After what seemed an eternity, President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) and a smattering of state governors, namely Mr Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos, Mallam Abulfatah Ahmed of Kwara State and Senator Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State have sent their lists of Executive Council members to their appropriate legislative arms of government for screening and confirmation. Some would argue that over three months was simply too long a period to constitute their respective Executive Councils. But it is certainly better late than never. This column had previously submitted that the Executive Councils are not ornamental decorations. They have critical roles to play in achieving good, responsive and responsible governance. It is thus in the spirit of the constitution that they be set up as urgently as possible following the election of the Chief Executive even if the letters of the constitution do not give an explicit time frame to do so. However, given the quality of nominees by PMB and Governor Akinwunmi Ambode in particular, the wait has been well worth it.
Some analysts have suggested that PMB took his time in unveiling members of his Federal Executive Council (FEC) because he wanted only the best in terms of competence and character in his government and there are very few of these available. But it is also not impossible that he was faced with a surfeit of capable and qualified hands and had to take his time picking only the very best. PMB’s body language has often strongly suggested a strong distrust and aversion for politicians. He openly said in an interview during his recent visit to France that politicians as Ministers only make a lot of noise while it is the technocrats that do the job. Of course, this is a rather simplistic and exaggerated view of the so-called technocrat/politician dichotomy. In modern politics, many outstanding technocrats are astute politicians and many accomplished politicians are respected technocrats in their spheres of specialisation.
One can understand PMB’s aversion to politicians and their antics given his own background and experiences. For one, he is himself the product of a highly bureaucratised organisation, the military, with its emphasis on unquestioning obedience and rigid hierarchical control. Again, in his first coming as military Head of State in December 1983, it was his challenge to help clean up the utter political, moral and economic mess in which the politicians of the Second Republic had left the nation. Again, as elected President today, he is confronting the mess and decay the politicians had created over the last 16 years since 1999. However, it would be naïve and misleading to put all the blames for failed governance during civilian democratic dispensations at the doorsteps of politicians alone. The civil service technocrats are no less implicated in the gross misrule, monumental graft and utter incompetence that have left the country perpetually punching below its weight.
In any case, the competence, seriousness, sense of purpose, focus and integrity of the council of Ministers will only be as good as the leadership qualities and moral integrity of the Chief Executive that appointed them especially in a presidential system of government. This is why the recent assertion by former President Goodluck Jonathan that the appointments of two of his former key aides, Dr Akinwunmi Adesina and Ms Arumah Oteh to prestigious international positions testify to the quality of his Executive Council is so totally misplaced. Yes, there were men and women of the highest intellectual and administrative competence in Dr Jonathan’s Cabinet but his own leadership deficiencies prevented the nation from benefitting maximally from their potentials.
Again, PMB must be careful not to fall into the error of the PDP years. Lacking a coherent ideological world view and well thought out manifesto, successive PDP administrations between 1999 and May 29, 2015, simply surrendered the country’s policy direction to an assortment of local and foreign ‘technocrats’ particularly IMF/World Bank super star mandarins. They had absolutely no clue to the country’s deep seated problems beyond the age-long and ineffectual palliatives of the International Financial Institutions (IFIs). Indeed, one of them, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, could hardly hide her disdain for the political class in her arrogantly titled book, ‘Reforming the Unreformable”. Thus, the PDP had the National Economic and Employment Strategy (NEEDS) under Obasanjo, the 7-poimt agenda under the late Umaru Yar’Adua and the Jonathan administration’s magical ‘Transformation Agenda all leading the country nowhere.
One good thing about PMB’s taking his time in constituting his Federal Executive Council (FEC) is that he has been able to set an example of the exceedingly high moral standards he expects of his team. No one who falls below the bar can complain he or she was not forewarned. Again the process of his forming his Cabinet shows the character of the President’s mind and the quality of his decision-making process. He has effectively and admirably balanced his commitment to party loyalty and supremacy with the fierce independence of mind needed by the Chief Executive in a presidential system of government. He has also sent a strong signal that the buck stops at his table as President. His Ministers must thus first and foremost be loyal to him and the constitution rather than extraneous influences.
I disagree completely with those who contend that PMB must have 36 Ministers, one from each of the states of the federation. It is this column’s view that in as much as all geo-political zones in the country have already been represented in the list he has sent to the Senate, the Federal Character principle has been effectively met. There are thousands of appointments yet to be made at the centre, which can take care of states not represented in the Federal Executive Council. In any case, the President shortly after assuming office obtained the authorisation of the Senate to appoint 13 Special Advisers. He can simply go on to appoint suitable persons to these positions and get ahead with the business of governance.
It is difficult to fault the President’s proposed team. Alhaji Lai Mohammed has been the indefatigable spokesperson of the party during its opposition years in the wilderness. So lucid, stinging, pungent, perspicacious and consistent were his daily engagements with the PDP that the party promptly labelled him ‘Lie Mohammed’. In the last election, the vast majority of the electorate demonstrated that they didn’t consider Lai a liar. Chief Audu Ogbe has a track record of cerebral discourse, moral integrity and administrative competence. Despite his catastrophic loss to the erratic and combustible Ayo Fayose in the last Ekiti governorship election, no one doubts the high intellect and managerial acumen of Dr Kayode Fayemi. Mr Babatunde RajiFashola (SAN) is an established icon of the party given the exemplary way he built on the foundation laid by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as governor of Lagos State. Rotimi Amaechi may be often rambunctious and brash but he perhaps needed these qualities to contain the Dr Jonathan rampaging forces of impunity in Rivers State. This column is highly optimistic that this team will perform creditably in assisting PMB to lead Nigeria in a new direction of positive change.
No less impressive is Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s team made up of at least seven members with experience in the BRF Executive Council and others ranging between ages 39 and 47 from varied backgrounds including local government administration, the legislature, media, as well as legal practice and the private sector. There is certainly hope for Nigeria as public office is gradually being conceived not as an end in itself but avenues for conceptualising and implementing policies towards enhancing the public good.
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