This advanced preparation for governance should be of utmost importance, if the subversion of the moribund, lethargic, unproductive self-conflicting and self-contradictory socio-economic paradigms that have rendered the state comatose, stale and inchoate must be accomplished and replaced with new life-enhancing, productive and sustainable socio-economic paradigms. This tectonic shift is necessary.
“I shall in a few months be saddled with the task of providing responsible leadership, a leadership that would take our people from poverty and stagnation to productivity and prosperity, from pains and lamentation to joy and laughter.” – Ondo State Governor-elect Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN) in his victory speech after his official declaration by INEC as the winner of the Saturday, November 26 governorship poll.
It is my intention to deploy the above epigraph also in my subsequent articles in my desire to interrogate the new socio-economic and political dynamics that must inevitably replace the eight-year old governance order in Ondo State with the election of Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN) as the next governor of the Sunshine State starting from the 27th of February, 2017 for a four-year term. What will necessitate the repetition of this epigraph, for me, is not only to draw the attention of the people of Ondo State in particular, and Nigerians in general, to the poignancy of the statement, as it is pregnant and laced with meaning that one may not be far off the left field if one concludes that it will inevitably represent the central core of the Akeredolu administration as people-oriented. It’s also to serve as a reminder to the governor-elect that the tasks of turning the state around, most specifically in replacing its current socio-economic templates, are so huge and enormous that nothing short of a radical governance approach laced with a completely new way of thinking will suffice.
The keywords and/or phrases in the statement may have already pointed to the direction that an Akeredolu-led administration will travel in the state’s next political dispensation. The epigraph, for me, pre-supposes that critical governance architecture as well as its directive principles will be scrupulously geared towards, as well as revolve around the people of the state for a completely new lease of life. It also pre-supposes that the archaic, unproductive and lethargic state bureaucracy that gulps probably more than eighty percent of state revenue would be drastically reduced if the people’s “pains and lamentation” must turn to “joy and laughter” at the end of the day. One is therefore inclined to see the statement as the author’s overarching social contract with the people of Ondo State in which a common thread can be identified that also pre-supposes that a “responsible leadership” of the Akeredolu administration will liberate the people from “poverty and stagnation”, and whereby their “productivity and prosperity” will be harnessed and enhanced so that their “pains and lamentation” will turn to “joy and laughter” which ultimately translates into higher quality of life and a new and improved standard of living for them. This is no doubt a daunting but not impossible task.
Judging from the post-election equanimity that pervaded the length and breadth of the state, despite the serious acrimony within and between parties, talk less of the ‘bad blood’ between the major contestants prior to the election, in a state known for its recalcitrance and bull-headedness as followers had dug in behind their candidates. This was followed by a myriad of congratulatory messages, even from unlikely quarters, as Akeredolu’s electoral victory may have triggered some kind of feeling in the people that a messiah may have arrived to liberate them from the bondage they have not only been subjected under the Mimiko administration. And that was a needless socio-economic deprivation, which has been their lot probably since the time Pa Adekunle Ajasin left office. Because of this high level of expectations which – for all practical purposes – is reminiscent of the one following President Muhammadu Buhari’s electoral victory in 2015, the governor-elect may not wait until his swearing-in to get cranking, even if it’s by operating a mini, shadow administration, either from his redoubt in Owo or the state capital, Akure. At the minimum, head-hunting of highly intellectually endowed indigenes whose creativity can extract water from a rock and their persuasive prowess so enchanting that they can sell ice to the Eskimos is highly expedient. Groups of sound minds working on major policy directives of the incoming government should be in top gear by now. This advanced preparation for governance should be of utmost importance, if the subversion of the moribund, lethargic, unproductive self-conflicting and self-contradictory socio-economic paradigms that have rendered the state comatose, stale and inchoate must be accomplished and replaced with new life-enhancing, productive and sustainable socio-economic paradigms. This tectonic shift is necessary.
Perhaps Akeredolu’s next test on the road to running a successful and result-oriented government is for the Senior Advocate to figure out what should be the nature, character and style of the All Progressives Party (APC) in the state, in such a way that a robust and symbiotic relationship would exist between the political arm and administrative wing of the party in which the governor-elect now has the dual responsibility of leading.
With the country facing such an unprecedented revenue depletion in its history, which has brought into the fore and has called into question the sanity of the country’s military governments that created non-vaible states now unable to meet the very minimum obligation of paying the salaries of their workers, no one needs to be told that unusual leaders with strong political will – as is being witnessed with Buhari at the centre – are what are needed now in the states, as well. The governor-elect has demonstrated that he is audacious enough to take the road less or never travelled and embark on unusual propositions that would be aimed at recalibrating the socio-economic templates to spur real growth and sustainable development. The people of Ondo State have scaled through the first test of the type of leadership needed to change the governance architecture when they elected Rotimi Akeredolu, whose principled antecedent is undoubtedly one of the key hallmarks of “responsible leadership” to which he alluded in his maiden victory speech.
Perhaps Akeredolu’s next test on the road to running a successful and result-oriented government is for the Senior Advocate to figure out what should be the nature, character and style of the All Progressives Party (APC) in the state, in such a way that a robust and symbiotic relationship would exist between the political arm and administrative wing of the party in which the governor-elect now has the dual responsibility of leading. How he juggles these extremely important responsibilities would not only have telling effects on how long these two structures would endure in the state, but the level of health and wellbeing or otherwise of one has a direct correlation on the other. Aside the fact that there should be a fundamental restructuring of the party in the state in light of the internecine ‘war’ in the leadership prior to and after the primary, it may be extremely imperative to look at bringing in new hands. These are people whose only objective is to grow the party and are not in any way covetous of or interested in any positions in the government, while members of the present leadership are assigned new roles in the next political dispensation. There’s perhaps nothing as nauseating and morally reprehensible to those with the acute understanding of what political parties should be and what should be the guiding principles of their members than the promiscuous shuttling of key players between parties when they perceive that their narrow political interests are more likely to be enhanced in another party or are threatened where they are, as the case may be. Nigerian political parties will remain weak and incapable of galvanising their members, let alone the general populace, towards any noble ideals, as long as this aberration continues.
While it can be argued that it may not be the most auspicious time for anyone to be on the top rung of political leadership in the polity as our mostly self-inflicted socio-economic problems have become such a complex labyrinth that seems intractable, the unfortunate present reality of our time equally presents us with the opportunity to chart a new course whereby those tangible and intangible pillars that have stood on our developmental pathway are deliberately subverted and completely jettisoned for the sake of our collective good and progress. It’s a time like this that leaders who’re still preoccupied with frivolities of power must be separated from the deep who can dive well into the deep. One would hope that Rotimi Akeredolu belongs to this latter category.
Femi Odere, a media practitioner, can be reached at femiodere@gmail.com.
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