Reimagining the PMB presidency By Steve Osuji

To match Interview NIGERIA-BUHARI/

It has become apparent in this epoch that imagination is as lean as the president himself and ‘body language’ is fast becoming an effusion of body odour to the people. And just as ex-President Goodluck Jonathan was branded ‘Mr. Clueless’, and appropriately so, President Muhammadu Buhari is fast earning the moniker of ‘Mr. Fuddy-Duddy’ and it looks like it’s gonna stick. What a pity.

However, the coming of a belated cabinet may well re-imagine this presidency and rescue it. The executive council formed more than six months after inauguration is no doubt a good pick taken together; if only this cabinet had been set up earlier. Imagine what might have been if we had this team at work since July, about six weeks after inauguration.

Perhaps the most telling reason to confirm that the PMB presidency is in dire need of deep strategic support (and it needs to realise its acute deficiency) is the statement emanating from last Monday’s workshop organised by the National Democratic Institute (NDI). Represented by the new Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, PMB had blamed the delay in the take off of his government on the Goodluck Jonathan government.

Hear PMB: “We expected comprehensive report on the state of the economy, the security situation, infrastructure development or deficit and social issues, among others in an atmosphere devoid of bitterness, confrontation and conflict.

“What we got was the exact opposite of what we expected…The incoming government was completely left in the dark and only got handover notes four days before handover date.”

One thought a handover note often comprised what the predecessor deemed important. It could come in tomes of a thousand volumes and it could also be only a few sheets. Whatever it may be, no new government with a clear vision would depend on his predecessor’s notes to initiate its actions. Again, we remember PMB told us he was taking his time to restructure; he also told us that he could work without ministers who are essentially noisome.

One thought every new government must have clear ideas and the directions it wishes to go. What has a handover note got to do with the president appointing quality ministers in good time? Again, does it take so long for a new government to determine the true state of affairs of a country? All one needs do is to mandate the heads of the critical MDAs to generate the requisite reports in one week flat; and it is done.

Blaming ex-President Jonathan after about nine months of beating him at the polls only lends credence to critics who think PMB has lost touch, or never had it. It is akin to a man who wins a trophy and complains that the loser would not teach him how to pop champagne or loft the silverware and jump for joy.

Monday’s seeming faux pas may be considered the final denotation in a long narrative of inertia and lost opportunities of the PMB era. Coming on a groundswell of massive goodwill and popular desire for change, the change people are left with today may well be a few coins of disillusionment.

For a country that literally offered the president a triumphant entry; for a people not only willing to do just anything but actually did everything to allow the president a grand entrée, the honeymoon is surely over now. The PMB government was running on what has been commonly called ‘body language’. In support and deference to the new government, Nigerians had over these few months endeavoured to do the right things even at their own detriment. Most people were acting on the expectation that the new government would latch on to such outpouring of goodwill and restructure certain fundamentals. But nothing of such has happened.

One example is the petroleum sector, which was in a hail of crisis even as the president was inaugurated in May. Six months down the line, not a thought seems to have been spared on this matter of urgent national importance. What do we have today? The seeming reprieve granted by the stakeholders has been withdrawn, fuel is scarce once again across the country and PMB is about to pay a whopping N415 billion in so-called ‘subsidy’. And this is just the first tranche.

How much does it cost to build a modern modular refinery? Assuming the president has no thoughts whatsoever on this absurd ‘subsidy’ conundrum before he ascended office, a panel of five, set up in June could have given him the answers he needed and he would have pronounced a clear direction on this ignoble ‘subsidy’ by the end of June. We would have long gone past the current crisis. Now we are back to the sorry days of ex-President Jonathan… with attendant sufferings for the people.

Electricity supply is another sad example. The new owners of the distribution and generating companies who had begun to behave themselves upon the emergence of PMB, expecting a definitive new order, have simply reverted to their old ways, seeing neither spunk nor substance in PMB. Today, we are back to the old days of anything goes. Now in the middle of the dry season when power supply is needed most, what we have is sustained outages and sabotage. We are back to the Jonathan days… with attendant sufferings for the people.

The latest we hear is that the presidency has ordered reassessment of the Gencos and Discos. We thought this was the natural action to have been taken in the first weeks of June. Every discerning person in the country could tell that though government divesting from power was salutary, the process was fraught with abuse and irregularities. Further, the new owners have continued to play pranks in the last two years, extorting the people and making little investment. If only PMB had ordered this ‘reassessment’ in July, we would be reaping results now. Today the people harvest woes and weariness.

The war against graft has even turned out more vacuous, considering that it is the major plank of PMB emergence. Most of PMB’s energy seems to have been poured here, but not one person has been named, not to think of pulling anyone in for prosecution (apart from former NSA, Sambo Dasuki). Just a few days ago we were told that suspects were innocent until proven guilty. How profound! Six months after, we are still building up cases against those accused.

How effective can that be with no Attorney-General and Minister of Justice? How can we fight graft with a smeared template? From one’s seat here in Lagos one can perceive the stench in graft agencies in faraway Abuja; there ought to have been a clearing out and cleansing in order to start on a clean slate. Can you clean with a dirty mop?

Many Nigerians are truly apprehensive now about the PMB presidency and his ability to lead Nigeria out of the woods and back from the brink. The utter lack of urgency where speed is of essence is most frustrating. The ship of state is sinking, yet government struts as if it has 40 years to work. Now that a cabinet has been formed, it is hoped that purposeful activities will commence on all fronts.

But who would lead change. PMB’s capacity is in doubt, yet he bugs himself down the more with the Petroleum Ministry as if he is going to go to the ministry and pore over files or go to the creeks and remark crude pump calibrations. Many are therefore apprehensive of the quality of vision available at the helm, thus individual brilliance would be key and perhaps engender competition.

The party has not shown a brilliant core either. One thing that is certain, however, is that between the party, the president and the cabinet, there is need to re-imagine this epoch.

NATION

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