Musa Yar'Adua: Presidential Policy Assurances
By Franklin Otorofani
In the annals of
Nigeria’s development history a single blighted thread
could be found to run through the entire gamut of her
development profile. And that thread bears an infamous
tag: “Policy Discontinuity.” Sound development programs
that cost the nation billions of Naira to put together
by the some of the best brains in the world and
celebrated with fanfare and funfair are callously
abandoned and flushed down the drains midstream no
sooner their implementation had begun and we start all
over again. A jinxed but otherwise bountifully endowed
nation is thus caught in a vicious cycle of poverty and
underdevelopment.
The result is that huge resources---money, materials,
man/hour and time, that had been committed to the
development and implementation of such programs are laid
to waste without batting an eye and with no one asking
questions about the deliberate and intentional wastage
proliferating in the polity and perpetrated by those who
had taken oaths to manage our resources with utmost
prudence. One only has to cast a cursory glance at the
nation’s economic landscape to behold the towering
national monuments of abandoned dreams. They are not the
Eiffel Towers in Paris, Statute of Liberty in New York,
Petronis Towers in Singapore, but Towers of Disasters
frozen in time and place in Nigeria.
It is this rolling disaster that former President
Olusegun Obasanjo sought to put an end to when he
earnestly began to search for a worthy successor to
continue the implementation of his yet to be completed
development agenda for the nation. In more matured
climes where government is viewed as a continuum
Obasanjo might not have bothered about the continuity of
his policies and programs and, for that matter, those of
his party, the PDP. But we are talking about Nigeria a
country where a successor’s first order of business is
to viciously and wantonly demolish all the legacies of
his predecessor whatever the cost to the nation and
start all over again until another comes around to pull
down whatever structure he too has put up and the
vicious cycle continues ad infinitum. That’s the
pathetic lot of a jinxed nation.
In the light of the foregoing therefore it was
pleasantly refreshing to hear President Yar’Adua
continually restating his commitment to the vigorous
implementation of the socio-economic reform policies
initiated by his predecessor-in-office. One would easily
recall the President had publicly made that commitment
during his inaugural address after he was sworn in. That
commitment was targeted at both the national and
international audiences. And barely a week later at the
G8 Summit in far away Germany he restated that
commitment. The reason for that reassurance is not
farfetched for those interested in international
relations and the implications of policy summersaults in
the Nigeria’s economic diplomacy spearheaded by the
Obasanjo administration. The international community had
bought into the NEEDS development program and has
accordingly invested in it. It would be suicidal
therefore for President Yar’Adua to send any form of
mixed signals other than his full commitment to the full
throated implementation of those policies, to the
international community. And that's the reason why he
seizes every opportunity that presents itself to
reassure the nation and the international community of
policy continuity in Nigeria.
Now the cynic could say those were mere verbal
commitment that meant little or nothing in practical
terms. It was not clear whether Yar’Adua’s verbalization
of his commitment to the policies was just hot air.
Well, the first opportunity came during the last labor
strike over increase in the prices of petroleum
products, for President Yar’Adua to demonstrate, in
practical terms, whether he meant business or not. But
guess what: It was not only an opportunity for President
Yar’Adua only but also an opportunity for opportunists
and mischief-makers in Nigeria to urge him to dump his
inherited Obasanjo’s policies and chart his own course
as if his party’s policies are not his policies. Thus
the nation waited with bathed breath for Yar’Adua to
come out with policy statement on the labor strike. The
job fell on his designated spokesperson, Mr. Adeniyi
formerly of the THISDAY Group to announce the
president’s position to the nation. The deregulation
policy continues and there would be no reversal of the
price increase …!
Thus, fortunately for the nation and unfortunately for
the opportunists and mischief-makers, Yar’Adua displayed
commendable and admirable resilience, faith, and
conviction in the absolute necessity of those policies.
His reaction to the labor demands in sticking to the
increase done by his predecessor with minor adjustment
rather than outright reversal as demanded by labor and
the unprincipled opposition showed Yar’Adua meant
business in his public commitment to carry on with those
policies. No further proof was therefore required to
demonstrate his commitment to the reforms.
That commitment has also been practically demonstrated
in another critical area of his predecessor’s policies;
in the re-invigorated war on corruption, which the same
opportunists were urging him to abandon in the name of
so-called Government of National Unity. These
opportunists who obviously do not mean well for the
nation would want Yar’Adua to abandon a principled war
on corruption because of a national unity government.
Now you might want to ask the opportunists and mischief
makers this: What has that got to do with the
implementation of the nation’s policy against
corruption? What has the so-called unity government got
to do with the war on corruption? Are members of the
opposition roosting for unity government as a means to
cover up their loot and thievery? What makes them think
that just because Yar’Adua wants them in government just
to calm frayed nerves would grant them, especially the
governors, immunity from prosecution for robbing their
states blind? I pity them if they thought the unity
government would be used to cloak their crimes against
their fatherland.
These characters want to set the hand of the clock back
but that will never happen again because the nation has
been sufficiently sensitized and primed for the war on
corruption and no amount of wishful thinking and
blackmail would derail the government from chasing and
prosecuting the thieves in government. It’s a commitment
the nation has made and there is no going back on the
war on corruption. How do I know? The loud public outcry
by Nigerians against perceived EFCC’s dithering in going
after the departing governors after they vacated office
and thus lost their immunity from criminal prosecution
is proof positive that Yar’Adua would only abandon the
war on corruption at his own peril. Nigerians desire the
vigorous prosecution of all corrupt governors who
mortgaged our interests and pocketed their states’
treasuries. The revelations against the Kalus, Nyames,
Nnamani, Dariyes and the weeping one, Turaki, some of
whom are already singing like canaries in jail, have
given added fillip to the prosecutory efforts of the
EFCC. Like sharks, the more Nigerians hear about these
revelations the more blood they ask for.
And for those who might be entertaining the idea that
the war on corruption would die with the Obasanjo
Administration and therefore return to business as
usual, here are Yar'Adua's own words as reported by The
Guardian Newspaper:
"As an Administration, we have absolute
zero-tolerance for corruption in all its ramifications.
We must never abuse public trust either through
misappropriation, misapplication, or outright stealing
of public funds. Anyone who does so will have the full
weight of the law to reckon with."
Thus Yar’Adua left no one in doubt that the reforms are
here to stay and Nigerians are gratified by that
gesture. However, as if his demonstrated actions were
not enough reassurances to the nation and the
international community, he has, for the umpteenth time,
demonstrated that same commitment during the swearing in
ceremonies of his new ministers. Here is how The
Guardian, again reported the President’s speech:
"The President also restated his administration's
resolve not to be radically different from that of his
predecessor at least in policy thrust. Yar'Adua told the
ministers at the fully-packed council chambers of the
Presidential Villa, Abuja, that the "comprehensive
reforms" initiated by his predecessor, Chief Olusegun
Obasanjo, remained on course. He said that the "reforms"
would be tampered with only when the goal of a new
prosperous Nigeria is reached."
Now, if there were still some lingering doubts about the
bonafides of the President in keeping faith with the
reform agenda of his predecessor even after his previous
public declarations, this address, made at a critical
function as the swearing in ceremonies of ministers,
which signaled the takeoff of his administration, has
finally laid to rest such doubts. But why is Yar’Adua so
eager to publicly restate and demonstrate his commitment
to those policies? The answer is simple and
straightforward. He is telling busy bodies and crass
opportunists in Nigeria and abroad to literarily back
off and stop driving a wedge between him and his
predecessor in office, former President Olusegun
Obasanjo. There are those who naively and mischievously
equate their visceral, (some would say pathological)
dislike for Obasanjo with their dislike for his policy
thrusts. I have read some commentator asking Yar’Adua to
“cut Obasanjo loose” and be his own man. It’s amazing
how naïve some Nigerians can be in their public
commentary.
How in the world would anyone advocate that Yar’Adua
should toe the path of treachery like Abubakar Atiku
against someone who single-handedly undertook the
political risk of installing him President of the
world’s greatest black nation? How could anyone in his
right senses ask Yar’Adua to betray such a one who has
been called names on account of his decision to install
Yar’Adua as his successor against all odds? How could
anyone be so unprincipled in his commentary to ask a
presidential beneficiary of an agreement not to honor
such agreement freely entered into by him to pursue the
reform agenda of his predecessor to their logical
conclusion? Or for that matter, how could anyone who has
any principle left in him advise anyone to betray
another and not honor his commitments? It shows how
shamelessly unprincipled some Nigerians can be. When I
read some public commentaries by some Nigerian writers I
shudder at the kinds of charlatans and crass
opportunists that populate our public literary
landscape. They have no iota of regard for principles
and honor. But thank goodness President Musa Yar’Adua
has demonstrated beyond a shadow of doubt that he is not
in their class. The man has honor and integrity unlike
his unsolicited advisers who want him to dump his
commitments and distance himself from the person of
former President Olusegun Obasanjo and his policies.
Now who would want the nation to dump the policies that
have been in implementation for the past four years for
yet another set of fresh policies to be initiated by the
current President? Only enemies of Nigeria, off course.
These enemies of Nigeria want the country to return to
business as usual. They want the President to toe the
same path of policy abandonment midstream that has been
the bane of our national development since independence.
They want her to return to the era of unbridled and
unchecked corruption because they were beneficiaries of
that bygone era. They were therefore not happy with
Obasanjo for fighting corruption with such ferocity and
doggedness with the EFCC as the arrowhead. They cried
blue murder and kicked up huge dusts over the activities
of EFCC, which they claimed to be selective and targeted
at the opposition even though it was crystal clear, even
to the blind, that Obasanjo’s own close associates had
been dealt with by the anti-corruption agency including
mostly his own party men and public officials.
Despite this glaring evidence the drumbeat of criticism
was still unrelenting and they did their very worst to
paint EFCC and Ribadu with tar. Obasanjo, they claimed,
was on mission of vendetta. They were thus relieved when
Yar’Adua came on board hoping that he would just throw
overboard Obasanjo’s policies. But they got a rude shock
coming! President Musa Yar’Adua is not only sticking
with those policies but he has pledged publicly and
demonstrated practically, to accelerate their full and
vigorous implementation to the chagrin of the
opportunists and mischief makers who want him to part
ways with his predecessor. That determination is fully
reflected in his newly formed cabinet populated by
Obasanjo’s men, the very people driving the reform
programs. Yar'Adua's cabinet has significant Obasanjo
imput if not an overwhelming imput. Otherwise Madueke,
John Odey, and many others would not be there at all in
Yar'Adua's cabinet. And guess what: Nuhu Ribadu is not
only still on the saddle as the anti-corruption Czar he
is now on the rampage once again as he was during the
Obasanjo era. Nothing has changed and nothing would
change as nothing should change, until the reforms are
fully implemented.
And here I would like to remind those opportunists and
charlatans to stop driving unnecessary wedge between the
President and his predecessor. That is not only bad
politicking but fundamentally unhealthy for the nation.
As I had argued elsewhere in the past in an article
accessible through the link below:
http://www.nigerian-newspaper.com/obasanjo-legacies.htm,
Yar’Adua is the product of his party, the PDP, and his
party has a development program to which he is fully
committed to implementing. These guys should understand
the character of the man, Yar’Adua. He is no Abubakar
Atiku, the erstwhile Vice-President who betrayed his own
government and dumped his party for an upstart political
party in the name of pursuing his presidential ambition.
Therefore to urge him to abandon those policies soon
after his inauguration and even before his government
finally settles down to business is not only naïve but
shows the extent to which mischief makers and
opportunists are ready to go to have Yar’Adua distance
himself from his party and its programs. But any smart
person should know that, that is never going to happen.
The PDP is in power and its policies will be implemented
by the President who is the leader of the party rather
than the jaundiced un-solicited opportunistic advice of
mischief makers and the opposition who are not party
members.
Fair enough those policies can and should be fine-tuned
as the former President in fact did in the course of
their implementation. That is not only desirable but a
necessary inbuilt feature of the reform programs
themselves. But jettisoning the policies is something
else altogether that I would not even wish for an enemy
country much less my dear country. If President Musa
Yar’Adua continues in this vein he would have
demonstrated to the world that he is made of sterner
stuff and would not be goaded into reversing those
policies to please charlatans and opportunists
masquerading as advisers. The economic and social
liberation of Nigeria lies in the vigorous
implementation of those policies that will take Nigeria
to the economic destination charted for her by the
Obasanjo and Yar’Adua administrations by the year 20/20,
and that is making the nation one of the 20 largest
economies in the world by the year 20/20. President Musa
Yar’Adua, the political son will complete the job
started by his political father, former President
Olusegun Obasanjo. The objective has been set and the
roadmap has been drawn, and the implementation had been
kickstarted under the previous administration to be
completed by the present administration. It's that dead
set pretty much in rock.
It’s this singular objective that is driving the reform
policies to which President Musa Yar’Adua is committed
as demonstrated in his presidential reassurances and the
practical actions he has taken so far in that direction
since his inauguration as copiously alluded to above.
So, back off opportunists, charlatans and mischief
makers. President Musa Yar’Adua has no need for your
misguided and un-solicited advice. He has enough
patriotic advisers to steer him in the right direction
going forward.
God Bless Nigeria.
Franklin Otorofani is a Nigerian Attorney based in US
contact: mudiagaone@yahoo.com
