JIDE OJO FROM PUNCH
Politicians campaign in poetry, but they govern in prose – Mario Cuomo, 52nd Governor of New York
President Bola Tinubu and 28 governors have been in office for barely one week and what a baptism of fire it has been for some of them. As predicted, there has been no honeymoon period for the newly inaugurated political leaders of the world’s largest black nation and Africa’s biggest economy. For the President, he has been slow in appointments but has been busy meeting different stakeholders as part of attempts to resolve the country’s hydra-headed challenges. He has met with security chiefs, ordering them to deal decisively with oil thieves and bandits.
Unfortunately, at least 78 Nigerians have been killed and 12 abducted in violent attacks across the country in the first week of the President in office. The incidents happened in Rivers, Zamfara, Kaduna, Ogun, Sokoto, and the Federal Capital Territory. This was contained in data obtained from the Nigeria Security Tracker, a project of the Council on Foreign Relations. Will these bloodletting ever abate?
On the economic front, the discontinuance of subsidy on premium motor spirit better known as petrol has led to economic hardships for poor and vulnerable Nigerians as the product now sells for between N488 and N600. This has made the cost of goods and services rise astronomically. Labour unions especially the Nigeria Labour Congress had declared indefinite strike and mass protests from today. However, the Federal Government was wise enough to thwart that move by securing an ex-parte order of the National Industrial Court to stop NLC from carrying out its threat. Series of meetings have been held between the labour unions and the Federal Government team and the purported strike has been suspended.
In terms of appointment, the President has only made three new appointments which were last Friday’s announcement of the Speaker of House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila as his new Chief of Staff, former Deputy Governor of Jigawa State, Senator Ibrahim Hadejia as Deputy Chief of Staff while former Benue State governor and minister, Senator George Akume, was appointed as the new Secretary to the Federal Government. The appointments take effect from June 14 obviously to allow Gbajabiamila to serve out his tenure as the Speaker of the 9th House of Representatives. I hope Akume will not court the controversy of abuse of office that led to the removal of Babachir Lawal from the same exalted office and that Gbajabiamila will not grow wings like the late Abba Kyari when he served in that position to former President Muhammadu Buhari.
I have tried to summarise what President Tinubu has done in his first week in office. However, there is a need for the media and civil society groups to take up the challenge of a more structured tracking of performance of campaign promises of the new president and the governors. That is the global best practices now because as I said in the opening quote of this piece, politicians are wont to campaigning in poetry and governing in prose by giving mega excuses why they could not fulfil their campaign pledges. Imagine the situation in Nigeria, our politicians still campaign on provision of roads, electricity and water, things already taken for granted in other climes.
Interestingly, there is a legal basis for the media and civil society to track performance of our new set of political leaders. The 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as altered, in section 22, enjoined us to hold the government to account. Other ancillary provisions are to be found in the following areas: Section 42 – Right to freedom from discrimination. Section 14 (1) – The Federal Republic of Nigeria shall be a state based on the principles of democracy and social justice. S. 14(2)(b) – “The security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government S. 14(4) – “The composition of the Government of a State , a Local Government Council, or any agencies of such govt. or council, and the conduct of the affairs of the govt. or council or such agencies shall be carried out in such manner as to recognise the diversity of the people within its area of authority and the need to promote a sense of belonging and loyalty among all the peoples of the Federation” and lastly, S. 15(5) – “The State shall abolish corrupt practices and abuse of power.”
