El-Rufai and the template for change

“The enemy increaseth every day;
We at the height are ready to decline.
There is a tide in the affairs of men
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries . . .”
– William Shakespeare, in Julius Caesar

THE All Progressives Congress (APC) rode to victory, in the last general elections, on the tide of ‘change’. In both the denotative and connotative sense, ‘change’ stands for paradigm shift, from old to new ways. But save a few state governments, among which the Kaduna State Government must be singled out, the difference, in both speed and content, is not yet clear. The APC government has not quite lived up to the great expectations it promoted and, particularly, to the billing of the Muhammadu Buhari we know.

Thanks to Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, Governor of Kaduna State, for the candle of hope. He has been business-like and has set the cultural tone of sagacity in the conduct of government business very early, leaving no one in doubt as to the need for adjustment and departure from the permissive ways of old. He has demonstrated an understanding of the principal purpose of government, which is to protect the weak and to galvanise the economy towards inclusive growth and development, justice, peace and stability. The resources of state should never be cornered by traditional rulers, party stalwarts and political office holders but must be repositioned to judiciously serve all the people. He has demonstrated an appreciation of the perilous times, in the imperative curtailing of cost and plugging of leakages, no matter whose ox is gored and in the maintenance of wide-ranging security awareness measures. He understands that speed is important: change involves the unsettling of vested interests and must be struck fast – before friends, lobbyists and cabals, on whose toes one inevitably steps, can react and arrest it. Change also involves some self-abnegation and he does not mind staking his political future, if making the difference involves disagreeing with selfish party leaders. He seems to have studied the state and prepared for years before taking office, which is what is expected of every office-seeker.

Among other specific measures, within 30 days of taking over, Governor El-Rufai had rationalised ministerial departments and agencies of Kaduna State, along with political offices, in the executive arm of government. He has dismantled the drain-pipes, profiteers and cabals around Ramadan free feeding, fertilizer distribution and religious pilgrimages, etc. He has de-merged local government statutory allocations from state government accounts and can now hold the local governments individually accountable. He has set up a robust committee to investigate the perennial internecine killings in Southern Kaduna with a view to finding a lasting solution. He has galvanised a coalition of eight North-Western and North-Central state governments against the festering insurgency. And he must have substantially given up security vote and other allowances? If the momentum could be sustained, Kaduna State, in no time, will realise transparent and accountable governance, efficient resource allocation and sustainable and inclusive development and self-reliance. This is a template worthy of emulation.

Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, who had been one of the few dogged ministers of government Nigeria ever produced, is living up to the billing. Without prejudice to the long arms of the law, the accusation of primitive accumulation of wealth, as Minister of the Federal Capital, given his declaration of about N90 billion in assets upon assumption of office as Governor, should not eclipse this sterling start in new office. He could still be brought to book if his previous arraignment is unsatisfactory. However, man can change for the better at any time and you will be wasting your time dwelling on his past. One has learnt to focus more on the present and the future than on the past that you can only do very little about.

Nigeria is in dire straits, economically and socially, but we have not seen a corresponding response by the party in power at the centre and by most of the state governments. A man who loses his job or suffers a drastic cut in remuneration (as Nigeria, metaphorically, has) must quickly dispense with frivolous expenditure, if his family must survive. He must replace certain items with cheaper substitutes. He must plug cashflow leakages. And he must look frantically for another job or additional sources of income in order to quickly re-establish – if not improve – the family standard of living, before inertia and despondency could set in. Having set the tone and example, he must mentor and carry along all family members to brace up and fall in line with the reality, if the adversity must be weathered.

Almost four months after winning election and almost two months after taking office, in a dithering economy, there is no cabinet, no major policy direction and no re-orientation campaign in place. Yet, many a Nigerian elite, ever parochial and patronizing of any government in power, maintain that nothing is wrong. But the prevailing lacuna and uncertainty are recipes for capital flight, decline of the Naira, inflation and general volatility in the financial markets, all of which aggregate to precipitate economic decline. The governors are still flying about in chartered aircraft. They are still appointing numerous commissioners and assistants. Some are talking of salary cut, which is laughable. The devil is in size of government, administrative rascality, security vote and allowances, not in symbolic salaries!

If federal legislators, who sit for only a few days in a year (and hardly have deadline) knew what the country is in for, they would not be talking about anything more than minimal sitting and office-staff allowances! But they have turned deaf ears to the demand of the public for a reversal of outlandish remuneration in sympathy with Nigeria’s economic realities and competing demands. It is a measure of ignorance or indifference to the circumstances that our political office holders (of all political parties) who are known to have enjoyed the best of education, employment and business opportunities the country could so far offer and can never beg for bread again in their life, are unwilling to serve at minimal cost to the economy, as a way of repaying the society that has been very benevolent to them!

Now, what El-Rufai is pursuing is positive cultural change, which is a prerequisite for success at all levels, from the family level to the national level. Culture stands for the way of life, the way of doing things, the attitudes and beliefs of a people, individually and collectively. The greatest threat to culture is permissiveness among the people along with lack of courage and good examples among their leaders. You can trace the fall of all empires and world powers, since the ages, to cultural degeneration among stakeholders. Nigeria is stunted largely due to the permissive structure and culture of government and can hardly realise its potential in full without a cultural revolution, which must start from its leaders.

It is largely in anticipation of cultural change that General Muhammadu Buhari was elected President. No matter what his detractors would say, he was well-known to be passionate about the regeneration of Nigeria. He was seen as austere, with personal needs as lean as his frame. And he was supposed to have the guts to dictate the tone of rectitude in the saddle as President. He must not allow Nigerians to continue to wonder if they made a mistake on his capabilities. Delay withers goodwill. Intra-party squabble is not what the people bargained for and cannot be an acceptable plea at the time of reckoning.

• Nwosu, a finance consultant, wrote from Lagos.