President Muhammadu Buhari not rushing to appoint 36 ministers till now does not make him “Baba go slow”. It could have been disaster continua if he still saddles Nigeria with over-bloated 36 ministers without first streamlining the ministries and parastatals inline with “Oronsaye’s Report”.
Taking off with “business as usual” of 36 ministers with bogus salaries and allowances without adding value of services will contravene Section 16 of our Constitution which demands prudence in management of the Nations Resource to enhance maximum output under good governance.
The President can also make use of some heads of Prime Agencies and Parastatals as Executive Cabinet Members designating them Ministers thereby attaining the Federal Character Structure demanded by Section 147 of the Constitution.
Diligence as a virtue supports Mr. President in his calculated steps once it is not over stretched. These notwithstanding, the President is supposed to have appointed a Chief-of-Staff, Attorney-General, Secretary to the Federal Government and Minister of Finance within 30 days of assuming office as a helping tool to his due diligence steps.
The President as “Baba Diligence” is supported by the Word of God in Luke 14:28….. where Christ admonished on the need to evaluate costs before embarking on a project.
REMOVAL OF PETROLEUM SUBSIDY AND THE ROT IN NNPC
Removal of Petroleum Subsidy is a sensitive issue that touches on the raw nerve of Nigerian people as the President rightly pointed out during his last visit to the United States. As volatile as this is, it requires either a statesman’s decision or a populist decision. A statesman is a Leader that cares for the present and future generation, while a Populist is a Leader of the moment satisfying only his popularity ego caring less if there is no Nigeria tomorrow.
Petroleum subsidy is a cesspool of corruption likeable only to a cancerous tumor. It must be cut-off and save Nigeria the unbearable criminality of a few that continue to deplete our commonwealth. Any one assuring Mr. President that this paper fraud can be effectively checked is only day-dreaming. Some people in this great nation of innumerable good citizens have an unimaginable capacity to compromise any system.
The current problem the oil market provides a leeway to cut off this cancerous lump of fraud called subsidy. It will diminish this presidency if this fraud continues unabated. As a paper document based fraud, it is difficult to police. NNPC is a citadel of fraud that cannot be allowed to fester any longer or it will consume and ruin our entire commonwealth. Any Agency of government that can spend un-appropriated billions of Dollars nicknaming the fraud overhead and administrative costs is just a citadel of corruption. It is gratifying to know that the unbundling and reorganization of NNPC is top on Mr. President’s agenda of action.
AMNESTY PROGRAMME AND CRUDE OIL THEFT
The President’s recent appointment of Brigadier P. T. Boroh (rtd) as the coordinator of the Amnesty Programme for former Niger Delta Militants is spot-on and timely. The caliber of Boroh further distinguishes Mr. President as “Baba Diligence” who looks before he leaps.
General Boroh should promptly tackle all outstanding issues and allowances to keep the peace of Niger Delta running. Nigeria cannot afford another dislocation in our oil production at this critical juncture.
Crude oil theft in Niger Delta is a well organized crime run by a cartel with intimidating financial arsenal. This cartel corrupts and compromises all commanding security structures and JTF Commanders in Niger Delta. This organized criminal organization which is aided by top officers operates in most on-shore and off-shore terminals of both multinational and indigenous oil platforms. Segun Adeniyi of Thisday Newspaper has written extensively on this national tragedy. His write-ups on this matter will provide reasonable insight on solution.
A National Ad-hoc Committee is urgently needed to study the modus operandi of this cartel and proffer solution on how to arrest this rape of our commonwealth.
Dear Baba Diligence, your integrity was attested to and proclaimed to the whole world by President Barack Obama during your recent visit to the United States. You must not disappoint on this challenge which requires the full manifestation of your strong character.
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY CRISIS
The President’s fatherly role as Baba Diligence has finally rested the crisis in the lower chamber of the National Assembly – House of Representatives. The upper chamber (Senate) of the National Assembly is a different ballgame. The opposition PDP is already interwoven in the crisis and equally a beneficiary. The Senate is mostly made up of senior citizens of Nigeria with commanding profile.
It is equally important to note that most Senators are in effective control of the government and politics of their State Capitals. What played out during the proclamation and emergence of leadership of the 8th Senate was pure politics of intrigue and interest. The President’s letter proclaiming the 8th Senate was sacrosanct and any Senator not within the chamber when this was done acted at his or her own peril. The current blackmail of fraudulent change of Senate Rules is equally bunkum and balderdash. Any Court action on this by any Senator is a mere academic exercise and action in futility. Senator Shehu Sani’s recent comment on this unfortunate situation was a true and unbiased analysis of this matter and very insightful.
The President distancing himself from the current leadership of the Senate and not seeing the President of the Senate is bad politics that must be stopped forthwith. APC as a merger of different parties with competing interests will from time to time witness frictions and conflict of interests. Baba diligence must use his statesman’s skill as the Leader of Party to navigate this crisis and maintain the cohesion of the party.
The President must move our party beyond this crisis and embrace the present leadership of the Senate as an act of God. Let me warn that the hawks in the Senate now keeping quiet, have the capacity to spring surprises on this present administration after two years if this impasse between the Executive and the Senate is not urgently resolved.
PRIVATE SECTOR DRIVEN ECONOMY AND STRONG GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS
Dear Baba Diligence, any pressure on you to expand government businesses should be resisted to the last. What you owe Nigeria is primarily to reorganize and rebuild her government institutions and make them capable of regulating our system equitably where no one is above the law.
It is better for Nigeria that hundreds of Dangotes, Adenugas, Elumelus, Ovies, Dantatas e.t.c are driving our economy under strong government institutions with total adherence to the rules of the game. China is gradually expanding her global economic frontiers after diluting their obsolete socialist system and allowing individuals the flexibility to grow and nurture the economy. Russia is equally enlarging her economy through private hands.
The fact remains that the thriving economies of the 21st Century are those that are individual driven in free and open market with strong government oversight. Avoid the temptation of building new government refineries no matter the level of pressure. Please refurbish our existing refineries and promote a conducive climate that will enable private hands to build new ones. The remaining phase of privatization should be pursued vigorously to logical conclusion. Moribund government businesses like Nigeria Airways, NITEL, PHCN, Nigeria Railways to mention just a few have proved beyond reasonable doubt that government in this part of the world is not good in managing businesses.
As a would–be-father of new Nigeria, the greatest legacy you can bequeath us is strong government institutions and entrenched rule of law above the leaders and the led. The only power that can checkmate any roguish President after you is strong government institutions entrenched during your tenure with ability to hold leaders accountable.
Our electoral system need to be further reorganized to ensure free and fair elections as the greatest tool of fighting corruption. You must expand on the foundations laid by President Jonathan and Prof. Jega. In the South East where I come from, electoral process is still plagued with endemic fraud and impunity. The last elections were massively rigged with Card Reader as the only restraining factor in preventing outrageous inflation of figures. During election in the South East, State Governors and their Local Government Chairmen act as electoral Commissioners and E.Os of various Local Government Areas with Army and Police as their chief tugs. Candidates of other Parties are chased away from collation centres where they cook their figures.
Our criminal justice system is obsolete and can no longer serve the need of the 21st century digital world. Any fight against corruption without overhauling our criminal Justice system is a total waste of time. The Vice President as an erudite Advocate and professor of Law should be handy in urgently restructuring our criminal Justice system.
The Customs and the Port Authority must be reorganized to ensure speedy clearance of goods and maximum generation of revenue to the government. The Police and the Armed Forces should not be left out. I was reliably informed that if the can of worms of corruption within the Armed Forces is opened, most Nigerians will feel that our politicians are saints in comparison to the rot within the Armed Forces.
THE BLACKMAIL OF PRESIDENT’S CAMPAIGN PROMISES.
Campaign Promises are rooted in covenant. It is an unwritten contract between a leader and the led. It speaks of the end and not the processes that produce the end.
When God Almighty commissioned Moses for the liberation of people of Israelites from the land of slavery in Egypt to the Promise Land, God’s spoke of the End and not the processes leading to the End.
(In Exodus 3: 8… “So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that Land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey…….NIV)
Moses and Israelites never knew that the processing of this promise from God will take 40 years of crossing the Red Sea and passing through the wilderness of thirst and hunger before seeing the manifestation.
Most of the President’s campaign promises are contained in All Progressives Congress (APC) manifesto which my humble self moved the motion for its adoption in National Merger Committee. In the Merger Committee, we all discovered the possibilities and mileages of greatness attainable in Nigeria if the country’s wealth is deployed by incorruptible Leader with integrity like Buhari for the benefit of the entire Nigerians. The entire nation owes Mr. President the patience to rebuild Nigeria and process his campaign promises.
Mr. President, in pursuit of the aforementioned, you must be fair to all sections of Nigeria irrespective of support base or lack of it. You can only navigate this stormy sea by being focused with the master key of leading by example. The prayer of Nigerians is not in short supply for your success over these tasks.
May God grant you the vitality and boldness you need to weather the storm!