President Buhari, no more excuses

One must really sympathise with President Muhammadu Buhari at this moment. Faced with an incredible level of expectations from Nigerians but with dwindling resources, it must be a daunting task for him to deliver on the promises he made while campaigning last year. It is, however, fair to say that he led himself into such a situation. Having sought to lead the country three times, it is excruciatingly painful watching Buhari in the last one year leading as though he is doing us a favour or that we do not deserve to be informed regularly of what he is doing to take us to the Promised Land. His has also been a slow government, till date many boards dissolved last year have also not been reconstituted.

Whether the actions of former President Goodluck Jonathan or the well-oiled propaganda machinery of the APC should be blamed for their gargantuan promises during the campaign, we must remind the President that the buck stops on his table. The constant whining and repeated references to crude oil prices of the last 16 years do not translate to more megawatts of electricity or more jobs for our large army of the unemployed. I hope Buhari still remembers the billboards that the APC dazzled us with wherein they promised three million jobs yearly? Looking persistently at a car’s rear-view mirror while driving is dangerous to such driver, his passengers and other road users, as he cannot look forward. We must look forward if this government would achieve some those things we were told last year.

We must appreciate the president’s sense of deprecatory humour when he wondered aloud why he must be the one leading Nigeria at a time when oil prices are tumbling but he signed up for the job and millions are looking up to him to deliver. One gets the impression that our president thinks he has all the time to deliver on the “change” agenda even when as at today, he has only three years more. The level of unpreparedness as seen in the results so far in critical areas like the economy and energy makes one to wonder whether we have a reluctant president just as the fetishisation is mind-boggling. The flip-flops in communication and policy somersaults too are also worrisome; remember subsidy removal versus price adjustment?

Agreed, Buhari has done well in two areas: the anti-corruption drive and containment of the Boko Haram terrorists. Notice that I didn’t say security because under his watch we have the menace of another set of terrorists masquerading as herdsmen, who this government either don’t have answers to or don’t want to solve, which have been on rampage in different parts of the country. Buhari’s personal integrity seems unassailable but he would do well to look critically at some of those working with him. He must have equally learnt in the last year that it takes more than personal integrity of the leader to lead a country just as body language can only do so much. The president would do well to remember that his work as a leader is cut out for him in three ways: attracting talents, selling his vision, and synthesizing different points of view before arriving at a conclusion.

A leader must be able to make others do great work having empowered them to do so. Has Buhari energized Nigerians to do more in our respective lives since he assumed office? For a taciturn person, selling his agenda could be a herculean task but our president needs to do more in communicating. Politicians worldwide will agree that their job is at least 70% communication and 30% action and while it might be difficult to change Buhari’s temperament, he must do better in communicating. While this column had criticized the president for saying little to us while in the country, it is worrisome too that he caused some ruckus the few times he spoke candidly. Saying that you would tell us how far about loot recovery on May 29 but not doing so is a letdown. In a cabinet composed of many lawyers with at least three senior advocates, not considering the full implications of mentioning names as it regards judicial process is symptomatic of this government, not looking holistically at issues before deciding on a course of action.

Synthesizing different points of views should have been better with the help of the party but sometimes Buhari forgets he was elected under a party platform. As bad as APC is today, it is the party that gave us the president, treating it with disdain or condescension has dealt his government some blow. It is not tidy that some APC senators and representatives behave like opposition and this is slowing Buhari down. Bungling his proposed trip to Lagos and later releasing photos of Ogun State governor’s visit the same day is not a good advert for statesmanship.

Dear president, glance only at the rear-view mirror but focus on the tasks ahead. Enough of excuses so that the case for your legacy would not be subjunctive – what could have been – yes we tried, but change was difficult.