Other Matters

The sun does not forget a village because it is small. African proverb

At this stage the most damaging effect of the pandemic (or its collateral damage) appears  to be that it diverts attention from other vital issues that should be addressed either as routine processes dealing with social and economic problems, or unusual developments that challenge nations and societies. There are no clear lines here: the pandemic, in most cases, reinforces weaknesses and problems, making them more difficult to solve.

As our nation grapples with general and peculiar problems in the manner it fights this pandemic, it is vital that we do not  take our eyes entirely off the ball. Many problems have to be confronted at the same time, time being the operative word here. In my view, these are some of the broad issues that the nation needs to pay close attention to, and deal with.

1.     Governance

Quality of governance  as a whole must be improved, not just because of the appearance of pronounced complacency exhibited by elected persons following their elections and victories in courts, but also because new challenges such as managing the pandemic and limited economic resources require higher levels of competence and integrity. Legislators must play vital roles in keeping the executive on their toes, and being active in working with it to improve policy and legislation that will reflect the difficult times we live in. Governors must  show greater levels of empathy with the population and reduce distances between them and the public.

President Buhari’s appointment of Professor Ibrahim Gambari as Chief of Staff hints at a willingness to match quality with comfort. This is the historic moment when the President should signal a resolve to leave a positive legacy for his leadership. He has three years to salvage an image and a record that could  be much better, but the truth is that he will not do this with many of the people he has entrusted with vital responsibilities. Many of the Ministers and other Chief Executives who have been with him for most of his Presidency have run out of steam, ideas or the zeal to go beyond the routine. He must inject a sense of urgency and emergency in his government, and bring in new hands that believe that the nation faces a set of challenges that must be overcome, and this can be achieved even in the face of a pandemic and dwindling fortunes. He cannot just see out three years of his second term in familiar gears and in styles and standards that he is comfortable with. The nation cannot survive waiting for three years for another President to fix what President Buhari has an opportunity and a duty to fix.

The nation needs to pay very close attention to tendencies that are weakening the bonds of nationhood, some pre-dating the pandemic, some reinforcing them and others which feed-off opportunism of  politicians, mostly with an eye on 2023.Barriers and barricades going up against particular groups and inflammatory rhetorics that generate fear and hostility are rampant in the land. Those who see value in preserving this union, or halting a painful decaying process should reach out to others who can discuss a future with all cards on the table. It is very unlikely that the Buhari administration will see this as a priority project, but other Nigerians do not need a license from him to discuss the future of the nation.The President himself  needs a  strong and informed Political Adviser.

2.     National security, public safety

Just about every index on organized violent criminal activities appears to be on the rise. The President's home State, Katsina, is particularly hard hit by rampaging bandits and kidnappers who appear to have the run of much of the State. Banditry and clashes between communities are creating huge spaces for violent crimes and squeezing increasing numbers of mainly rural poor out of their homes and livelihoods. Governors say there is little they can do when communities cry out. A few get chances to give the President additional information on how the fight against bandits, kidnappers and ethnic gangs is being lost. Food shortages are now a real possibility as vast tracks of  farmlands lay uncultivated and cattle cannot graze with the onset of the planting season.

The military is more stretched than it has ever been, while it is  under increasing pressure to resist factions of Boko Haram which see opportunities to take more territories and populations. Improvements in its media war suggest that our side is winning, but it is not certain that it is hurting  the enemy in a manner that will stop it from recovering and fighting back. It is a distinct possibility  that Nigeria has problems purchasing equipment when and where it is available, so greater energy should be deployed towards addressing hindrances to improving the technical capacities of the military. Morale and welfare also need major boost. We should also re-invent collaboration with our  neighbours and re-enlist them more actively in this war which, it is now obvious, we cannot win on our own.

Clearly, much needs to be done to improve the nation’s policing capacities, and this  requires the highest levels of collaboration and a commitment to interests that can only be served by the realization that everyone will benefit from major changes in policing capacities and strategies with the most minimal of delay. It is important that the federal government sets in motion machinery for examining options on expanding the size and capabilities of the police, and this should include processes on establishment of sub-national police. There is near-consensus on this, but President Buhari can help by initiating a genuine and inclusive process that should advise on all policing issues as a matter of national urgency.

3.     Managing a ‘COVID’ economy

The nation needs its  best intellectual and managerial assets to help steer the economy through the many challenges and threats it will have to deal with, directly or as consequences of the pandemic. Managing public finances will need courage and a clear understanding of  choices that realistically deal with today’s circumstances. Reports regarding the major outlines of the review of the 2020 federal budget suggest that the administration and the legislature do not plan to yield ground to a new reality that demands that the budgeting process must change radically, and  basic assumptions that used to be poorly-grounded have no place in plans to face a tough future. Major interests in the organized private sector need more access to policy-making as we contemplate an economy that will show pronounced damage over the next months. Jobs and businesses will be severely threatened, and we need to brace ourselves for rising numbers of unemployed, shrunk production capacities, shortfalls in revenue and their social consequences.

Leaders need to accept cuts in their remunerations and expenditure re-prioritized, as much to assuage perversive impressions that the rich have an easier time dealing with the pandemic, as a major gesture that will make resources available to support the poor live through the many privations of the pandemic. There is a need to avoid a situation where large-scale corruption now makes a new home within funding of palliatives and provision of facilities for testing, isolation and treatment of infected Nigerians.

4.     Managing poverty

The federal government needs a critical evaluation of its poverty management policies to see the degree to which they address contemporary challenges. The flagship Social Investment Programme in particular is becoming a major liability to the administration owing to its insistence that it will not change the manner it serves Nigerians. When hard-pressed Nigerian hear of billions spent on various elements of the Programme, and are assured with the only information that these funds reach and help real Nigerians, their levels of skepticism and even hostility rise. It could be poor salesmanship, but managers of this Programme are not doing a good job convincing Nigerians that they performing vital national service in insisting that billions are indeed being spent in following schoolchildren home to feed them since schools are closed. It is vital that the nation addresses poverty levels with substantial resources, imaginative strategies and transparent integrity, particularly now that we know that the poor will take massive hits. This is the moment when northern governors and the Muslim community should find the will and the strength to put a permanent end to child destitution in the name of almajirci.

5.     Reforms

Prioritising reforms around the electoral process, improving the public procurement, mitigating poverty and reducing corruption is vital at this stage. The legislature will do great service to its image if it will rise to the occasion and engage the executive arm to work with it on these and other reforms.

No one knows when or if we can ever emerge into a post-COVID era, but it will be disastrous for our future if we do not think and act as if we can, and will do so as stronger nation. If we will avoid that, the time to start is now.

Leading through crises

Nothing is so simple that it cannot be misunderstood.

Albert Einstein

        Crises test leaders in more  ways than  most are  prepared for. Those with responsibility to lead people under today’s circumstances could very well go down in history as the set that had the most difficult tasks in human history. They are having to lead populations long used to fairly predictable routines that are products of tried and tested systems and processes. It is their lot to lead through crises that have no familiar solutions, no predictable and manageable outcomes, no practical options with costs and consequences and no timeframes. It is no exaggeration to say that humanity has never known crises that has challenged it so comprehensively as this pandemic is doing. But humanity was as varied in its pre-COVID-19 state as it is in its responses to this global enemy. Some segments of humanity will pay a much higher price for their exposure to this pandemic than others. Many nations will put up a fight to the best of their abilities and with their best resources, and in the end, they will submit to an enemy whose most potent weapon is to shake the very foundations of the confidence garnered over centuries that mankind can cope with challenges, many of which it will invent itself. In the end, some clusters of humanity will come out relatively strong, and others would have gone under in a new order which make sense only in a bewildering array of conspiracy theories.

At this stage, most nations are grappling with options that will fight the pandemic and save economies and, by extensions, the glues that holds humanity together. Even the strongest economies will battle to squeeze huge resources from shrinking economies, to fight the pandemic. The longer the pandemic lasts and the larger its toll in lives, the more it also damages economies. All countries are fighting an enemy that fights them at many fronts: it causes fear and induces panic; it causes illnesses among large numbers of the population and deaths that raise levels of fear and panic; it attacks the economy, crippling it and suffocating major lifelines; and it stresses relations between people and their leaders. In Nigeria, our population size, poverty levels and spread, the foundations of our economy and political frameworks all combine to make our fight against the pandemic one of the most challenging.

It is natural to expect federal and state governments to explore all avenues to improve resources needed to limit the damage of the pandemic, but leaders need to exercise informed caution and some courage in the manner they make choices among a range of policies that will keep the economy alive and resist the damage of the pandemic. For an  economy  and governments such as ours  whose pillar and major source of revenue is crude oil, the current state of prices should be a major source of concern. Nonetheless, the hints that federal government has agreed to implement the White Paper on the Presidential Committee on Restructuring and Rationalization of Federal Government Parastatals, Agencies and Commissions generally referred to as the ‘Oronsaye Report’ is worrisome mainly because, far from helping to ease pressure on managing the economy, it will substantially worsen it. It is conceivable that President Buhari may have been the recipient of very poor advise in this regard. This is the only explanation that would make sense in light of the fact that even the administration of President Jonathan which set it up had dumped the Report, and for its whole five years in office, this administration had maintained a healthy distance between it and this  report.

The dummy that came  to be sold to the nation as the panacea to the ‘liability’ of big government by vested, largely private interests and ambitious Chief Executives of Agencies and Parastatals i.e, the ‘Oronsaye Report’ was actually a tear-away Committee whose sole term of reference was initially assigned to  the much bigger Committee headed by the highly-respected former Head of Service of the Federation, Malam Adamu Fika. It was  set up by the Jonathan  administration to advise on a comprehensive review of the reform processes of the federal public service.(In the interest of full disclosure, I should state that I was a member of the Adamu Fika Committee). The Committee headed by Wazirin  Fika was hounded by external, engineered hostility and internal subversion, ending up with a main report and a minority report. The ‘Oronsaye’ Committee was starved of integrity, drowned by narrow interests and deficient of knowledge and appreciation of the basic operations of a public service in a federal system that had been badly damaged by serial reforms which served every interest but the public’s, and suffers, to date, a crippling split personality syndrome that denies leaders the best services of a most strategic governance institution.

A White Paper Drafting Committee on the ‘Oronsaye’ Committee was set up under the chairmanship of one of the most influential Ministers under the Jonathan administration, Mohammed Bello Adoke, SAN, and included two respected former Heads of Service, Ms Amal Pepple and Alhaji Isa Sali. This Committee rejected most of the major recommendations of the ‘Oronsaye’ Committee, and it was not difficult to see why. It was the proverbial butcher doing the surgeon’s job. Starting from the false assumption that mechanically collapsing, merging and scrapping organs of government was going to save money and improve efficiency, the Committee set about with a single-minded devotion to vandalize the federal service and create entities that would merely have compounded the very problems they sought to solve. The scant attention paid to the legal and constitutional implications of many recommendations, mandates and relevance of MDAs, as well as the fact that many of the employees affected will move from  salaried staff to desperation or expensive   pensioners was breathtaking. Vital issues such as institutional efficiency, political considerations which informed establishment of certain bodies, increasing complexities of the economy and society and the necessity of avoiding prolonged disruptions were subsumed under the haste to impress the constituency that had decided that the public service was the major hinderance to the growth and development of the Nigerian nation.

President Buhari would soon be celebrating five years as Nigerian President. It is conceivable  that he too had been advised that  size, not professionalism and integrity were the problems of the public service, but he  has not made reform a major issue in his administration. What then, it must be asked, would the Buhari administration gain by revisiting or implementing a report that has been so thoroughly discredited even by the administration which set it up? Without a doubt, this administration and the nation have  been dealt a really bad hand by this pandemic and its consequences. There were already major concerns around the management and performance of the economy. The crash in crude prices and the certain recession which the global economy is heading for will worsen the prospects for a quick and sustainable recovery. For the government, payment of salaries and meeting overheads will be challenging, and a number of states have already announced plans to impose pay cuts on civil servants. Funding capital projects will be virtually impossible, even with the radical review of the 2020 budget. Sourcing for fresh funds to shield the nation from the worst effects of the pandemic will tax the best managers  and deepen the nation’s obligations to sources of credit. 

Still, the ‘Oransaye’ report is not a path. It is a short-cut to a booby trap that will deepen poverty, desperation and instability around vital institutions(including the legislature)  and groups who should be on the same side with the administration. What the nation needs are arrangements that capture the essence of the huge problems we face. New thinking, fresh ideas and bold initiatives. We need a war mentality, a sense of emergency that should mobilize a nation to unite and face the same enemy with all the resources at our disposal. We need arrangements that suggest and operate as if we are at war, because we are; arrangements that allow the VP and trusted functionaries like the SGF and key Ministers to focus on governance under trying circumstances, while professionals and others who are equipped with the expertise and experience to manage a crisis of this nature assume key  responsibilities. We need President Buhari out there keeping the two vital fronts safe: continuing the task of governing a nation in crisis, and limiting the damage of COVID-19.We are a tough people, but we need to re-discover a common cause and generate an overwhelming support from all segments. We are in very deep trouble, and simplistic solutions are not what we need.

Now that we’ve lost our heads

If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs, you probably don’t understand the problem.

Jean Kerr

        There will be a few people who will argue that we have not entirely lost the battle to limit the damage which an unrestrained COVID-19 will eventually leave behind, whenever it does leave, that is. You will find them in small clusters behind high walls and fortified offices in Abuja and a few State capitals. There are also a few who think we are in it all the way, and there is nothing that can be done anymore to turn or stop the tide. You will find them  all over the country, but do not engage them in arguments over facts and figures and scientific evidence. There are yet a lot more that are confused and angry. Confused, because they are in situations that are difficult to comprehend. Angry because  there are people who should help explain and give comfort and reassurances, but they are not doing that. This particular category is an amalgam that stretches all the way from those who believe their fates are entirely outside their control (and there is, therefore, little value in doing anything to create further inconvenience), to those who know they are in serious danger whatever they do.

To be sure, we are not entirely alone in this profound state of confusion. Most of the world, however has settled more or less around two perspectives. One is that the vast majority of citizens can survive this pandemic, but this will involve a lot of sacrifice and unprecedented changes in the way we lived in the past, and even as recently as only a few months ago. Second one is that there is shared responsibility between those with the burden  to lead towards relief and solutions, and citizens who must comply with lawful orders and guidelines, and both must play their roles without cutting corners. We have a few advantages as well. We watched much of the world attacked by  this virus, watched the mistakes they made and the appropriate steps they took, and noticed results of both, long before it got to us. We have disadvantages as well: massive, largely ignorant  population  living under extreme poverty with little faith in leaders, a weak state led by people  with thoroughly questionable levels of commitment to welfare of  the poor, and an economy virtually on its knees.

Since we became become part of the pandemic’s victims, we have deployed a cocktail  of courage, cynicism, incompetence  and  indifference in our  defence, a mixture that has left us at the mercy of a virus  which cannot be defeated by weakness. Finally, on Monday, 4th of May, we  capitulated. Strip the official guidelines, orders and directives of the federal and state governments of all their fine language, what you will find at the bottom of the decisions to ‘ease’ the lockdown and ‘free’ the economy to begin recovery is  an abdication, an admission of defeat and a concession to the virus to take what it wants.

From this point on, we are at its mercy. One relaxation will inevitably lead to another. New or conflicting rules will be flouted in pursuit of many competing options. Need versus want. Death by the virus or death by starvation. At this stage no mention is made of being both poor and dying from the virus. Or, a choice between lives or the economy (couched as ‘livelihood’ to make the case for the poor’s stampede to reclaim a vanishing life). A muted priority  is that the economy that works for a few needs to be salvaged even at the risk of many lives, never mind that these lives  will include those  of the wealthy in whose favour the economy works. When we experience an explosion from this retreat, the rich and the middle class may accept some sort of repeat restriction, but not the poor who had felt all along that they are being made to pay a price for the follies of the wealthy and the powerful.COVID-19 will worsen our class relations, and we should pray against a revolt of citizens against the state and an uprising against the wealthy.

Perhaps it is inevitable that a nation with all our characteristics is  bound to be where we are today. The chaos that marked the first day of ‘freedom’ said it all. A weak leadership that had no will to take and follow through with tough but vital decisions  buckled under. Governments that could not mobilize resources to help citizens stay at home retreated behind simpler options. Advisers on management of the economy, or others who advise on governance without advise from economists pushed forward ideas that a limited effort to re-float a sinking economy could be attempted by creating the semblance of normalcy even if salaries are not paid, workers are being laid off, supply chains are badly damaged, revenues are drying up and thousands are dying in pursuit of bread they chase with poisoned freedom. Now States will design their own templates to please citizens, since no State will be able to resist an onslaught against walls of protection they are building when all others are lowering theirs. Citizens will choose what regulation to comply with, and which to ignore, but no one is safer than another: we are never safe until all of us are safe.

The real tragedy may yet unfold when numbers sharply rise and the demands for appropriate response are not forthcoming. Testing for infection will be bought and sold like everything else in the country. Facilities in isolation centers, treatment and even disposal of bodies will be determined by your financial worth. When the poor turn to the state for help in dealing with massive numbers of dead and dying, there may not be anyone to turn to. Leaders who cannot provide protection for medical personnel to do their jobs at this stage, or build isolation centers, procure testing equipments and facilities to treat those infected and provide support for the population to live under lockdowns are unlikely to be in place to offer excuses. It will be worse when the poor realize that freedom from lockdowns does not necessarily put food in the mouths of families. The state will retreat further away. By the time this virus is done with us, no one will be certain of the state of the Nigerian state.

We should prepare for the fragmentation of the nation behind populist walls erected by leaders who cannot build bridges between them and the people and across the nation. Fear and old grievances and ambitions will combine to push the nation into hands of people who may want to see a different post-COVID-19 Nigeria. People will be profiled and deprived of their rights as communities choose who can be tolerated and who should be sent away. In a year or two, those who survive should be prepared to live with, or die from hunger, as the combination of a severely weakened economy, upheavals from citizens’ revolts and internal security challenges which will exploit the weaknesses of the state combine to make food production an extremely hazardous venture.

It is not my intention to sound an unnecessary alarm, and like most Nigerians, I pray constantly that we can avoid a worst-case scenario. There is still time to regain some of the ground we lost to the pandemic, but this will require the type of leadership we have not seen since the arrival  of this pandemic. If leaders do choose to lead us away from the precipice, they must unite and give this virus a real fight. They must mobilize resources and the highest levels of responsibility and integrity in supporting the public to substantially protect itself. We need leaders who will be honest with citizens, to tell us how much danger we really face. People need to know that they are literally on their own, to live and earn a living while safe, or risk illness or death because they do not care enough. The public needs to be literally frightened into complying with measures to live. After all, even the poor wants to live.

Now, where was I?

If you don’t raise your eyes, you’ll think you’re at the highest point.

Antonio Porchia 

The last time I wrote on this page was in February of 2017, a little over three years ago. My place was taken by excellent and capable hands, I almost feel I have to start from the scratch. To be honest, I gave a lot of thought to resuming writing a column in a paper like Daily Trust, a medium with access to the best, and an enviable standing carved out of very high standards of professionalism and courage. I have also worried over whether one has much to contribute in a situation that requires fresh insights into old and new issues in our country. I am grateful to Daily Trust for settling my doubts with the opportunity to test whether fading voices can still be heard in the din over where the country is, or should be heading. Please allow me a minute to speak about myself.

I have been quite busy acquiring new experiences and finding out how wrong I have been regarding many things. I spent a little over two years in the National Assembly working as Chief of Staff to President of the Senate and leader of the federal legislature, Senator Abubakar Bukola Saraki, CON. This was a moment of great learning and rewarding service. After 23 years at senior levels of state and federal of public service, ten of which I served as federal permanent secretary, I thought I was done with public service. Actually I thought I had become a politician. I was, but I stretched the label beyond my comfort zone.

I thought there was little to contribute to the legislature and its bureaucracy, particularly one that we from the executive side, in my days at least, had learned to hesitate before answering its greeting of  “good morning”. I was part of an excellent team of legislative aides of the Senate President who worked with a few  of the finest Nigerian politicians, and many that really had no business being  near public trust. I discovered a core of highly competent bureaucrats of the legislature with visible scars from managing a vital institution run by politicians torn between instant gratification and the faithful exercise of mandates.

It was a tremendous opportunity to see up close, the federal legislature in all its splendour and odium. Senator Saraki is quite possibly the most intelligent principal I had to work with, with an amazing instinct for opportunities and the energy to chase them. On a number of occasions, as few people who have had these qualities have realized, he came unstuck. His leadership of the 8th Senate with his colleague, Rt. Hon Yakubu Dogara, produced the most productive federal legislature, against incredible odds. Their leadership did not change the basic perception of the legislature as the nation’s pampered sponge, but it  showed the promise of a fledgling arm of government  living up to the task of legislating and making the difference between democracy and dictatorship.

The most profound insight for me was the damaging perversion of a political system which places huge powers in hands of powerful people with which they pursued personal goals. If Saraki and Dogara and President Buhari had worked well as a team from the same party committed to raising the bar on good governance, a lot more could have been achieved between 2015 and 2019.For someone who grew up thinking there is always only one goal in politics, which is to improve the lot of the citizen, I am still asking who won the battles  that wasted a huge potential to do better by an APC administration between 2015 and 2018.

I must have tasked my boss’s patience to no end, because I was also deeply involved in another strand of politics, one that gave me a little more room for self-expression. I renounced my membership of the APC long before the exodus that preceded the 2019 elections, a difficult decision (in retrospect, fueled by some pronounced naivety) in the hope that it will serve to slow down the administration’s tendency to be comfortable with poor results. I was part of the Northern Elders Forum, a group that threw everything into the ring to help give Buhari victory in 2015, and ended his first term with a noisy denunciation of his management of the economy and national security, particularly as they affected the North. I had a less visible role than I had in 2015 in the build-up to 2019, but I was active in a group that thought it could work to affect  an orderly and thorough leadership change. The results said we failed. My boss lost his re-election contest and a major chunk of a formidable legacy. I lost a job and moved on a lot wiser.

I refreshed some knowledge and resumed teaching, a vocation always had a passion for. I am now  actively teaching in a number of universities, and I am active in a number of humanitarian concerns and advising on conflict resolution. It is very difficult to be a silent observer in Nigeria today. I have been fortunate to be part of groups that insist on raising voices when damning evidence of failures in leadership and governance numb the citizenry.

Now I resume writing a column in the face of the most serious combination of circumstances that make even the clearest of minds difficult to express or comprehend. What can one say about COVID-19 that has not been said?  I am afraid there is a lot to be said, principally that this is not the time to make excuses for weaknesses in our responses. The death of Malam Abba Kyari, (may Allah  accept  his Shahada) is a major setback for President Buhari’s administration, which would not have won prizes for thinking on its feet in the first place. A major pillar, indeed the backbone of the administration, has left at precisely the moment a calm, focussed anchor with huge responsibilities and influence around the President is needed. Friends of this administration and lovers of Nigeria will hope that President Buhari will be motivated to turn Malam Abba’s death as a trigger to revamp his administration, take firmer control and lead with greater resolve. At all cost, the nation must not operate at lower than current levels of efficiency and competence. Lockdowns of populations and places are important in limiting spread of this pandemic. A governance lockdown at the Presidency will be disastrous, the very thing this pandemic needs to destroy a country that is its ideal setting for maximum damage.

Navigating around this pandemic with dwindling resources and rising demands for fresh funding from all corners will challenge the Buhari administration. It will be tragic not to assume that the country will see a lot more damage from this pandemic. It is vital that leadership is kept on its toes and supported as we all deal with a disaster that cannot be defeated unless everyone is involved. It could very well be the case that the country is scraping the bottom of the barrel in terms of its savings and incomes, but we can still deploy our best assets in good and honest management of resources to design response strategies that will limit the damage. We need imaginative and bold policies for producing or procuring equipment that will protect medical personnel, increase isolation and treatment facilities, strengthen coordination and collaboration with state governments and encouraging transparent and massive mobilization of essentials that will keep the citizenry at home.

 These are the moment leaders step up or step out, when opportunities beckon to rise and meet challenges, of sink deeper into abdication and ignominy. President Buhari said the fight against COVID-19 is a war we must win. He is right. The alternative is too frightening to contemplate. But he must personally lead, and rally other leaders and everyone else who has responsibility to fight and win. He must provide the leadership and the inspiration to governors and the legislature to adopt the best policies and strategies; to mobilize resources and place them promptly at the service of the people;  to stay personally abreast of developments in this fight and address worrisome sections of the battlefront like Kano and Lagos States, and citizens who want to see a combination of compassion and muscle in getting them to comply with rules, or they will revolt against the state and, ultimately, the well-off.

Thank you for the understanding I asked for when I went on break. May God see us through these frightening days.

TEXT of PRESENTATION of DR HAKEEM BABA-AHMED, OON, at THE PUBLIC LECTURE ORGANIZED BY MORAL INITIATIVE OF NIGERIA (MIN) AT AREWA HOUSE, KADUNA ON SATURDAY, 22ND SEPTEMBER, 2018

I should start by commending Moral Initiative of Nigeria (MIN) for this thoughtful step towards reminding our nation of the imperatives of its moral foundation at a point when we are being prepared to exercise choices over leaders and parties, I am also grateful to Professor Ango Abdullahi, Magajin Rafin Zazzanu, who, in his characteristic fatherly manner, assigned us responsibilities for participation in this programme. May God bless your intentions and the outcome of this event.

        It may be a matter of deliberate choice that Moral Initiative of Nigeria left much of the choice on focus and substance in our contributions to us. I have noted that the Initiative identified the need to raise awareness around immorality and the promotion of peace and love among Nigerians as its main motives for organizing this event.

        I have chosen to address the place of leadership as the foundation of any people’s moral standards, and in this context, I will share with you my humble thoughts on issues that we need to pay close attention to as a nation if we will begin to turn the tide again moral decay, the drift towards anarchy and the descent into the nightmare of the rule of terror, evil and violence.

There is no value in discussing issues of morality, systems and processes, legal system, policies and programmes and development in a nation such as ours without acknowledging that we are fundamentally a people of faith. What this means is that all Nigerians believe that we are accountable to a power greater than us, Who has designed the basic elements of our social existence and to Whom we are accountable. Please note that my definition here is universally applicable to us all, irrespective of the nature of our faith or how you exercise it.

How then does a nation of people who accept the validity of a Being that delineates good from evil and right from wrong also seem to tolerate the ignominy of being one of the most corrupt nations on earth; a nation that consigns a huge percentage of its population to the rungs of the poorest in the world, and one where the value of human life is virtually non- existent?

A liberal democratic system cannot effectively function without some core values that must be protected at all cost by those who have the authority and responsibility to do so. These persons must also be accountable to, for their success or failure in this task. These core values are spelt out in our constitution, and our leaders are made to swear with divine words of God in the Quran or Bible that they will defend and protect them. Few people care to recognize the irony that we invoke God to protect and defend a secular constitution. Ordinarily, there will be little problem with this. If leaders break our oaths, and the secular system works, they will be held to account. In addition, the God in whose name we swear to defend the constitution will hold us to account, if not in this world, then in the next one.

The problem appears that our faith is weakest when applied to public matters, such that issues of personal integrity of leaders, doing justice, being accountable, compassionate and fair are rarely measured by leaders  within the rigorous and demanding contexts of God’s laws and injunctions. The system makes it so much easier to offend and violate the constitution, and leaders feel that in exercise of political mandates and/or official responsibilities, God’s wrath is easily assuaged with prayers for forgiveness. In the worst cases, leaders in secular constitutional systems behave as if nothing they do or refuse to do has anything to do with God. Responsibilities of leaders to, and for, followers is seldom treated in religious contests, and secular laws are abused with such impunity that they may well not exist. Democracy as a system rests on the assumption that citizens as voters will exercise powers to distinguish bad from good, leaders and despots from democrats, and  also exercise their power to vote them in or out of power. When, however, wealth and power become the main sources of wealth and power, the democratic system becomes a farce, a charade that merely re-cycles the wealthy and corrupt in leadership positions.

The greatest failing of our leaders who are entrusted with power through our votes is their inability to do justice. Shehu Usman Dan Fadio said, “A kingdom can endure with unbelief, but not with injustice”. (1) The injustice of the leader begins with injustice to himself: he fails to live by the demanding standards which leading people place on him. Leadership is a most onerous and frightening burden and those who lead without full congnisance of its implications do great dissersive to themselves. On the Day of Judgment leaders of men and women will be held to account for every action or inaction over which their positions of responsibility hold them accountable. Injustice breeds disrespect, contempt, insecurity, anarchy and corruption as followers lose faith in unjust leaders who corrupt the ethical and legal basis of their positions.

A leader who fails the test to be just to himself and his responsibility is most unlikely to be just to the people he leads. The descent from the challenging heights of personal discipline and piety to the lowest levels of impunity and corruption is certain and limitless. Arbitrariness takes the place of due process and rule of law; arrogance and contempt for the poor, the powerless and the weak take the place of compassion and humility; corruption and abuse of office replace personal integrity and honesty while the interests of the leader become elevated above the interest of the people. Advisers become psychophants and courtiers; loyalty is demanded in place of respect and the leader is elevated to the position of one to be served, rather than the servant(2).

In the next few weeks, we will be called up to debate, argue and even fight over who will exercise responsibility over us in the 2019 elections. These elections represent an important turning point in terms of whether our lives as citizens, our communities, our values and our nation will continue to deteriorate, or improve. What will determine the direction we move is a template we should adopt in interrogating our choices as Muslims, Christians and Citizens, and the templates we will apply against those who ask us to trust them with responsibility for our security, economic welfare and the protection of our key values.

As citizens, we should apply against ourselves demanding responsibilities in judging politicians. We should ask, to the limits of our understanding and knowledge, these questions among others:

i)                           Am I convinced that the person who wants my vote fears God and will seek His favour in leading me?

ii)                         Am I convinced he wants to lead me as service to me, rather than a means to acquire power and wealth for himself?

iii)                        Am I convinced that he can lead with knowledge, experience, compassion and justice?

iv)                       Am I convinced that he is honest, and will not convert what is public to his private use?

v)                         Am I convinced that he is the best among those asking for my vote, and that I am not voting for him for purely ethno-religious, or regional sentiments?

vi)                       Can I trust him with my life, my assets, my welfare, my family and community and my future?

vii)                      Can I fight to defend his mandate because it is the expression of the will of the people and not a stolen mandate?

viii)                     Do I believe that I can respect him through his tenure because he has remained steadfast in the pursuit of honest service, humble and God-fearing?

ix)                        Am I convinced that he will make my children’s future brighter or worse?

We should also demand from all politicians who will ask for our trust and confidence in 2019 that they answer the following questions first before asking for our votes:

i)             Am I aware of the heavy burden that God will place upon my shoulders if I assume a leadership position?

ii)           Am I satisfied that I posses the required religious, moral, ethical and other personal qualities to lead as God wills and as demanded by the constitution?

iii)          Am I sure I want to serve, not to be served?

iv)         Am I honest enough to resist the temptation to be corrupt?

v)           m I the best in terms of education, experience and personal disposition among those competing with me?

vi)         Am I healthy enough to shoulder the burden of leadership?

vii)        Will my children be proud or ashamed of me at the end of my term?

viii)       Will God be pleased with me?

          As a people, we must use the next elections to create a real beginning for genuine change. Very few of the people asking for our votes today are ready to change the system in such a way that it will resist abuse, impunity and corruption. With our votes, we should say that we are tired of lip service to fighting corruption and insecurity. No one should be trusted with a mandate of any type unless he or she demonstrates a knowledge of our problems, a willingness to tackle them, and a commitment to account for failures. Those who want our votes must convince us that they know how to make our laws less vulnerable to subversion, including subversion by themselves. God will punish those who abuse our trust, but He can choose whether to punish them  here,  in the hereafter, or both. We have faith in Him, but we should make our system good enough to punish those who abuse our trust in this world, so that they serve as example to others that our rights to be led by honest, competent people should not be treated as luxury. If leaders will not improve our laws to eliminate or mitigate impunity and corruption, we should invoke the powers of the Almighty and pray that He keeps those who will abuse our trust or abandon us to fears and hopelessness away from power. The ideal thing of course is to both pray and insist on putting only the most God-fearing and the best people in positions of trust. 

I thank you once again for the opportunity to participate in this event.

REFERENCE

(i)                  Shehu Usman, Bayan Wujuls al-bijra ala al-ibad, 1221 – 1806, Quoted in Mahmud Tukur, Leadership and Governance in Nigeria: the Relevance of Values, Hudahuda/Hodder & Stonghton, 1999, p22

(ii)                 Dr Mahmud Tuhurs’ Leadership and Governace in Nigeria (Ibid)  is an excellent book on the central place of values in governance. Usman Bugaje (ed) Muslims and the Nigerian Political space Books and Libraries, Abuja, 2016 is also a useful book on contemporary situation of Muslims and the Nigerian state.