In
this explosive piece, Jaafar Jaafar tackles President Muhammadu Buhari
in a most unbelievable, yet interesting manner as he exposes the flaws
of his administration.
President Muhammadu Buhari
Less than a week after his victory, the newly elected American
president Donald J Trump, as bad as he is, assembled his transition
team. Still less than a week after the victory, Trump appointed
Republican National Committee Chairman, Reince Priebus, as the chief of
staff for the new administration. In the same day, Trump appointed the
editor-in-chief of Breitbart News, Stephen Bannon, as chief strategist
and senior counselor.
Forget the nepotic and racist theme the new Trump team paints, the
point at stake is the timeliness of the appointment and understanding of
a basic credo that power abhors vacuum.
If Trump, of all people, knows when to make key appointments, why
shouldn't our 'all-credible' President Muhammadu Buhari know? Why have
procrastination, trial and error and indecision become the hallmark of
the Buhari administration?
On June 3, 2015, barely five days after inauguration, President
Muhammadu Buhari's request to appoint 15 advisers was approved by the
Senate. The Senate, thinking the president would hit the ground running,
approved the request within 48 hours. But the president pocketed the
approval, appointing not more than six advisers intermittently in nearly
two years. It still beats me why it took our own Trump three months,
plus two months transition period to boot, to appoint his chief of staff
and SGF. While the President ran the nation without cabinet, civil
servants had a field day, files clogged, agencies left at crossroads,
naira fell, fuel crisis started, and before you say Jack Robinson, we
are in recession.
It is baffling that President Buhari's office is still running
without a private secretary. This close aide usually coordinates the
president's correspondences, phone calls, drafts letters, paginates
memos, assembles briefs, binds council extracts, crosschecks and
documents approvals, works with State House Chief of Protocol to manage
the president's schedule, etc. No wonder you see many errors in letters
the president personally signs, delays in replying correspondence and
some glitches and u-turns in some government decisions.
President Buhari's economic adviser is still as unclear as his
economic policy. A few months ago, a statement from the presidency said
Dr. Adeyemi Dipeolu is the President's economic adviser but to be
domiciled in the office of the vice president, Yemi Osinbajo, who the
presidency described as the "principal economy architect". The
president's ears needed no "economic noise". No wonder the economy is
"shaking and blinking" with a lawyer as "principal economy architect".
A former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Charles Chukwuma Soludo, once said of his former principal: "Obasanjo
was his own coordinating minister of the economy and chairman of the
economic management team— which he chaired for 90 minutes every week. I
met with him daily. In other words, he did not outsource economic
management."
No wonder Obasanjo left about $60 billion in foreign reserves after
negotiating a debt cancellation with $12billion. It is dismaying that
this government is enslaving our future with a whopping $30 billion
debt.
The president is yet to select any competent Nigerian to be his
speechwriter. I'm not surprised his speeches are infested with hanging
sentences, solecism and — shamefully — plagiarism.
It appears our president is awaiting the appearance of
eschatological Mahdi to appoint a minister from Kogi State to fill the
void created by James Ocholi's death in March. The President so far
spent eight months thinking about replacing ONE minister. Will somebody
tell Buhari it is a constitutional requirement that each state must have
a minister?
Political adviser is also key to democratic government. Political
adviser, being a cabinet position, attends Federal Executive Council
meetings, and gives perspectives on political issues deliberated during
the meeting. Adverse effects of the absence of this key adviser are
clear.
The party is at war with itself. The Executive is at war with the
Legislature; national chairman of the party, John Odigie-Oyegun, is at
war with the national leader of the party; Elrufai is sparring with
Atiku; Ganduje is fighting with Kwankwaso; Bindow is brawling with Nyako
and; the party leaders are disgruntled. Nobody seems to advise the
president on how to keep his house (party) in order.
Critical bodies like CBN, BOI, NERC, among others still work
without boards. Even the boards of Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA and
Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, approved in
August, are not inaugurated till date. It should be noted that heads of
agencies with statutory boards have certain limitations without a
constituted board, and absence of boards breeds abuse of power.
It may be too late for the president to redeem his political image,
but it is not too late to fill these important voids for the nation to
move forward.
- By Jaafar Jaafar
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