Muhammadu Buhari has a lousy luck.
At this first coming in 1984, Major Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, as military head of state, had to endure the head-splitting headache from the hangover of President Shehu Shagari’s National Party of Nigeria (NPN) freeloaders, in Nigeria’s Second Republic (1 October 1979 – 31 December 1983).
At his second coming in 2015, Muhammadu Buhari, as elected president of the Federal Republic, faces no less splitting headache. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) dynasty had from 1999 under President Olusegun Obasanjo progressively decayed, such that the rot, under President Goodluck Jonathan, climaxed in a well-deserved fall; and loss of power.
Just as in 1984, in 2015, the party is over. It is left to President Buhari to clear the mess, with those who caused the problem most trenchant about the imperative to do so.
But before he could even clear that mess in 1984 — no thanks to his junta’s fatal failure to communicate its own actions — reactionary forces overthrew him in a palace coup. With them, Nigeria went to seeds. But preserving the Buhari mystique came out of that personal tragedy.
Besides, it is democracy. Except there is perfidy from the parliamentary front — and nothing is impossible — it is a democracy. Other things being equal, a fixed term of four years is guaranteed, within which the president is expected to unfurl his policies and implement his programmes.
And because it is democracy too, the administration must have a vigorous and vibrant communication segment, as an integral part of every policy and programme. Fifth columnists are no monopoly of military rule!
That, of course, leads to the newly appointed federal cabinet; and the comments, more or less based on trivia, that have accompanied its birthing.
Take Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN, former governor of Lagos. Not a few have proclaimed him a “prime minister”, a rather literal (if not outright mischievous) definition of his three-in-one heavyweight portfolio of Power, Works and Housing.
Others have gone to proclaim Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, former Rivers governor, as another “super minister”, in view of his no less challenging Transport portfolio, under which is Aviation and Maritime, not to mention rail.
Aviation is the hub of a modern economy, maritime is the cash cow, given the normally huge revenue from ports in a globalised economy that thrives on international trade; and rail holds the key to truly modernising the Nigerian local economy, both in the mass transit of people; and mass movement of heavy bulk, at tolerable costs, and with least cost to road infrastructure.
Trivia aside, a federal cabinet today, without Fashola and Amaechi would have been inconceivable, except they were not members of the ruling party. This is simply because the duo would appear the very best, given their achievements during their tours of duty in Lagos and Rivers states, among the Gubernatorial Class of 2007-2014.
But that is the trivial part of it. The serious side is that the two are charged with tough infrastructure duties that would make or mar the administration. With a projected 2016 budget in the N7 trillion to N8 trillion mark, it would appear a budget of reflation. Public works, either indirectly by contract or directly by direct labour, would dominate economic activities.
And power! Imagine what a lit up Nigeria would do, to social and business health!
So, should either Fashola or Amaechi (or both) fail, Buhari would be perceived to have failed. So long for the vanity of prime or super ministers!
The focus on infrastructure, agriculture and solid minerals, by the Buhari administration, would appear obvious by the manning of the two other ministries.
Audu Ogbeh, the French major turned practical agriculturist, would appear both symbolic and practical. Symbolic, because he appears to reinforce the zero-tolerance for sleaze that the Buhari Presidency appears to push. Since Mr. Ogbeh’s entry into Nigeria’s public life, he has earned a rare reputation for consistency and integrity. And practical, because since he had made farming his vocation, he had developed some private expertise, from which public policy can benefit.
His major challenge, however, would be how Mr. Ogbeh is able to leverage his experience and personal temper to build on the modest achievement of the Goodluck Jonathan Presidency, in which agricultural showman and designer minister, Akinwunmi Adesina, now president of African Development Bank (AfDB), held sway.
In Solid Minerals, however, Kayode Fayemi would appear a curious pick. In Foreign Affairs, he would have been a shoo-in, by virtue of his training and intellectual activism. Still, he comes to the job with a federalist’s temper; and keen intellect. A federalist’s temper is key; for over-centralising mining would appear a perpetual drag on exploiting solid minerals.
Dr. Fayemi’s huge challenge, however, would be convincing a traditionally centrist-minded president to see reason in urgent laws liberalising mining, such that states can enter into that sector, with proven foreign partners, as economic growth areas, to deliver cash and value.
It would appear therefore that infrastructure, agriculture and solid minerals would be the hub of this government’s economic policy, in its bid to diversify the economy and deepen the local economy. This is not a bad idea, especially if the pivotal ministers stay on top of their game and deliver.
Talking of delivering ministers, the advent of Mr. Fashola as power minister has marked the nose-diving of power supply. The authorities say the fault is from the transmission network, alleging some sabotage.
But if one were to use a Biblical allusion, the dip would appear not unlike Satan tempting the Christ to show his power, when during the week of temptation, he took Jesus to a great height and taunted him to perform a miracle, since he was the son of God expected by all!
The parallel? Well, Fashola the golden boy of Lagos, entered with some anonymity — Fashola who? But as minister, his fame was already founded on the solidity of his achievements in Lagos; and the razor-sharpness of his thinking.
So, he faces huge expectations bordering on the magical, which could easily snowball into a crisis, especially as he operates in tasking times. Yet, crisis time is when proven performers prove their mettle, particularly with a united administration behind him.
That is why those who trumpet him as “prime minister” would do well to see the quantum of his job; and spend less time on the triumphalism founded trivia. Besides, such would only make him needless enemies, within and without the administration.
Let everyone therefore focus on value. That way, there would be less time for needless yarns that can only confuse, confound and distract.
The Buhari road is too rough, and the pains of long suffering Nigerians too high, such costly distractions.
NATION
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