Political-confessions-of-el-rufai-on-the-leadership-question-in-nigeria-and-restoring-good-governance
September 7, 2020 | News
POLITICAL CONFESSIONS OF EL-RUFAI ON THE LEADERSHIP QUESTION IN NIGERIA AND RESTORING GOOD GOVERNANCE
Regardless of anything, in my own opinion, there is the urgent need for the good and upright people in our Nigerian Societies to make themselves available and also be ‘determined’ to be actively involved in Nigeria’s “dirty politicking”, so as to salvage and restore sanity in the nation’s democracy as they serve in different capacities of government. That is the only way we can change the political narrative in this country – in the near and far future.
We are aware that the good and upright Nigerians are scared to delve into the country’s politicking because often times, one will not be allowed to scale through the political huddles without the backing and support of the corrupt politicians who are the “power brokers.” Hardly will they allow upright Nigerians to occupy sensitive public offices because the upright Nigerians will not allow them have their way with public funds and fraudulent contract executions/implementations. I will not blame them because no one would want to be rubbished by rotten politicians. In Delta State for instance, we all know the “super power broker” like James Ibori, who, despite his indictment by the UK Court and Prison sentence, which made him an ex-convict, however he is still seen as the strong man of Oghara that dictates who to be elected/appointed in the State Government. So, it will be difficult for the upright people to be involved in politics in a State like Delta State. The hatred the few politicians have for persons like Great Ogboru is the fear that Ogboru will not accept to be a “political moron”. Though, Ogboru is hated by few politicians and few elites in Delta State, but the majority of the low-income earners like commercial motor-cycle (Okada)/tricycle (Keke) riders, youths, market women, common elders, and so on; love Ogboru. Sadly, elections in Delta State are not won by popularity and integrity, but by the few politicians who usually conspire and collaborate with compromised INEC officials to declare scripted results. I know some people would say that Zik Gbemre has a special soft spot for Ogboru to be appreciating his popularity in his write ups. But should we not say what we see again?
This issue was reiterated in a well-circulated interview clip of Malam Nasir El-Rufai, the controversial Kaduna State Governor, who made some valid points and confessions in respect to the subject matter, which I would like to quote here. According to El-Rufia: “If all the good people keep away from politics, who will be in politics? It’s a vacuum that is being filled by bad people. If all the good people go abroad, or join the private sector, who’s going to be in government - the people that are not so good. And this is what is happening. We are seeing an intersection of bad people in government, bad people in politics, and our country is running down, going down the drain. The few good ones that want to get in are tactically edged out because they are not a critical mass, there are only a few of them. When we were in government, there was just four of us then as Ministers who would stand up and say we disagree with President Obasanjo. There are 42 Ministers, but only about 4 that I remember, who would speak in Council against some of the things Obasanjo wanted to do, if we disagreed. Everybody else would keep quiet.
“This is the problem, when you pick people who have never achieved anything in their lives, and put them in these very senior government positions, they want to remain there forever. They would do anything to remain there. They would not tell the President the truth, they would not look at the Governor and tell him the truth, which is their job as Advisers because a Minister, is an adviser to the President.”
When asked, whose fault is it? Is it the leaders or the people? El-Rufai said: “It is a bit of both. But it is the fault of the elites in my opinion, I won’t say the people. In every society, the elites, those that are privileged with education, money or influence, are the ones that ought to sit down and set the tone for the structure of that society. If our elites have chosen not to go into politics and set that tone, as I said there’s a vacuum; the bad ones will take over. We have seen that in Nigeria… It is also true that the leader that picks those around him, is also culpable because you’re responsible for those you select. We are constrained to some extent because our Constitution says that the President must appoint a Minister from each State. But it doesn’t say that you should appoint a criminal from the State. It says that you should look for the best possible person and appoint as a Minister. So, there are constraints but still, I believe that in this country we have so much talent, if we are really looking for square pegs to put in square holes; we will find them…
“leaders must be checked. Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. So, leaders must be checked. It is in their own interest to create a system that would ensure they are checked. If they are not checked, even good people would become bad people. I have seen that transformation in many people that I have worked with, or interacted with, that were really good when we worked together. Some of them have become Governors and Ministers and they have become monsters, because there is no checks and balance. Leaders must be checked throughout. So, it is not just the leader; the people must be able to speak out. They must complain. The elites must come and say this is not acceptable. But in this country, you have a conspiracy of silence by the elites. Everybody, just keeps quiet because everybody is just waiting for his turn. It is not taking us anywhere. We’re all going to be consumed by this crisis. This keg of grain powder that we are sitting on in which, 75% of the population is below the age of 35 years, they have no jobs, no hope, and they don’t see a country that has never functioned as it should…”
We all would agree that the controversial Kaduna State Governor made some valid points in his quoted confession of an interview. Like I said, in my own opinion, good people should make themselves available to serve their people in whatever capacity they can, and at any level of government. It is a dangerous situation when majority of the Nigerian elites have become "YES PERSONS", and they swallow and take the ‘nonsense’ dished by politicians and play the role of "coward elites". I have been called a trouble maker by politicians, friends, elites and relatives just because I say it the way I see it, no matter what and who is involved. El-Rufai has said the truth, whether we like it or not. Majority of political appointees in the country have failed because they have contributed majorly to the bad governance situation in Nigeria. They praise the State Governors and the Presidents for doing practically nothing. They have taken praise-singing as a profession, even when it is obvious that their bosses are doing the wrong things.
Truth is, all we have witnessed in Nigerian politics as far as we can remember, is nothing but political leaders and their Advisers who have made themselves ‘Public Masters’ rather than ‘Public Servants’. We have learned to judge Nigerian politicians by “what they do” and not by “what they say” – this is because often times, what comes out from the mouth of most Nigerian politicians never commensurate with what they eventually do in terms of actions and initiated/enacted policies. As it is in Nigeria, so it is in the whole of Africa, hence, we have remained a country/continent that is underdeveloped, stricken with poverty and lack, and always needing aides from developed societies. And this deplorable status of Nigeria and Africa, is caused by political leaders whose primary aim of being in politics is to become rich overnight.
Another point is that the issue of nepotism, favouritism, ethnicitism, religion and political affiliations have been the attributing factors that have made the nation not to have political leaders that ought to be elected/appointed on merit and qualification to effectively and efficiently lead the country to great heights. These issues, have ‘blinded’ both the government and the governed from making sound and good judgements in the appropriation of public resources for the good of all and sundry, particularly by those in authorities, and in demanding such when they are not getting it right by those being governed. In other words, it is as if our multi-cultural bearings have over the years, made us to be more self-serving/self-centered when it comes to governance and the appropriation of our collective wealth as a people in the entity called Nigeria.
We also blame elected State Governors and the Presidents for appointing morons, daft persons, ignorant persons and political thugs as adviser their Personal Assistants, Special Advisers, Commissioners, Ministers, Board members, Chairmen, Managing Directors and Executive Directors of Government Agencies. The Presidents and Governors have deliberately caused ‘poor governance’ across Nigeria because they have always engaged in the practice of appointing people who will not perform. People are not appointed based on merits and performance. Virtually all Government Appointments in Nigeria are based on tribalism and nepotism. The State Governors and Presidents do not appoint people with the right frame of mind that can support and advise them rightly for good governance. So, we now have situations where, right from day one, the Government at all levels are programmed to fail. The political parties also nominate these same kinds of people when asked to submit list of Appointees in Government. When people without conscience and without the needed expertise are appointed to head sensitive public positions, then no good will be expected to come out from them. For instance, those who argue that one must be a medical doctor to be appointed Minister for health or Commissioner for health; or one must be an Engineer or flight captain to be appointed Minister for Works or Aviation respectively, is a wrong and ignorant argument. The position of Ministers and Commissioners are just Administrative Officers. There are Career Civil Service workers as Permanent Secretaries and Directors. Those who argue that our roads are bad because non-Engineers are appointed, and that the aviation sectors are not performing because the rightful professionals are not appointed; is a baseless argument. This is not true.
The only reason the various Ministries and Government Departments and Agencies are not performing is simply corruption, and appointing people who do not have the capacity to deliver. One may be a professional but may not have the required capacity and capability to deliver as a Commissioner/Minister. Poor contracting, poor execution/implementation of contracts and policies, and poor supervision - all boils to corruption. When a Minister/Commissioner is awarding a major project to a contractor without tools and instruments of work then how do you get good projects completed? When projects are awarded and the Minister/Commissioner/Director is taking bribes that is almost half of the budget of the entire project as kickback, then what will the contractor use to execute the project? This also leaves the contractor with the option of executing poor jobs because half of the project cost has been used for bribes. These are the reasons why projects are not properly executed in this country and that is why roads that are constructed will not outlive the tenure of the governor or the president.
Like we said, all of these are caused by the Governors/Presidents because they are fond of appointing morons and irresponsible people as Commissioners or Ministers. In other words, the State Governors and the Presidents are responsible for the failures of their administrations. If you appoint a person that is not performing, and one who is creating issues where there are none, and such a person is not sacked, then who do we blame? Is there a law in Nigeria that says a Governor and President must appoint politicians that are with no vision? The truth is that 85% of political appointees in the country are ignorant or corrupt people, who were appointed because of tribalism or nepotism. A Southern President will appoint more people in his administration from Southern Nigeria. While a Northern President will appoint more people from the Northern Nigeria - whether they can perform or not? It is this pathetic practice that has brought us to where we are presently as a nation.
Due to the ignorance and negligence of the Nigerian political leaders at all levels of Government, Nigeria is losing its priced-manpower to the foreign countries, whom have been helping in development of these foreign countries. Nigeria’s young and vibrant manpower are daily migrating out of the country because their hopes for a better tomorrow are shattered by Nigerian political leaders with their self-centered actions. These Nigerian youths love Nigeria, but the Government of the day does not care about them or their future. Getting a job in Nigeria is like looking for a needle in a haystack, even for a first-class graduate. If you do not have connections with politicians, you cannot get juicy jobs in certain places. So, the only option is to migrate out of the country. and that is why today, Nigerians are developing other foreign countries, and the Nigerian political leaders are excited over this. How can we be losing high level manpower to other countries and the political leaders are busy being excited?
Zik Gbemre.
November 22, 2019
We Mobilize Others To Fight For Individual Causes As If Those Were Our Causes
Regardless of anything, in my own opinion, there is the urgent need for the good and upright people in our Nigerian Societies to make themselves available and also be ‘determined’ to be actively involved in Nigeria’s “dirty politicking”, so as to salvage and restore sanity in the nation’s democracy as they serve in different capacities of government. That is the only way we can change the political narrative in this country – in the near and far future.
We are aware that the good and upright Nigerians are scared to delve into the country’s politicking because often times, one will not be allowed to scale through the political huddles without the backing and support of the corrupt politicians who are the “power brokers.” Hardly will they allow upright Nigerians to occupy sensitive public offices because the upright Nigerians will not allow them have their way with public funds and fraudulent contract executions/implementations. I will not blame them because no one would want to be rubbished by rotten politicians. In Delta State for instance, we all know the “super power broker” like James Ibori, who, despite his indictment by the UK Court and Prison sentence, which made him an ex-convict, however he is still seen as the strong man of Oghara that dictates who to be elected/appointed in the State Government. So, it will be difficult for the upright people to be involved in politics in a State like Delta State. The hatred the few politicians have for persons like Great Ogboru is the fear that Ogboru will not accept to be a “political moron”. Though, Ogboru is hated by few politicians and few elites in Delta State, but the majority of the low-income earners like commercial motor-cycle (Okada)/tricycle (Keke) riders, youths, market women, common elders, and so on; love Ogboru. Sadly, elections in Delta State are not won by popularity and integrity, but by the few politicians who usually conspire and collaborate with compromised INEC officials to declare scripted results. I know some people would say that Zik Gbemre has a special soft spot for Ogboru to be appreciating his popularity in his write ups. But should we not say what we see again?
This issue was reiterated in a well-circulated interview clip of Malam Nasir El-Rufai, the controversial Kaduna State Governor, who made some valid points and confessions in respect to the subject matter, which I would like to quote here. According to El-Rufia: “If all the good people keep away from politics, who will be in politics? It’s a vacuum that is being filled by bad people. If all the good people go abroad, or join the private sector, who’s going to be in government - the people that are not so good. And this is what is happening. We are seeing an intersection of bad people in government, bad people in politics, and our country is running down, going down the drain. The few good ones that want to get in are tactically edged out because they are not a critical mass, there are only a few of them. When we were in government, there was just four of us then as Ministers who would stand up and say we disagree with President Obasanjo. There are 42 Ministers, but only about 4 that I remember, who would speak in Council against some of the things Obasanjo wanted to do, if we disagreed. Everybody else would keep quiet.
“This is the problem, when you pick people who have never achieved anything in their lives, and put them in these very senior government positions, they want to remain there forever. They would do anything to remain there. They would not tell the President the truth, they would not look at the Governor and tell him the truth, which is their job as Advisers because a Minister, is an adviser to the President.”
When asked, whose fault is it? Is it the leaders or the people? El-Rufai said: “It is a bit of both. But it is the fault of the elites in my opinion, I won’t say the people. In every society, the elites, those that are privileged with education, money or influence, are the ones that ought to sit down and set the tone for the structure of that society. If our elites have chosen not to go into politics and set that tone, as I said there’s a vacuum; the bad ones will take over. We have seen that in Nigeria… It is also true that the leader that picks those around him, is also culpable because you’re responsible for those you select. We are constrained to some extent because our Constitution says that the President must appoint a Minister from each State. But it doesn’t say that you should appoint a criminal from the State. It says that you should look for the best possible person and appoint as a Minister. So, there are constraints but still, I believe that in this country we have so much talent, if we are really looking for square pegs to put in square holes; we will find them…
“leaders must be checked. Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. So, leaders must be checked. It is in their own interest to create a system that would ensure they are checked. If they are not checked, even good people would become bad people. I have seen that transformation in many people that I have worked with, or interacted with, that were really good when we worked together. Some of them have become Governors and Ministers and they have become monsters, because there is no checks and balance. Leaders must be checked throughout. So, it is not just the leader; the people must be able to speak out. They must complain. The elites must come and say this is not acceptable. But in this country, you have a conspiracy of silence by the elites. Everybody, just keeps quiet because everybody is just waiting for his turn. It is not taking us anywhere. We’re all going to be consumed by this crisis. This keg of grain powder that we are sitting on in which, 75% of the population is below the age of 35 years, they have no jobs, no hope, and they don’t see a country that has never functioned as it should…”
We all would agree that the controversial Kaduna State Governor made some valid points in his quoted confession of an interview. Like I said, in my own opinion, good people should make themselves available to serve their people in whatever capacity they can, and at any level of government. It is a dangerous situation when majority of the Nigerian elites have become "YES PERSONS", and they swallow and take the ‘nonsense’ dished by politicians and play the role of "coward elites". I have been called a trouble maker by politicians, friends, elites and relatives just because I say it the way I see it, no matter what and who is involved. El-Rufai has said the truth, whether we like it or not. Majority of political appointees in the country have failed because they have contributed majorly to the bad governance situation in Nigeria. They praise the State Governors and the Presidents for doing practically nothing. They have taken praise-singing as a profession, even when it is obvious that their bosses are doing the wrong things.
Truth is, all we have witnessed in Nigerian politics as far as we can remember, is nothing but political leaders and their Advisers who have made themselves ‘Public Masters’ rather than ‘Public Servants’. We have learned to judge Nigerian politicians by “what they do” and not by “what they say” – this is because often times, what comes out from the mouth of most Nigerian politicians never commensurate with what they eventually do in terms of actions and initiated/enacted policies. As it is in Nigeria, so it is in the whole of Africa, hence, we have remained a country/continent that is underdeveloped, stricken with poverty and lack, and always needing aides from developed societies. And this deplorable status of Nigeria and Africa, is caused by political leaders whose primary aim of being in politics is to become rich overnight.
Another point is that the issue of nepotism, favouritism, ethnicitism, religion and political affiliations have been the attributing factors that have made the nation not to have political leaders that ought to be elected/appointed on merit and qualification to effectively and efficiently lead the country to great heights. These issues, have ‘blinded’ both the government and the governed from making sound and good judgements in the appropriation of public resources for the good of all and sundry, particularly by those in authorities, and in demanding such when they are not getting it right by those being governed. In other words, it is as if our multi-cultural bearings have over the years, made us to be more self-serving/self-centered when it comes to governance and the appropriation of our collective wealth as a people in the entity called Nigeria.
We also blame elected State Governors and the Presidents for appointing morons, daft persons, ignorant persons and political thugs as adviser their Personal Assistants, Special Advisers, Commissioners, Ministers, Board members, Chairmen, Managing Directors and Executive Directors of Government Agencies. The Presidents and Governors have deliberately caused ‘poor governance’ across Nigeria because they have always engaged in the practice of appointing people who will not perform. People are not appointed based on merits and performance. Virtually all Government Appointments in Nigeria are based on tribalism and nepotism. The State Governors and Presidents do not appoint people with the right frame of mind that can support and advise them rightly for good governance. So, we now have situations where, right from day one, the Government at all levels are programmed to fail. The political parties also nominate these same kinds of people when asked to submit list of Appointees in Government. When people without conscience and without the needed expertise are appointed to head sensitive public positions, then no good will be expected to come out from them. For instance, those who argue that one must be a medical doctor to be appointed Minister for health or Commissioner for health; or one must be an Engineer or flight captain to be appointed Minister for Works or Aviation respectively, is a wrong and ignorant argument. The position of Ministers and Commissioners are just Administrative Officers. There are Career Civil Service workers as Permanent Secretaries and Directors. Those who argue that our roads are bad because non-Engineers are appointed, and that the aviation sectors are not performing because the rightful professionals are not appointed; is a baseless argument. This is not true.
The only reason the various Ministries and Government Departments and Agencies are not performing is simply corruption, and appointing people who do not have the capacity to deliver. One may be a professional but may not have the required capacity and capability to deliver as a Commissioner/Minister. Poor contracting, poor execution/implementation of contracts and policies, and poor supervision - all boils to corruption. When a Minister/Commissioner is awarding a major project to a contractor without tools and instruments of work then how do you get good projects completed? When projects are awarded and the Minister/Commissioner/Director is taking bribes that is almost half of the budget of the entire project as kickback, then what will the contractor use to execute the project? This also leaves the contractor with the option of executing poor jobs because half of the project cost has been used for bribes. These are the reasons why projects are not properly executed in this country and that is why roads that are constructed will not outlive the tenure of the governor or the president.
Like we said, all of these are caused by the Governors/Presidents because they are fond of appointing morons and irresponsible people as Commissioners or Ministers. In other words, the State Governors and the Presidents are responsible for the failures of their administrations. If you appoint a person that is not performing, and one who is creating issues where there are none, and such a person is not sacked, then who do we blame? Is there a law in Nigeria that says a Governor and President must appoint politicians that are with no vision? The truth is that 85% of political appointees in the country are ignorant or corrupt people, who were appointed because of tribalism or nepotism. A Southern President will appoint more people in his administration from Southern Nigeria. While a Northern President will appoint more people from the Northern Nigeria - whether they can perform or not? It is this pathetic practice that has brought us to where we are presently as a nation.
Due to the ignorance and negligence of the Nigerian political leaders at all levels of Government, Nigeria is losing its priced-manpower to the foreign countries, whom have been helping in development of these foreign countries. Nigeria’s young and vibrant manpower are daily migrating out of the country because their hopes for a better tomorrow are shattered by Nigerian political leaders with their self-centered actions. These Nigerian youths love Nigeria, but the Government of the day does not care about them or their future. Getting a job in Nigeria is like looking for a needle in a haystack, even for a first-class graduate. If you do not have connections with politicians, you cannot get juicy jobs in certain places. So, the only option is to migrate out of the country. and that is why today, Nigerians are developing other foreign countries, and the Nigerian political leaders are excited over this. How can we be losing high level manpower to other countries and the political leaders are busy being excited?
Zik Gbemre.
November 22, 2019
We Mobilize Others To Fight For Individual Causes As If Those Were Our Causes