Behold Nigeria’s prime minister

Nigeria has a Prime Minister (PM). How can that be, as it is not in our statute books or in the Nigerian constitution? After you have been through this write-up, you might agree with this writer that Nigeria indeed has a PM, though unappointed. To save him or her from political harassment from those who can’t bear to share the spotlight, names will not be mentioned, leaving readers to draw their own conclusions.

Ethiopia and France are countries that run with prime ministers and executive presidents. France chose this model in an attempt at deconcentrating power, not to end up with an emperor persona. In these countries, both roles are well-demarcated. The president is the head of state and represents France on the world stage. The French prime minister, though appointed by the president, is responsible to the French National Assembly and not to the French president. The French PM is in charge of government administration and the implementation of policies as approved by French lawmakers.

Implementing policies is a raison d’être for having a prime minister, among other ministers. If someone consistently implements government policies more than government ministers, he should be regarded as a prime minister. Nigerian vice presidents could have morphed into this role, but as it is now, they are more of a spare tyre rather than the engine of government to deliver on policies and programs.

Let’s see what this character has done for the country to merit the title of Nigeria’s unofficial prime minister. We lament that the government has good policies, but do they? It is the implementation of these policies that is the undoing of the nation. Permit me to go back a few years to assess my candidate’s record at government policy implementation.

Twenty years ago, President Obasanjo observed that it was foolhardy for Nigeria to import over fifty per cent of its cement usage in a country blessed with limestone and various fuels to power the process of converting limestone to cement. The sitting president gave marching orders to importers of cement to reverse this abomination. One person seized the bull by the horns, and today Nigeria is a net exporter of cement. Ministers were sidelined for this policy implementation.

That was twenty years ago, and today, the implementation of a government policy to encourage the use of compressed natural gas (CNG) is underway. The designated PM’s group has been at the forefront of implementing this policy. While the federal government has earmarked $75 million to aid the conversion to CNG, the group aims to expend $230 million and convert all its haulage trucks from diesel to CNG.

The Buhari administration had a program called “Road to 200BN.” This program was to achieve an inflow of $200 billion in non-oil exports within the next four years. Again, our PM is central to achieving this laudable goal, as his companies are on track to an export value of $100 billion over the next five years. This means he or she alone would have contributed over fifty per cent in meeting this goal, which will bring succour to the beleaguered naira.

Another example: The government has just introduced the use of concrete-paved roads over asphalt-only roads that Nigeria has depended on for decades. This PM is well placed to implement this new policy, either by carrying out the actual construction or supplying the materials used in concrete roads. He has a company on the ground that has successfully constructed concrete roads before the government’s pronouncements.

Following these examples, one is uncertain if he is not the one dictating policy to the government rather than the government setting policy because his implementation precedes government pronouncements on them.

In the important agricultural sector, he plays a central role directly and indirectly. He is so key in the government’s ‘Sugar Policy’ that through backward integration, he has plans to stop the import of crude sugar, as he is into massive cultivation of sugar cane to feed his massive sugar refinery. Nigeria might soon be exporting quality sugar. He is also a player in local rice production and milling.

For more than three decades, the nation lapsed into the madness of exchanging its crude for refined petroleum products, a shameful habit it could not shake off under any administration. Enter the white knight to the rescue, and that which seemed impossible has become reality, with the icing on the cake of turning the nation into an exporter of refined products.

If his earlier exploits earned him a GCON, I believe this gargantuan one should earn him a GCFR, notwithstanding that it’s a title given exclusively to Nigeria’s heads of state and presidents. He was the first Nigerian non-state actor to buck the trend of being honoured with the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON), a title awarded exclusively to high government officials. Now the cat is indeed out of the bag, I believe.

Had pundits not lamented that we add little value to our crude endowments before export? Has he not answered this call in several sectors? A lesser-known one is the addition of value to Nigeria’s natural gas before export. He did this by birthing a mega urea fertiliser plant that utilises natural gas to produce the fertiliser. This is on the back of the 650,000 bpd refinery and petrochemical plant.

As observed by a Saudi prince, such projects are done by nation-states, not private individuals. He is indeed proving to be a state within a state. Recently, he was invited by President Nguema of Gabon on a state visit to pursue collaboration. Later, he received the Grenadian Prime Minister to explore ties. He was a leading speaker at Africa’s CEO Forum in Kigali, Rwanda, where he charted a course toward African transformation. Indeed, he has pursued intra-African opportunities long before the ACFTA agreement.

Some might consign this write-up to the genre of hyperbole, but as we said in our time, “You ain’t seen nothing yet, inshaAllah.” With the operationalization of the refinery and petrochemical plant, Bloomberg has doubled Alhaji’s net worth to $28 billion, meaning in the coming years, he can do much more than he has in the past. Moreover, in his efforts at building the refinery, he has warehoused in-house his own team of Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) professionals with the know-how to execute complex mega projects.

I am sure our federal government doesn’t have this in-house audacity, he has, to make dreams become reality. That is the reason, off the cuff, he declared he wanted to build an Ajaokuta-scale steel plant to meet West African steel needs. Along the line, he was told, “Na only you dey? Or, na only you waka come?” In a recent interview with the Financial Times (FT), he says he has had to backtrack and slow down. Good for him, but not good for the country, as the country still needs key projects like the iron and steel plant at a scale only Dangote Group can execute. The same goes for power generation and distribution.

Sir, never mind the naysayers. Nigeria needs you more than ever before, as we are experiencing indigenous deindustrialization and foreign firms filling the gap with their own policy of competitive exclusion of Nigerians. This is not a healthy development, as locals are unable to develop the necessary skills to run manufacturing concerns.

On a final note, and this is to his haters: I suggest they become dispassionate and assess the PM designate’s most important contribution to Nigeria’s transformation. This can be seen in light of the strategic reforms he has wrought in his operations in the last ten years. This reform involves moving away from earnings solely in local currencies to earnings in hard currencies. The group is targeting eighty-five percent of its earnings to be in dollars from 2025.

If, in the wake of the oil price crash of 2014, our country had pivoted from dependence on crude oil for 85% of dollar earnings and, like him, had a strategic target of other sectors contributing healthily to dollar earnings, two thousand naira exchanging for a single dollar would not be on the horizon.

Mr Aliko is showing Nigeria the way to go for economic transformation. From being an importer of various commodities in the 1980s, he has become an exporter of higher-value goods beyond our traditional cocoa beans and cashew nuts. Nothing has changed for his country in the same forty years he has changed his operations from importer to exporter.

Dr Jaiyesimi writes from Ogun via [email protected]; 08123709109