The promise of having a Yemi Osinbajo as Nigeria’s Vice President (VP) and the right hand man to President Muhammadu Buhari shone like the morning star during the recent 13th Annual Trust Dialogue, a fortnight ago. By observing at the forum that the major problem militating against the country’s development was the absence of a consensus among the Nigerian elite – over where the country should be heading, he added fresh and welcome impetus to a major reducing agent: ideological miasma – which has been vitiating the nation’s efforts at moving to the next level, and which has so far defied ephemeral remedies.
His worry borders on the tendency of many elements of the Nigerian elite to earn prominence at the expense of opportunities provided by the nation, yet retain passionate loyalty to their primordial ethnic bases. Put succinctly, neither Osinbajo nor anybody else would have captured the core weakness of the country better.
Speaking as the Special Guest of Honour at the occasion, Osinbajo the erudite professor of law, church pastor and evangelist among other roles which he has been successfully playing in both the ecclesiastical and secular domains, did not disappoint his audience. Dropping all airs of the VIP he was at the event the VP went into his element to draw the country’s attention to the proper starting point in any effort at moving Nigeria forward. His prognosis places the blame for denying the country its expected growth on the elite. Its thrust is that, unless and until the elite of the country who are the head of the country, start building consensus around the core values and institutions that accentuate Nigeria as one country for all its citizens no matter the ethnic origin, so long shall the country be wallowing in circles.
Ostensibly Osinbajo must be talking about the failure of the elite in providing the much needed leadership for the society, through identifying with the values and lifestyles that promote national consciousness and integration of disparate constituent groups. And Osinbajo’s lament is not out of place as it is the elite that determine where the society is headed at any point in time. It is instructive that the Kalabaris in the Niger Delta, for whom fishing is the traditional occupation, say that a fish starts to rot from the head.
For the purpose of clarification the elite are those members of the society who enjoy an elevated status over the rest and are in the position of making decision which others follow. The category under consideration includes the President and the Vice President as well as the ministers and special advisers to these highest profile personalities. Others include the top leadership of the public service at all the three tiers of government, the traditional rulers of all ranks and shades, private business executives at all levels, politicians of all political parties, media executives that dictate the content of the mass media and others whom space restricts their mention here.
These are the constituents of the leadership community of the country to whom the rest of society look up to. They as the thinkers are vested with the responsibility of showing the rest where to go. And all he is passing on to them is that good thinking leads to good product, as the Toyota motor company once adopted as its marketing mantra. If the leadership think aright, the country will clearly follow accordingly.
This position is consistent with the march of human history as throughout the ages, societies have risen and fallen due to the capacity of the leading class to visualize articulate and practicalize the way forward for the rest. This country can therefore not be an exception. Hence Osinbajo’s homily needs to be taken in good faith as another clarion call for things to done in a different way by the leadership of the country this time around. And in any case the urgency of the situation cannot be over emphasized given the state of affairs in the country today, which inspired President Buhari to warn that “if we do not kill corruption, corruption will kill Nigeria”.
To accentuate the foregoing contention is not difficult. The ongoing real life drama of mind boggling revelations of shameless, massive looting of public funds by hitherto revered elite and public figures, and which represent only a tip of the iceberg of the mess in which the nation’s patrimony finds itself, remains an enduring reference point. In any case if Nigerians are shocked over the sordid details of the trending ‘arms gate’ scandal, they need to brace up for the likely ‘explosions’ that may be unleashed when the outcomes from the ongoing probes of traditionally suspected hotbeds of sleaze such as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Nigerian Custom Service, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and others.
Against the backdrop of the foregoing therefore the challenge looms most urgently that the change which the present administration has assigned to itself be facilitated,and the time to act is now. The nation’s response will however be attained most optimally through the adoption of a template of reforms into which all stakeholders in the task of moving the country forward – comprising both the elite and the masses, need to buy in. The starting point is to ensure that the government builds, enjoys and sustains appeal by the masses, since from the lessons of history, the elite can only be jolted out of their comfort zones by mass action. The present administration will therefore do well by satiating public expectations through opening up and domesticating the processes of government business with the general public.
The public at all times reserve the right to know how government business is run. In the first place it was the culture of secrecy over the business of government that spawned the wave of looting of public funds which the country is now chasing; long after the cow had vanished from the barn, thereby rendering much of the anti-graft efforts mere medicine after death.
Facilitating such a scenario cannot be a problem anymore given the advances in information technology which have changed the face of public affairs management globally. For Nigeria the situation remains even more poignant given that several years after the enactment the Freedom of Information Act(FOI), access to public records still remains near impossible for the citizenry. For example, Nigerians know more about the colour of the tea cup used by the Queen of England than the budget of the country’s principal cash cow -the NNPC.
The circumstances under consideration dictate that the government promotes elite consensus as ably advocated by the VP Osinbajo, through providing the general public deeper access into the workings of the government, thereby impelling the elite in the direction of what is acceptable in public interest or otherwise. It will also be helpful if all public institutions at all tiers are motivated to act in compliance with the FOI Act and avail the public, valuable insights into why they exist at the expense of the taxpayer, with the failure to do so attracting due sanctions on the erring officials.
Meanwhile it is also advised that reforms which are to be implemented, be protected with due legal safeguards, through availing them formal legislative processing. The need for such becomes imperative given the wide ambit of constitutional liberties which may be capitalized upon by sundry vested interests and groups at the various arms as well as tiers of government, to vitiate the integrity of otherwise well intentioned reforms, and stall the evolution of consensus over a new deal for Nigeria.
And who knows if it is to facilitate such a national consensus over true Nigerianness of all and by all citizens, that providence has fetched Professor Yemi Osinbajo to serve as the Vice President of the country at this time. Only time and circumstances will tell.
Monima will be back with a new article next week
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