Buhari, tell your ministers and men, deliver or jail

I need not recount all the constraints your government will be working with. It is massive.  Besides, it is a battle for the existence of the country’s wealth, its people, its natural resources and its future. It is a tough task.

Bad roads and road networks, sick electricity sector, millions of poor citizens, inefficient bureaucracy, bad healthcare, bad education, bad security-the ‘bad’ is countless.

This is not merely the result of corruption or mono economy or fallen oil prices, it is majorly the result of ‘very bad’ people-ministers and director generals, army chiefs and special assistants- who failed to deliver but were hailed instead of jailed.

So you need good people. But for these people not to turn into bad people you need to set the rule from the day you choose them to work with you. And it should be a very simple rule-‘deliver or be jailed’. Call that the framework of your leadership and make it a one-option-strategy, a maximum non-negotiable strategy-aimed at shifting and strengthening the long neglected moral and ethical structure of governance in Nigeria.

This will also involve a seminal confrontation with your party ‘hawks’, those who ‘paid’ to fund your campaign, that are now queuing with inclination to grabbing a bite of the free pot of pie. 

Will it be enough to just ask them to deliver or be jailed-no! You will have to outline the key performance index (KPI) as well, which will require them to perform against all odds and consider examples that are expected to be set. The KPIs should be able to test individual’s weaknesses and problems so that those weaknesses and problems are not transmitted into the system. The KPIs also should be able to test planning capacity and strength or weakness in delivering projects.

This type of one-stop rule of engagement is what investors are excited about. They will see it simply as the beginning of positive reform story that they all have been talking about since the April 2015 elections. It will simply signpost for them the beginning of the breaking up of bureaucracy, breaking up the barriers to ease of doing business in Nigeria-it will reassure them that the new leadership understands the need to do the easiest things that brings barriers to doing business in the country down.

There is already a huge level of expectations from the populace on what your government will do to make life better, to make the life of our children better and to make things work better in the country. A lot of people expect to see that sign, beginning with this grounds rule, that they will be given the opportunity to build their own lives, build their own businesses, their own careers and educate their sons and daughters.

I am very positive that people will associate the steps with breaking barriers to development. Without being generic, when those who rule set and comply with ethics and morals of governance it creates the ambience for progress.

But the truth is that investors are waiting to see this type of move besides waiting to see the composition of the government, to make their decisions.

Mr President, the upside is immense if you are able to set this as the pivotal rule of engagement. You will be remembered and talked of as the most significant Nigerian President if the chosen ones play by this rule. It will send a very strong and powerful message to ‘corruption’ and underscore the intent to realign twisted moral and governance values.

The rule may not be all or enough, however, to secure Nigeria’s path to the future, but in many ways it may well be the right rule because the downside is just as daunting if you don’t subject your team players to this rule. The astonishing election victory you pulled will be forgotten and alluded to as another electoral fraud. The ‘people’ will be the most disappointed and they are certain to pour you venomous scorn.

Charles Ike-Okoh