Ministers: As we compile report sheet…

May 4, 2024

Governments succeed or fail based on so many variables. Leadership is important, capacity and teamwork from cabinet members matter. In democracies around the world, Presidents always insist on the capacity of the people they would want to work with when they are elected. Most of them campaign on manifestoes they have worked on wth prospective nominees.

The role of the cabinet is to help the president or head of government realize the campaign promises . In accepting to serve in any government at this level, appointees invariably sign a contract with the executive and the people. Their jobs are often well cut out. They lead their ministries and become the President’s pointsmen and women and must help him achieve his policy objectives and vision.

In Nigeria however, lack of political education and illiteracy seems to have impacted the citizen’s perception of public service. While the Presidency is an important part of any democracy including Nigeria, there seems to be a disproportionate reliance on Presidents to seemingly become the nation’s sole burden bearer. Even the constituent states tend to look up to the federal government to literally wave the magic wand of prosperity and development.

Make no mistake about it, the presidency has enormous responsibilities in a nation where due to structural flaws, the central government is often overwhelmed by expectations. However, the Roundtable Conversation believes that  capacity, deep sense of patriotism and commitment from cabinet members for any president can bring development to the country.

Sadly though, since the return of democracy in 1999, just a few ministers have legacies to their names. Incidentally, three of the outstanding former ministers are today serving at both continental and global institutions. Nothing better gives credence to their professionalism and work ethic than their growth and globally recognized sense of service for development.

Former Nigerian Minister of finance and foreign affairs, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is today the director General of World Trade Organization (WTO), Amina Mohammed, Nigeria’s former Minister of environment is serving as the United Nations’ Assistant  Secretary General. Akin Adesina is the multiple award-winning President of African Development Bank (AFDB). These are just a few of the former ministers whose works speak for them.

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 After President Tinubu inaugurated his cabinet in August  2023, 84 days after taking his oath of office, he made a remarkable statement, “…serve Nigeria, not states or regions, get to work, Nigerians would not tolerate failure”. This was with the expectation that each of the Ministers is to serve the federal republic of Nigeria patriotically. The president realized that he made campaign promises and the people are looking up to him to deliver and having picked his team, they can rapidly help him deliver on his campaign promises.

In November 2023, the government organized a cabinet retreat where he again reminded the ministers to deliver on their responsibilities or be sacked. He urged them to ensure they do not become clogs in Nigeria’s wheel of progress. So far, the former Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Youth Development and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Beta Edu seems to have fallen off the boat due to allegations of impropriety with financial transactions. Investigations are reported to be ongoing in her case.

Former Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Dr. Shamusideen Usman recently at the Second Chronicle Roundtable with the theme, “Tinubu Administration’s Economic and Social Agenda: How it Will Transform Nigeria” urged the President to match his words with actions by sacking some ministers in his cabinet to serve as deterrent to other non-performing members and heads of agencies that are performing below average. He was very concerned about the power sector. He recalled that the President had warned the cabinet members during an earlier retreat.

Many might claim that it is too early to assess performance of cabinet members but the former minister cited the example of a Malaysian Power minister that challenged himself to fix the power problem of the region in six months or resign and he achieved his target. That to Dr. Usman should be the mantra of active cabinet members. It is not about perfection but about showing the commitment and patriotism to change the situation from what they met.

The Roundtable Conversation spoke with Anthony Kila,  a Jean Monnet Professor of Strategy and Development and the Institute Director General  at Commonwealth Institute of Advanced and Professional Studies (CIAPS). We asked him his assessment of the charge to the President by Dr. Usman given the retreat instruction to the cabinet members.  He believes that having a presidential adviser on policy and coordination is a good idea the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan equally embraced through then Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as a coordinating minister of the economy.

He believes that the idea is good but that strategically, it is supposed to be a monitoring unit that should help cabinet members organize performance goals and itemize them into the achievables in the short, medium and long terms. The unit must not wait for long term evaluation to seemingly mark performance sheets. They ought to be active in monitoring and guidance for success. He believes that with more than forty cabinet members, the ministries of Finance/CBN, Power and Works are the major one in the news and that’s because of the fluctuating currency, epileptic power supply and the now controversial Lagos-Calabar Coastal highway. 

However, Prof. Kila believes that while the unit might be doing their best, there are systemic problems that have to be sorted before cabinet members of this and subsequent administrations can make real progress towards speedy development given the socio-economic challenges of the country. The political system must have to change in ways that the country does not continue to do the same thing and expect a different result.

Every Nigerian especially the political class and the media must begin to make adjustments for development.  When there is a system that encourages politicians to spell out their vision, goals and the hows and when their administrations would begin to deliver on specific deliverables, both the presidents and their appointees would come to office with clear vision with time tags. During campaigns, politicians and their political parties must be literally given blank posters to wrte out with their specific goals, how they will finance such projects and the timelines.

Nigerians should be ready to hold candidates to specifics rather than some amorphous and vague manifestoes. After elections, nominations into cabinets must be on individual quality and ability to key into the vision of the president or governor. Prof. Kila believes for instance that if the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway was a campaign issue, the furor over the project would not have happened because the whys and hows would have been clearly explained to the citizens. 

Again he believes that the system of recruitment/screening of cabinet members must change. Candidates must begin head-hunts during campaigns by working with various interested parties with capacity that can buy into their vision. Nominations must be on the basis of Professional capacity and individual vision and mission.

The jaded idea of randomly screening candidates without requesting for portfolio is a strategic flaw in recruitment. A brilliant structural engineer might mess up in the Agriculture ministry. This has been a major problem in the Nigerian public service sector. Arming nominees with portfolio gives the senate clarity and enhances the screening process because that then makes it impossible for nominees to be randomly sent to ministries and agencies where even if they are educationally qualified might lack the industry knowledge specific to areas of operation. Specific industry technical questions can be asked by senators as is done in other climes.

Competence and passion is an individual thing. It then goes to show why most people change the ministries or agencies they are posted to within a short time. A late Prof. Olikoye Ransome Kuti , was a brilliantly active Health Minister, a late Prof. Dora Akunyili changed the face of NAFDAC, an Akin Adesina gave the Agric ministry a new image even if we have not heard much from that ministry since he left. Citizens would for instance expect a vibrant Agriculture minister to seize the food crises period since he came  to innovate and inspire productivity.

Nine months is enough for the minister to have made impact given the food insecurity that has made war-torn Ukraine to donate food to Nigeria. There are low-hanging  food or cash crops he would have introduced since or encouraged farmers or researchers to plant and that would have made a huge difference. There must be a systemic change that can herald the emergence of workable system that gives verve to personal capacity.

This in effect would give rise to a culture that rewards achievements rather than evaluating every cabinet member  on the same pedestal. The media he insists must do more to hold politicians to honour their social contracts rather than just wait to recount their misses when it becomes too late.

Performance must be accessed periodically and methodologically. Prof. Kila feels it would be a breath of fresh air to see some future candidates promising to attach portfolio to cabinet nominees. That might seem trivial but in a system that has been dysfunctional, it can be a huge turning point for the nation. There must be a radical departure from a system that has not fully worked. So a systemic change backed by individual vision and capacity can help usher in the needed change that can aid our development. Productivity in each sector is an individual thing and the totality of a cabinet defines the outcome any administration so the country must have a systemic realignment.

The dialogue continues…

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