Updated: Business leaders rethink politics as economy stutters

Nigeria’s worst economic downturn in a quarter of a century is causing some of its brightest business leaders to have a rethink about their lukewarm approach towards engaging in politics.
Over time, social scientists have agreed that third world politicians fall short on the unique qualities that make a good leader, unlike business leaders who tend to be principled and decisive- the very qualities that define exemplary leadership.
Nigeria’s economy is in dire need of a rebirth, as it battles its first recession since 1991. While the blame is usually heaped on a downturn in oil prices and production shut-ins, business leaders are not losing sight of the damage caused by government officials who have suspended economic logic for political interests.
The much needed foreign exchange, power and petrol reforms needed to open the economy for business, as well as guarantee sustainable growth, are stalling, with politicians more concerned about protecting political points and turf, ahead of the upcoming elections.
“I strongly believe it is time for professionals and intellectuals to throw their hats in the ring because politics is becoming too important to be left to just anyone,” said Kyari Bukar, chairman of private sector think-thank, the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG).
BusinessDay interactions with top private sector players suggest that they are warming up to offer political participation, as they grow frustrated on the fringes, watching the economy choke under pangs of politics.
“It is no longer appropriate for us to sit on the side-lines and criticise the politicians who do not seem to get anything right,” one business leader said.
“It is also no longer right to wait to be appointed into political positions by those who in normal circumstances, you would not consider qualified to work for you. It is time we go and contest for positions and seek to win elections, to make the changes we want to see.”
Some of the technocrats are however not keen on getting personally involved in politics and are considering identifying credible and sound business leaders in different sectors of the economy, who they can support to seek elected positions in government.
The idea behind the new thinking is that no matter how credible and sound a “technocrat” is in government, as long as he or she is not the one making the final decisions, his efforts are undermined by his politician employer, who is guided not by logic but by political whims and caprices.
“We need the involvement of more professionals, business leaders and technocrats who no longer hope to go into politics as political appointees lacking a political base and constituency,” said Opeyemi Agbaje, CEO of Lagos-based RTC Advisory Services Ltd.
“In the end, those who have political power determine the outcomes and not the appointed technocrats,” Agbaje added.
Technocrats are likely to have a better understanding of the economic and policy issues underlining national development, and are likely to be more committed to leaving a positive legacy and impact, according to Agbaje.
“I will advise professionals and business leaders to organise and move into the political space in large numbers, rather than as individuals, so as to provide support to each other and maximise their influence within the political parties,” he said.
Barely a month after releasing the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), government’s blueprint to revive the flailing economy, there is a lack of urgency in implementation, according to Bukar of the NESG and RTC’s Agbaje.
The ERGP has a four-year timeline (2017-2020), and given that 2018 and 2019 will be lost to electioneering, officials may have two years to achieve implementation, yet they are “distracted and dealing with issues with no relevance to economic growth.
“Nigeria is widely tipped to exit recession in the first quarter. Sadly, that won’t be dependent on any government reform, but more on the recovery in oil prices and production,” Bukar added.
Business leaders are also drawn aback, particularly by the stagnation in the power sector, which has not seen any significant improvement in the last two decades.
“Look at the power sector; we have been stuck at generating 4,000MW of electricity for over two decades. The challenges in the sector are obvious but government after government have lacked the political will to make the right decisions to take us out of the blockage. Yet the country’s economy is losing billions every year just because we cannot get our power sector right. This is even more painful if you consider that we have enough gas to perhaps power the whole of Africa. Yet we cannot generate enough power to even power Lagos,” another concerned business leader said.
Despite the outburst, close watchers of the political space say that it would not be easy for business leaders to break into the Nigerian political space.
“The Nigerian political space is a tough place to break into. The politicians have had almost 17 years head start and they have been able to accumulate a lot of largely “illicit” wealth, which they can afford to use a bit more freely than money earned through the business. Also, with the mind-set in rural areas, where electoral value is largely bought, it is going to be a tough fight for business leaders to break into the political space,” a source familiar with the matter observed.
“Those who have done it in the past have done it mainly with the aid of the same “dirty” politicians and have had to make compromises that sometimes do not sit well with them, in order to retain their positions. Most of them have had their “loyalty and credibility” tested.”
Another school of thought is of the view that technology and social media provide a by-pass to the hearts and minds of the electorate that money cannot buy and that these tools are in abundance in the country, given the country’s 153 million active mobile subscriptions.
Nigeria’s next elections are slated for February 2019, according to the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC).