Political appointments for those who hate politics (V)

Fourth Strategy: Be the Go-To guy in your field

There’s an American TV series called Designated Survivor. 

Some degenerates plotted and killed the president and his entire cabinet. Which made the secretary of housing to be sworn in as president. 

Earlier he was designated (designated survivor) to be sworn in should something happen to the president and others in the line of succession. 

But our interest today isn’t how he became president but how he got into the cabinet in the first place. The new president (former secretary of housing and urban development) was an academic, a professor who was recruited into the administration only because of his stellar ideas and academic papers on urban development. 

Which means you can be appointed into political position because of your expertise; which also means this strategy isn’t a strategy at all. 

Because it’s on account of your work, which is motivated by other goals. You might not have even thought of political office. But many appointees come to office only because of their expertise, not because of political participation. 

Our incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari is quite disposed to recruiting people in such a fashion, especially when he was the military head of state. 

Then, soldiers just appeared from nowhere and asked you to come with them. Your family thought you were being arrested. Until you rang them to tell them of the good news. 

And as a civilian president, he hasn’t stopped. He brought in Jelani Aliyu, an award winning car designer from the United States to head Nigeria’s automotive agency. 

Therefore, for those who hate politics, this is the most comforting route. 

But it’s also the most unlikely way to come to political office. 

First, your expertise must be relevant, then it must be needed. Then there has to be a principal who appreciates your work and wants to bring you in, not as a consultant, but as an appointee. 

Even if all these requirements are fulfilled, they have to align. And it’s difficult to have such a coincidence. 

However, you can help your case if you or someone else brings your expertise to the attention of the political powers. 

If your idea would truly help the people, would be easy and affordable to implement and it’s presented in a clear way such that the benefits are apparent, you’re likely to be invited. 

It’s what the former minister of agriculture, Adesina, did. 

First Sanusi Lamido as the Central Bank governor realized that Adesina’s ideas could help the nation especially in funding agriculture. So he brought him to Nigeria to head CBN’s NIRSAL. 

From there President Jonathan appointed him agriculture minister. And from there he became the head of African Development Bank. The position he still holds. 

However, you can help your case if you or someone else brings your expertise to the attention of the political powers. 

If your idea would truly help the people, would be easy and affordable to implement and it’s presented in a clear way such that the benefits are apparent, you’re likely to be invited. 

It’s what the former minister of agriculture, Adesina, did. 

First Sanusi Lamido as the Central Bank governor realized that Adesina’s ideas could help the nation especially in funding agriculture. So he brought him to Nigeria to head CBN’s NIRSAL. 

From there President Jonathan appointed him agriculture minister. And from there he became the head of African Development Bank. The position he still holds. 

So you can see that this is not only doable, but there’s also upward mobility by following the route if you know what you are doing. 

The problem with our experts is that when they share their expertise, they are only thinking of how to swell their bank accounts, they’re not thinking of how their ideas could help the people. 

Sometimes they bring their ideas to you and you can’t help but ask: “what’s the point of this again?”

One way to test if your idea fits this strategy is to ask yourself: “can I give up this to be employed in the service of the people free of charge?”

If you can say yes to this, even without public office, you’re likely to help the people with it. And therefore you’re going to be recognized for it, if not now, in the future. And in that case you don’t even need the appointment.

But first, you have to be the go-to expert in the field. To achieve this, the narrower your field the better. For example, if we want to think of the best car designer, if you’re Nigerian, the first person you think about is Jelani Aliyu. 

Be a Jelani Aliyu in your field.