than just a “Press Boy”, a writer or a columnist. He is a policy wonk – an idea lab of immense magnitude. Intellectually, he symbolizes the struggle of the past few years. And he was the struggle. He defined everything that was wrong with the past administration and provided a contextual base for global rejection. HE IS THE CONSCIENCE OF THE NATION. I have yet to see another of him in his generation with so much grasp of our institutional decay and the way forward. He deserves to be the David Gergen of our Aso Villa.

As a True Progressive, it is not my prerogative to discredit those on the list - they are eminently qualified. But suffice it to say that some of the names that I mentioned in the opening paragraph are older than Mr. Arne Duncan, the pragmatic outgoing U.S. Education Secretary, who transformed the American educational system for President Obama. And he was never at any point in his career a Governor or a Senator. When President Obama came into office, he was openly counselled to hire the former New York City Counselor for Education, who, without any doubt, did a good job in New York City. But President Obama was a man of the future - new millennium focused. He settled for the more modern Arne Duncan, and both gentlemen never looked back.

A Ministerial list must mirror the purpose and essence of the new dispensation, this time, of the All Progressive Congress. Of a bold new start, to impact changes and improve on a set of values. It is about inculcating fresh thinking within the framework of emerging trends (innovation and forward-looking). It is about vision - creating a new body of work (ideas), developing a new benchmark for performance evaluation, taking governance and organizational behaviour - our behaviour - out of the routine, the pedestrian and the culture of business as usual.

So, what are we talking about! That they are not astute, resourceful, brash, tested, innovative and patriotic? That we are not good enough? 

If the emerging faces – old usual faces who have been at the scene of power in the last twenty years - deserve another chance, can you explain our present state of stagnation: spiraling infrastructural decline; unwholesome income gap between the leaders and the governed; death traps all over our major highways; a sport authority that closes its door to the Odegbamis and the Onyalis, populating its Front Office with glorified sport enthusiasts incapable of producing medal winning team/athlete at international sporting events; a corruption fighting agency that specializes in making more headline news quizzing fraudulent Nigerians than in actually securing conviction and forfeiture; a Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) that has been dormant for years, sleeping on its rights and responsibilities, feeding fat on taxpayers money, only to realize the enormity of its mandate, when a rebel Senator went rogue and successfully challenged the authority of his own political party; where kidnappers, culture of ritualism, pregnancy for hire and child factory entrepreneurs never cease to outsmart our law enforcement agencies; and a national armed forces populated by dully enlisted officers who are having difficulties balancing the content of their oath of office with the dictate of their religious faith, thus, transforming a ragtag, ill-equipped, ill-fed, barely literate religious sect into a highly mobile, sophisticated and daring fighting machines, killing and maiming all over the North-East with dramatic alacrity. Tell me something! Is that a good record?

In a few days, they will be screening Ministers without portfolios. They are excited. And everyone is excited. It's been a long wait. But, how would you, Mr. Senator, be able to ask the right questions, when you have no clue of the designated Ministry of the potential Minister undergoing screening? That it's been done that way in the past doesn't make it acceptable today.

Matching Performance With Expectations:

Age has nothing to do with it. It is the state of mind - ability or the willingness of the new Ministers to adopt or embrace global best practices, rather than being subsumed in the performance standard obtainable in Nigeria.  It is a different world and the expectations are quite different. Therefore, an Obasanjo is not and mustn't be an appropriate benchmark for virtuousness and stellar performance. That he is still the "go-to man" by the present leadership calls into question the nature of our preparedness and whether there is actually a shift in the ideological framework. Unless of course, we have forgotten so soon what the standard was during Papa Awo in the old Western Region. 

For instance, President Bill Clinton (one of my heroes), during his time in office, was the best thing that ever happened to God Own's country and its people in terms of performance and accomplishments. How many times have you seen President Barack Obama, the wonder kid of the new millennium, running to Chappaqua, New York, bending and seeking on his knees, the blessings and sense of direction of the enigma who knows little about everything? I can't think of any. Today, thanks to President Obama, there is affordable Healthcare for all and at the same time, unemployment is at an all-time low in the United States of America. Just to name a few.

Give me EFCC, and Nigerians will stop tampering with public funds overnight. I will convert the Sambisa Forest to a better use - Guantanamo Bay. Give me the Ministry of Communication; Nigerians will stop carrying two phones within a year. Give me the Ministry of Solid Mineral, and I will put about a million Nigerians back to work in record time. And give me the Environmental Protection Agency, I promise; there will be a dramatic change - a positive change of course - in what is going on right now in the Niger Delta.

I take to writing this blog because I know I am better than those who have been at the scene of power for the past twenty years. I made these declarations, fully convinced that I would perform MUCH MORE BETTER managing the same people and the same resources than the so-called tested leaders. I have seen them in the decision-making process - dilly-dallying and taking decisions I would not have taken. And I have seen them in action - making pronouncements or doing things I would not have done. For instance, more than two years after the completion of Aigboje Imoukhuede's investigation into the scam that rocked the NNPC and the Petroleum Products and Pricing Regulatory Authority (PPPRA), EFCC is still groping in the dark, not knowing how to take advantage of the groundbreaking report and recover for Nigeria the Subsidy Funds stolen by bogus Petroleum Marketers. Here, I would not have gone to court given the excellent investigation done by Aigboje and his Committee; I will declare war on the bogus marketers, and their assets - landed properties and Bank Accounts - until I recoup my last Naira stolen. If for any reason, I am handicapped in this line of action by any superior command, trust that I will resign immediately. 

Take, for instance, the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) debate, the majority of the opinions or write-ups on the issue centred on the quality of the Bill is, and how it will help to revamp the petroleum industry if eventually passed into law. Well said, but that's not the issue. The factors militating against its passage are unrelated to its quality or applicability. It is about Section 10 of the Bill, known as the Host Community Funds (The Host Funds). The Host Funds, as written, are to be funded by 10% of the net profit of the oil companies doing business in the Niger Delta. I repeat the funding is by the oil companies doing business in the Niger Delta, not by the Federal Government. Only yours truly covered that part of the debate in detail and repeatedly, mentioning names of the political leaders who capitalized on that clause to derail the passage of the Bill. First, we mentioned their names, and then, we reproduced their adverse comments. We stated categorically that the Bill may likely die an untimely death, because Southern political leaders who are in a position to talk or who should have taken action are too timid to make pronouncements, either out of observance of political correctness or unduly sensitive of offending the sensibilities of the more powerful and arguably more vocal Northern political leaders. But we took a step forward and I came up with compromises that, if I am in the position to act, I would not have wasted any chance placing on the table. And that is the elimination of the Ministry of Niger Delta and merging it with NDDC while retaining Section 10, but with a proviso that it must be a fund for the future in the event of unforeseen catastrophic occurrences - oil spillage or natural disaster. Is there anyone or any political leader since the birth of that PIB or since Obasanjo's Second Coming, insightful enough, reasonable enough to think along with me given the well-documented grievances of the Northern political leaders? No. The last time they mentioned the Bill, some Northern members of Congress wanted every state in Nigeria that has oil and gas pipelines to be categorized as a Host Community, to share or benefit from the fund. These are the political leaders (north, south, east, and west) that Obasanjo and his Generals incubated and imposed on Nigeria over the years.

Performance is about managerial acumen, a creative mindset, and the willingness to fight for what you think is right - regulatory compliance. The Telecoms industry makes the more profitable business in Nigeria than anywhere else in the developing world, yet they don't have enough funds set aside for R and D. And sadly, the average Nigerian carries at least two phones. In a similar vein, DISCOs continued to bill where they did not deliver, yet no one in any of the industries is running for cover or contending with the fear of his license being revoked by regulators!

So, who is fooling who? Take Professor Bolaji Akinyemi out of the picture; can you name a Nigerian Minister of Foreign Affairs of international repute, or of ordinary repute, in the last Twenty years? Seriously, can you name one?

That is a challenge before President Buhari and his recruiting team. The emerging Minister of Foreign Affairs must have the aura and power-presence of Chief Patrick Dele Cole, the intellectual acumen of Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, and the suave and gravitas of Mr. Joseph Garba, of blessed memory.

From all indications, the following Nigerians, namely, Professor Azinge, Mrs. Dupe Atoki, and Mr. Donald Duke, in my humble opinion, have what it takes to make us proud and stand tall once again at international forums.

It is about vision and the ability to genuinely articulate the problems and proffer common sense solutions as appropriate. It is about brain power. If you don't have it, you cannot articulate it. Mr. Sonala Olumhense has it. Barrister Nasiru Sonny Useni has it. These guys are heavily gifted. Their passion for what they do is beyond the ordinary. Read them, listen to them. You will experience governance made easy.

There are few other Nigerians with similar attributes who, unfortunately, may never taste power at the federal level, because their likes are either, (1), feared and resented, or (2), they don't have God Father within the corridors of power to push their CV. Give me the two gentlemen, and I will turn this country around for good in a year.

Finally, if it is true that Mr President is only comfortable working with the people he is said to be comfortable with – as the excuse goes these days over the lopsided appointments he has made so far – who is it then within the inner team that would be willing or audacious enough to tell him what he doesn’t want to hear? If President Buhari has forgotten what we’ve been through at the hands of our political leaders and their agents in the past twenty years, we the people have not forgotten and we will not forget. This is a progressive mandate; we will resist any attempt to transform it into something else. It is not, and will not be a government of national unity, or an Obasanjo's incarnate. The purpose, the goal and the essence of the mandate must be mirrored after what Papa Awo and Mallam Aminu Kano stood for. That is the benchmark. Enjoy the honeymoon as it lasts, Mr. President. I have spoken.

Mr. Alex Aidaghese

0708 695 1511, 0909 247 5320
alexaidaghese@gmail.com