As aspirants are now jostling to succeed incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023, some analysts are wondering why private sector players are not showing interest to rescue the country from its current socio-economic and political morass.
So far, the majority of those who have declared their ambition for the presidency are career politicians.
The pundits have also urged well-meaning Nigerians to throw their weight behind the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure that the next round of elections would change the sad narrative.
One of the analysts, Henry Anya, a political scientist, wondered why some powerful private sector organisations in the country, such as Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN); Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria (NPAN), among others have not deemed it fit to galvanize toward ensuring that one of their own strives to succeed President Buhari.
“Is anything wrong if Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG), Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), and some other private sector players sponsor one of their members?
“The major problem with the country is economic in nature. Any leader that gets it right here would have solved 90 percent of Nigeria’s problem, and I wonder why those who know this fact have consistently decided to allow people who know little or nothing about the economy to decide the fate of over 200 million Nigerians,” Anya said.
Anya regretted that Nigeria, like Venezuela, is wallowing in abject poverty despite huge oil endowment, as a result of bad leadership.
“Some time ago, I read an article ‘Averting Road to Venezuela,’ written by Femi Adesina, a special adviser on media and publicity to President Muhammadu Buhari. He said, ‘from a land flowing with milk and honey, what are the characteristics of Venezuelan life today? Hyperinflation. Starvation. Diseases. Crime and high mortality rates. Massive emigration, the worst in the history of the country.
And half of the story has never yet been told. By 2017, over 75percent of the population had reportedly lost 8 kg (19 lbs) due to hunger. There are interminable food queues, and people even cross the borders, looking for sustenance. At least 94percent live in grinding poverty, more than 10percent (3.4 million) have left the country, and 25percent needed one form of humanitarian assistance or the other.’ That is exactly Nigeria’s case today because competent people are shying away from politics,” he said.
Nigeria has many lessons to learn from France, the United States of America, and some African countries, including South Africa, where private sector-groomed leaders are in charge.
Examples from other lands
With the 2023 general election around the corner, concerned citizens are wondering if the private sector players can be given a chance as they appear to be the leadership magic Nigeria needs.
Of course, the likes of Donald Trump, former president of the United States of America, Emmanuel Macron, President of France, and even Boris Johnson, the British Prime Minister, all came from the private sector, amid impressive impacts on their respective countries.
From shifting his family’s business from residential units in Brooklyn and Queens to glitzy Manhattan projects, and later to a conglomerate, comprising real estate, hotel, media, showbiz among others, Donald Trump, who is worth over $2 billion, replicated his business success skills in White House, as America ousted him not because of mismanagement as the economy even grew more under him.
The intrigue is that Trump has been a business mogul all his life and needed not to be a career politician to lead America. But such hardly happens in Nigeria as most successful business people are seen as financial supporters to political parties and not fit for running for offices.
In the case of France, the choice of Emmanuel Macron as president was because of the European youngest president’s leadership qualities.
While Trump moved from being a hotel developer to the president, Macron moved from being an inspector of finances, investment banker, and business mogul to becoming the French president.
On the other hand, Boris Johnson had been a journalist all his life, and a very influential one, whose opinions were always reckoned with. No wonder Margret Thatcher, former prime minister of the United Kingdom, discovered him and brought him closer to government.
At home in Africa, there are examples too.
Cyril Ramaphosa, president of South Africa, led the country out of recession-induced by the bad policies and corruption of Jacob Zuma, the former president, who is serving jail terms for his corruption charges.
Despite the impact of the pandemic, South Africa, the continent’s most industrialized country, saw its gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 1.2 percent in the second quarter of 2021, a feat that improved and was sustained through 2021.
However, the seeming quality leadership by Ramaphosa is coming from his wealth of experience in the private sector.
From being an executive chairman of Shanduka Group, a company he founded, chairman of Bidvest, and MTN, non-executive director at Macsteel Holdings, Alexander Forbes and Standard Bank, as well as Non-Executive joint Chairman of Mondi, Ramaphosa has long before his emergence as the president garnered leadership skills for the biggest office in his country.
The Zambian experience
In an interview with BusinessDay last year following the defeat of a sitting president, Edgar Lungu by Hakainde Hichilema, a businessman, a Corporate Lawyer-turned Entrepreneur, Monica Musonda, said of him: “I think we are willing to bank on someone who has not been a career politician; someone who wears a different lens sees things slightly differently. I think the question yet to be seen as you know is how he will manage all the social issues. But for the most part I think what we’re willing to do in Zambia is now, try a different approach for a better result. So, I think we are optimistic; we recognised he is a very disciplined person; we are hoping for a very disciplined team, and people who will focus much more on the people’s agenda and not on their self-agenda.”
Analysts’ views
Chijioke J. Umelahi, a former Abia State lawmaker, says Nigeria will experience a robust economy, peaceful and better country if private sector players are allowed to rule the country come 2023.
“Truly, the private sector is making Nigeria proud. They keep laundering our bad image out there and have shown leadership across different sectors. So, giving them an opportunity to lead the country is the way out of our chronic bad leadership problem,” Umelahi said.
“The likes of Aliko Dangote, Tony Elumelu, Jim Ovia, Cosmas Maduka, Sam Ohuabunwa, Afolabi Taiwo, among others have started their companies here and have expanded to the UK, USA and other parts of the world, where they employ foreigners. If you hand over the leadership of the country to them, they will do well because they have business principles that also apply to running a country. It is all about managing people and resources,” the former lawmaker said.
But Ifewodor Ogala, a retired Naval officer, who couldn’t compete with career politicians in Bayelsa State during the last gubernatorial election, noted that the Nigerian political class will not allow thriving private sector to lead the country because it will bring sanity to the system and deny them many opportunities, as leaders from the private sector will use business principles to rule – accountability, merit and “no godfatherism.”
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According to Ogala, “People from the private sector appointed in positions by the government always do well. But to get them into political leadership positions is the problem. To do that, we need to bridge the process of electing them, probably by adopting them as consensus candidates, which is difficult in Nigeria.”
But Bukola Aderemi, an ex-banker and hopeful political aspirant for Ogun State House of Assembly said that the country has been having bad leaders because the electorates have failed to defend their votes and also to make them count.
“I was unhappy when an unpopular candidate emerged the winner at the primaries and went ahead to win the Federal Constituency seat in my state in 2015, same repeated in a by-election. It happened because the voters sold out, and if they did not, why didn’t they defend their votes at the pools,” she queried.
Speaking further, she noted that sustained agitations or standing up to intimidations by security agents during polls, will always secure the votes, but the reserves are usually the case because many fear for their lives.
“Look at how Edo people stood their ground to save the state from the grip of Oshomhole; Anambra resisted the Federal Government; Bayelsa also did the same. We can insist on who we want, reject their money, stand up to security agents and go for a candidate that can deliver. This will make people join any party because it will no longer be the party but the credibility of the candidate that will win the election,” she said.
Looking at the array of aspirants already on parade to become president in 2023, Umelahi noted that the first to declare are usually not the ones to get the tickets because of political permutations, realignment of interests, and powers in later weeks to come.
“I think there are a few good ones among them. The likes of Kingsley Moghalu, Sam Ohuabunwa, and others from the private sector, who have proven themselves, should be given a chance,” Umelahi said.
Ogala thinks that more credible aspirants will emerge later, but that old politicians who have been part of the reason the country is backward should not be given a chance.
“Let younger people with sound backgrounds come out this time, they may not have money to spend, but somehow things will turn around in 2023 because Nigerians are wiser now. We cannot afford the same people, same thinking, same mandate, and same attitude again. 2023 should not be about party but credibility,” he said.
He also thinks that Nigeria has many lessons to learn from France, the United States of America, and even South Africa, where private sector-groomed leaders are in charge.
“Donald Trump was never a politician, but the Republicans wooed him because of his achievements in the business and corporate world. We can do that and see the difference. It must not always be old politicians or retired generals,” he said.
Political Analyst, Kunle OKunade said despite the difficult political terrain of the country, and if their record in the private sector is taken into consideration, an individual in the private sector may perform better, especially in management, public accountability, and policy execution if given the opportunity to rule the country.
According to him, “It is not easy here, you know the kind of politics we play here, and can they risk it? Ordinarily, those that have succeeded in their chosen careers or businesses are supposed to be considered good for public leadership positions like the president, governor, and the rest, but what is noticeable in this clime is that they would rather want to play a supporting role by financing political aspirants and candidates into offices.
“Although, the private sector players influence public policies, especially if they play a key role in the emergence of the political office holder. It will be appropriate for Nigerians to give a private sector operator a chance to run the affairs of this nation so as to test the argument for private-sector managers’ involvement in Nigeria politics.
“The impact such can make would be in the area of sustainable public policy. The success of a government can be measured through the impact its policies have on the general public. I will charge those in the business world to get involved actively in politics and not be financiers only.”
Similarly, public affairs commentator and lecturer in Anchor University Lagos, Dele Jackson said that a private sector player can do well if given the opportunity to rule, adding that examples abound across the world, but warned that such candidates must be dynamic and able to mix with youths.
“Personally, I don’t think the array of aspirants hoping to contest the 2023 election, particularly the likes of Tinubu and Atiku can move our country forward. On the other hand, we have seen Nigerians who have done well in the private sector; however, the Nigerian political space and its dynamics might not enable them to succeed, if they decided to run for the presidency,” Jackson said.
According to him, “In other countries of the world with reference to the United States, the political space and its dynamics have enabled the likes of Donald Trump, Ronald Reagan and many others who did well in the private sector to contest for the presidency and advance the course of their country.
“I believe whoever will transform the political and economic fortunes must have a blend of political and economic intelligence and skills. The candidate must be dynamic and able to mix with the young population.”
Ken Ike, a professor of Economics, said private sector players can help solve myriads of Nigeria’s challenge but what is required mostly is a formidable team that can deliver the needed dividends.
“The country is made up of a wide thread of professionals and it is very important to engage that diversity of professionals. Because the economy is so pivotal to our development there is a need for people with great knowledge in economic management to have a preponderance of them into leadership to be able to steer the economy in a positive direction.
“It is in that count but not by any means exclusive territory. You are talking about leadership; leadership is actually simpler than how complex we make it to be. It is just your ability to get the right people; square pegs in square holes. To get the right people with the right experience to help create the policy, robust implementation plan, and carry them out.
“So you may have the best man sitting there but if the team is not up to it, we will still be back to square one. You could have a Ph.D., you could be a Professor in economics, if you don’t choose the right team then the political economy will be just like Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said: ‘if you try to fight corruption, corruption will fight back. This is a challenge for us.
“It could work but it is not by any means a panacea for salvaging an economy. Like I told you, the best brain and experienced person can mount that position of President but if he doesn’t exercise the wisdom, because you can’t be everywhere. I don’t see how much of being everywhere you have seen in Buhari, he just sits there and tells the manager, gives the marching order. So, it is by your ability to get the right team and it is not a one-man job. We want to grow strong institutions,” Ike said.
According to him, “We don’t want to grow strongmen because it is strong institutions that will rise to defend, support and lead. So, it is not about individuals. It is by the individual having the discernment to choose the right team that will do what he wants them to do and you need them in different ministries, different agencies. If you want to have a purposeful economy, you have to choose the right people that will focus on the correct agenda to deliver.”
Tersoo Ende, an economist, reasoned that the private sector players could be the answer to what Nigeria needs right now for the economy to foster that energy from individual ownership of means of production into the Nigerian economy.
“By bringing in this culture, most of the Nigerian economic sectors will start working properly, thereby creating more productivity which will lead to improvement in the balance of payment accompanied by a favourable exchange rate. When all this is put on the ground, jobs would no longer be scarce,” he said.
A former governor of Borno State and serving Senator, Kassim Shettima shared this view when he said in Abuja recently: “At the top of our expectations from Nigeria’s next president should be mastery of the dynamics of the modern economy, testified leadership skills and competence, and, very significantly, sensitivity to the complexities of Nigerian sociology.”
A tall dream for Nigeria now – Agbakoba
Speaking with BusinessDay on the manner of candidates to expect in 2023, Olisa Agbakoba, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), said: “What one wants to see now that the present government is in its closing moments, is the presidential candidate that will emerge from whatever party; I would like to hear what they would say about insecurity; I would like to hear what they would say about fighting corruption and what tools that they would recommend; because it is from the programme of the presidential candidate that you have an expectation.
“What the prognosis shows for Nigeria is a long-distance situation of contagion or chaos. We are going to be in it for a long time. Do you think that 2023 will clear things? It is a long-distance race. Our votes will start to count, maybe, from 2049; unless we are able to get a good president.”
