The All Progressives Congress may have won the presidential election and a majority of seats in both houses of the National Assembly but the party’s control of the Presidency and the legislature is another story entirely. On the one hand, President Muhammadu Buhari has been in firm control of the Presidency, literally driving his own train by himself and taking on board whoever he wishes. It is his prerogative to do so. As far as he is concerned, the party is one institution, while the Presidency is another. Some have mistakenly read dictatorship into his firm resolve, while others have accused him of being slow. However, no one can accuse him of being unsteady or unfocused.
On the other hand, the two chambers of the legislature have been struggling to control their own members, just as the party has been struggling to control their leaders. The initial defeat of the party’s choices for the positions of Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives continues to cause divisions among party members, while sometimes pulling the party, the Presidency, and the legislature in different directions.
Be that as it may, the recent inauguration of ministers, the personnel shake-up in the federal civil service, and Buhari’s “implement change” charge to ministers and civil servants are indications that the APC change train is about to take off. What cargo it will carry and how far it will go are still unclear. Equally unclear is how the party plans to carry the rest of the country along.
What is clear is that the journey has a laudable goal, namely, to change Nigeria’s diminishing fortunes in every sector of national life for the better. This is the goal that underlies Buhari’s charge to the civil servants: “If Nigeria has to realise its full potential for greatness, its civil service must first understand and accept the change mantra of this administration, and then lead its spread through all the institutions of governance and the economy.”
Against the above backgrounds, it is critical that the APC as a party, the Presidency, and the legislature board the same train, fully determined to arrive at the same destination together and at the same time. However, in setting out on this journey, it should be clear to everyone what specific kinds of change are to be achieved in specific areas of national life, given the fact that every sector has one kind of problem or the other. Since not all problems could be solved, priorities must be set and implementation strategies clearly laid out.
The APC leaders must understand that voters did not know what they were changing to, when they bought into the change mantra during the election; they only knew what they were changing from. With all the ministers in place, it is now time to tell the voters what they are changing to. This is the task before the ministers, who must settle down quickly; understudy the problems in their ministries; figure out the budget they will be working with; set their priorities; and tell us what they hope to accomplish within the life of the present administration.
It is the duty of the legislature to assist the ministers in accomplishing their goals by providing appropriate oversight functions and enacting relevant and appropriate legislation. They should stop bickering over committee memberships, stop the politics of self-preservation, and move on with the nation’s business.
On his part, President Buhari will do well to tell Nigerians the priority programmes and projects his administration would embark upon within the next one year or two so that all eyes will be on the appropriate ministers and ministries. This is important because the citizens must know where the administration is going, if their cooperation and input were to be enlisted and appropriated. There is no more room for delay as experienced in the last six months.
It is also time for the APC leaders to get over political squabbles and brace themselves for governance, by assisting the executive and the legislature the best way they can. They should realise that if they don’t leave politics behind for now, politics will leave them behind at the appropriate time.
The opposition also has a role to play beyond finding fault with the ruling party. No purpose is served by condemning everything APC, without ever suggesting some alternative agenda, programmes, and projects. Criticisms.
PUNCH
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