The Moment (London)
Olaitan Ladipo
13 July 2011
opinion
THE manner and outcome of the Speakership election, none-the- less, lend credence to accusation that the whole exercise was in the first place, a cynical plot to deny the Yoruba the Speakership (zoning by exclusion), since Jonathan and his associates knew very well that such an order to legislators would provoke the predictable backlash it did.
Contrary to the impression that acting Chairman, Haliru Mohammed, and Mr. Fix-It, Tony Anenih, were in the House chamber on the day to ensure that PDP legislators voted for Mrs. Akande-Adeola, their presence allegedly was actually to oversee Tambuwal’s victory.
The immediate (some say pre-planned and orchestrated) visit of new Speaker Tambuwal and his deputy to the PDP Secretariat, plus the swift “pardon” granted them by the President and the hierarchy were, if not absurd, to that effect suspicious and do little to disprove the accusations.
Immediately after the elections, the President retired to Obudu Ranch, the press said, to rest and put his ministerial team together. Our expectation that the President would come back with a cabinet ready and firing on all cylinders was roundly disappointed. Instead, the President is forever negotiating a dollar designated and weighted salary for a bureaucrat like Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
National service involves sacrifice and only those that can make it are fit for the purpose. I have never supported the idea that we need to scour the so-called diaspora for skilled individuals, because I believe there are enough competent Nigerians within the country.
If, however, we must, I would employ a hundred visionaries like Philip Emeagwali before touching one Okonjo-Iweala. I know Emeagwali has his critics (I am not one of them), but that is a topic for another time.
While the spirit of its objectives is set out in government’s policies, the civil service is the machinery that ensures strict adherence to the letter. Organisations like the World Bank, IMF and others are, in that sense, the ultimate civil service.
Even though many like Okonjo-Iweala are brilliant individuals, civil servants are not employed for their initiative. On the contrary, they swear to uphold and perpetuate bureaucracy. Having performed her briefs to the letter and to the sole benefit of her real employers, the last time around, it is not surprising the World Bank is eager to send Okonjo-Iweala back for a good topping on their cake. To think our President is even begging them for the “privilege”.
Interestingly, I cannot wait for the impending royal battle between Madam World Bank and our effective but rampaging Central Bank Governor who has so far managed to subordinate the ministries of Finance and Economic Planning and the offices of the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, to his own.
When business turns bad, usually the trader cuts his losses and makes a run for it, but Nigerians have no such luck, because with an elected President, we are stuck for four years. So, again and sooner than imagined, we have the task to make the best of a bad situation.
However, after much said but little done, I believe not all is lost. The President must start to run this term as if it is the only one possible. There is no place to hide, morally speaking. Aso Rock has its privileges, but it carries enormous responsibilities too. As the Yoruba say, “it is better not to ascend a throne than condone anarchy, saying the townspeople are uncontrollable.”
People easily forget the performance of a security adviser, a finance minister or a central bank governor, but they remember a good head of state or a bad one. The buck stops at the Presidency, not with overbearing party chieftains, or disgruntled political opponents. John F. Kennedy, a progressive president if there was ever any, at a time had to tell his imperious father: “I am the one they elected President, not you!”
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