• Thursday, March 28, 2024
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BusinessDay

Newly elected governors: Beyond the clinking of glasses

Sanwo Olu

In all the states where new governors were elected in the March 9 gubernatorial election, there has been jubilation and clinking of glasses. The governors-elect have been busy reeling out promises and pledges of great things they would do as soon as they are sworn into office on May 29. This is not the first time such promises would be made.

Some states have heard that over five times since the return of the country to civil rule, yet, they have remained poorer than they were 20 years ago.

According to the results declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) following the gubernatorial election, about eight new faces emerged as governors across the country. They are Emeka Ihedioha (Imo); Babajide Sanwo-olu (Lagos); Dapo Abiodun (Ogun); Seyi Makinde (Oyo); Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri (Adamawa); Bala Muhammed (Sokoto), Inuwa Yahaya (Gombe), Abdullahi Sule (Nasarawa) and Mukhtar Shehu Idris (Zamfara).

These men would on May 29 take over the baton of leadership from the incumbent governors in their respective states and begin to pilot the affairs of their states for the next four years. On May 29, it would dawn on them that it is no longer a dream, but a reality, that the needs of their people are now squarely on their shoulders.

Some of the outgoing governors rode to power some years back amid great adulation. They were looked upon as “messiahs” by the people of their state. Like in Imo, Rochas Okorocha enjoyed the praise of his people. There was that rapport between him and the people so much that whatever decision he took at the early stage of his administration was adjudged correct by the people. But somewhere along the line, something snapped. The love for Okorocha turned into hatred; the reason being that the people alleged that he was only busy fending for himself and his family.

The same story goes for the outgoing governor of Oyo State, Abiola Ajimobi, who broke the jinx four years ago, by winning a second term. He somehow, became an enemy of his own people, so much so that he could not even win a senatorial seat within his own senatorial district.

It is always rosy at the beginning, until the people begin to see through the shenanigans imbedded in the sweet promises. Today, Ihedioha has constituted a 137-man transition committee and despite the bogus number, Imo people are clapping for him. The question is, would the clapping continue till the end of four years beginning from May 29? In Imo State, the victory of Ihedioha is seen as a divine intervention to deliver the people from bondage. The victory was so sweet that some families on their own, who do not even know the governor-elect, threw parties to celebrate the development. Would this celebration continue after two, three years of Ihedioha in the saddle?

In most states of the federation, governors operate on the basis of “winner-takes-it-all” basis. For this reason, they never organise credible local government elections. Even when they claim they organise such elections, they rig it in such a way that it is only their party that wins in all the local government areas. The usual practice is the use of transition committee chairmen, which they (governors) continue to change on yearly basis. Local government chairmen are starved of funds to carry out meaningful projects within the ambit of the constitution in their domain. And because they are appointed by the governors, they are always “O’Yes” men as any behaviour that is read to be at variance with the instructions of the governor attracts severe punishment. What would the incoming governors do differently? If they have the plan to continue in this trajectory, it then means that the celebration would soon turn into mourning as usual.

Over the years, governors are being accused of depending so much on the handout from Abuja, so much that they do not look within their states the abundant natural resources to tap into, or things to promote in their domain to attract foreign exchange. For this reason, most of the 36 states have since become unviable to the point that state governments owe workers’ salaries for several months. Most of the states do not take education as a priority, hence, enrolment in public schools have since dropped. Human capital development is not a priority to them. If the in-coming governors are going to uphold these negatives, it then means the people would sooner than later return to their mourning state.

In some of the states where the victory of the governor-elect was purely political and not because of the failure of the incumbent administration, the wailing is bound to be so much because, before long the misled electorate would have found out that they were conned. In some states, voters voted purely because they were financially or materially induced, the style of leadership of the in-coming governor viz-a-viz what they experienced under the incumbent governors, would speak for itself.

Today, truth be told, a number of the state governors, who also “won” re-election, have outlived their usefulness in government house. Their return was not the popular choice of the people, but purely based on the amount of bribe money they pushed out. In some places, the electorate just decided to allow them complete eight years in order not to alter the zoning arrangement or what is now popularly known as “charter of equity”.

This is because, in the last four years, they have achieved practically nothing in their states and so had no cogent reason coming back to government house.

A school teacher in one of the public schools in one state told BDSUNDAY that she was convinced that her governor returned through some other means other than the ballot.

“If the election was credible, there is no way that man would have come back as governor. He was owing several months’ salaries to civil servants in the state. Teachers were grumbling and things were totally bad. When I heard he had been re-elected, I asked, ‘how, by who?’ Who voted for him? I was shocked. You see, because they know they can always use the state money to buy their way back to office, they do not care what happens to anybody, and behave as if they have no heart,” the female teacher who craved anonymity said.

She does not see much hope in the new governors coming in.

“If you have followed their promises at the entry point, they are always reassuring and soothing. But just two years into their administration, the music always changes. May be, there is a certain negative power that is responsible for that in the country. Before long, they will begin to point fingers at their predecessors as excuses for not delivering on their lofty promises. It is a vicious circle, and I am not sure Nigeria is going to get away from this sorry state. It is the same thing at the Federal level,” she said.

In his advice to the fresh governors, Kunle Awobodu, a property consultant, said they must continue with the good aspect of their predecessors’ policies for enhanced economic development.

Awobodu, a former President of Building Collapse Prevention Guild (BCPG), who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos, said a major problem in Nigeria was policy inconsistency, adding that policy inconsistency was the bane of development of the country, particularly the construction and housing sector.

He therefore, advised the newly elected governors in the various states to continue with the policies and projects started by their predecessors for sustainable development.

“All over the world, continuity is the goal for national development.Government is supposed to be a continuous process with focus on national interest and not on individual or party interest.

“When an administration abandoned a laudable project started by the previous administration, it is to the detriment of the public because when two elephants fight, the grass suffers,” he said.

He also noted that inconsistency of policy was the cause of poor urban development in the country, which he said, had hindered growth of housing and construction development.

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According to him, “Promoting security of tenure and policy is a prerequisite for sustainable improvement in housing and environmental conditions.

“It is unfortunate that in Nigeria, we have been experiencing governments that never accomplished what they set out to achieve.Every administration comes in with its new policy.”

“Until Nigeria government adopts continuity of policy, the country may never record remarkable growth in the housing and construction sector,” he said.

Awobodu advised that the Lagos State government should revisit the Badagry express road project to facilitate its completion and also ensure completion of other laudable projects started by the previous administrations.

ZEBULON AGOMUO