On Tuesday, August 25th President Muhammad Buhari while receiving Ambassadors and High Commissioners from about 8 countries listed nine areas that will be his focus in the remaining 3 years of his presidency. Using such occasions when the top diplomats visited him to present their letters of credence to announce priority areas of the government, shows the importance of the areas to PMB and his government. Many people perceived it as an indication that PMB has started thinking about his legacy and I seem to agree. Not only is it a good idea for PMB to be concerned about his legacy, it is most commendable of Mr President to make his intentions known so that Nigerians can help him to achieve his good plans of having a lasting positive legacy.
According to PMB, “In our efforts to achieve a realistic domestic and foreign policy, as well as national development, we have identified the following nine priority areas to guide our policy directions over the next few years. Build a thriving and sustainable economy; Enhance social inclusion and reduce poverty; Enlarge agricultural output for food security and export; Attain energy sufficiency in power and petroleum products and expand transport and other infrastructural development; Expand business growth, entrepreneurship and industrialization; Expand access to quality education, affordable healthcare and productivity of Nigerians; Build a system to fight corruption, improve governance and create social cohesion and improve security for all”.
If PMB can committedly pursue and achieve devolution of powers in his remaining three years in power, he would have created and left a legacy of infinite and lasting positive impact on Nigeria. This approach will ensure quick achievement of his nine priority areas
While there is no doubt as to the importance of each of the nine areas to Nigeria’s quest for sustainable economic growth and development, the doubt is in the achievability of the plans particularly the structure and platform upon which they will be executed. Using a reverse thinking process, the question is why Nigeria is still underdeveloped and constrained the way it is and can PMB achieve what he has not been able to achieve in five years in his remaining three years. The answer is most unlikely.
In the analysis of problems, a very important factor in solving a problem effectively is the proper understanding of the problem. In that perspective, a different but related question is if PMB is applying proper identification and analysis of the problem in his plans for a good legacy. Using key economic performance indicators, the answer is also most unlikely. Everything seems to be going south- unemployment, inflation, diaspora remittances, poverty, insecurity, foreign reserve, investments, exchange rate and firms’ profitability, budget deficits, declining revenue and foreign direct investment.
While the impacts of COVID-19 are noted, the fact remains that as COVID-19 kills more people with underlying challenges, our present precarious situation as an economy and nation cannot be attributed mainly to COVID-19. We have many underlying challenges which COVID-19 is just helping to expose and exacerbate. The major problem with Nigeria and particularly PMB’s government is the expectation of good results while using the same strategies that have proven inefficient and flawed over the years. It is the wrong analysis of our problems.
During his inauguration as the President in 2015, PMB listed three areas – Reducing Insecurity, Fighting Corruption and Diversification of the Economy as priority areas of his government. After over five years in government and overwhelming goodwill from Nigerians and the international community, none of the three areas can be said to have improved. Rather than improving, they have all worsened. If this is the case, what is expected is a deep retrospection on the part of PMB’s government on why expectations and targets remain not only unachieved but worsening in almost all fronts.
As usual reasons such as corruption, leadership, poor execution, weak regulation and complex bureaucracy are advanced as the causes of our failure and limited government effectiveness. Why they are valid factors, they are not the underlying reasons or the main causative factors of our development crisis. To better understand our problem, Nigeria is like a polygamous family travelling to a destination written in their late father’s will with an old problematic car bought by their father when he had one wife. With an improper understanding of the problems of the old car and their father’s will, all the sons are blaming the driver with an illusion that once they take over as the driver, the journey to promise land will be easy and smooth.
The problem with Nigeria is that as a very plural society, we are using a structure of governance most suited for a homogenous society and expecting results of a plural society. Expectedly, while the problems are well known such as poverty, insecurity and inequality, the approach we are using to address the problems is inherently flawed. As such the problems are escalating while we keep referring to the spill over effects as the causes of our problem. It is also the reason why the focus is competition for power among the ethnic groups and power blocks rather than competition for development which we most urgently need and can achieve with the appropriate structure of governance.
To create a truly lasting and positive legacy, PMB needs to do only one thing. I implore him to appreciate that the structure of our governance is deeply faulty and unsuitable for a plural society such as Nigeria. All he needs to do is to examine and copy the structure of governance of other plural society in the world and apply it to Nigeria. Good examples include India, the United Kingdom, Brazil, the United States of America and many others. What they have is a devolved structure of governance and that is what Nigeria urgently needs.
If PMB can committedly pursue and achieve devolution of powers in his remaining three years in power, he would have created and left a legacy of infinite and lasting positive impact on Nigeria. This approach will ensure quick achievement of his nine priority areas. However, if this counsel is not heeded, let it be noted that the achievement of the nine priority areas might not be realised. It will be the same failed outcomes as we have today with 2015 promises of reducing insecurity, corruption and diversification of the economy. That will imply the absence of a good legacy after 8 years in power!
Dr. Ngwu, is an Economist/Associate Professor of Strategy, Risk Management & Corporate Governance, Lagos Business School and a Member, Expert Network, World Economic Forum. E-mail- [email protected],
