THISDAY
Lewis Chukwuma
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu assumed office at a period in Nigeria’s history when the morale of her people is without doubt at its lowest ebb; her economy is in shambles; with people living in abject poverty and dilapidated infrastructures in need of fundamental revamp. It’s no longer news that Nigerians are no longer safe in their homes. The future appears bleak with a staggering debt crisis.
Cut to the bone, Nigeria is in a period of great social and political malaise. And worse, the country has run out of excuses. The core existential debate is about what’s standing between the Nigerian people and the future they seek for themselves and families. It is against this backdrop that the essence of cobbling a transformative cabinet to help drive the president’s vision can best be appreciated.
But just as in ex-President Muhammad’s Buhuri era when the government functioned in disarray, so it appears the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration is heading same direction. As it were, the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Nuhu Ribadu-led Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA), reportedly sent letters to the Nigerian Senate, allegedly urging the Red Chamber not to confirm three of President Bola Tinubu’s ministerial picks, without passing the information through the president. This is reminiscent of the Lawal Daura-led DSS days.
The focus of this analysis is on the former two-term governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai – one of the three ministerial nominees that was not confirmed by the Senate before it embarked on its recess.
The DG of the DSS and the NSA reportedly wrote to Senate President Godswill Akpabio, advising the Upper Chamber not to confirm the nomination of El-Rufai over unstated security considerations. The Senate President, according to some authoritative sources, only read the letter to the senate at its closed-door session but surprisingly refused to share the so called report with the lawmakers, who nevertheless acted on it.
Beyond all these puzzling and seeming hockery-pockery, the constitution of a cabinet to drive the president’s vision targeting the transformation of a damaged entity like Nigeria, requires leapfrogging old-wives tattle tales and focusing on substance.
Perhaps not surprisingly, this quirky scenario is spawning conspiracy theories notwithstanding the ex-governor’s outstanding performance during the Senate confirmation hearings. Speculations range from ‘national security’ considerations to assertions that his nomination was a set-up to humiliate him despite his leading role in mobilizing Northern support which largely aided the birthing of a Bola Tinubu presidency and the rescue of the All Progressives Congress, which determined antagonistic forces were determined to destroy.
It is important to state unambiguously and quite early in this analysis that the onus for the actualisation of Mallam El-Rufi’s appointment/confirmation as a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria lies squarely on the desk of President Tinubu. It is a fact difficult to wriggle away from. It can hardly be said that the 45 nominees confirmed are candidates for sainthood which the Vatican has validated.
In terms of experience, capacity and courage former Governor El-Rufai of Kaduna State towers far above all the Arewa ministerial nominees of President Bola Tinubu. This assertion is made with all circumspection and respect to the Northern ministerial picks. This is notwithstanding that the highly cerebral, diminutive dynamite describes himself quaintly as an “Accidental Public Servant”.
Certainly not like your run-of-the-mill politicians who crave crude acquisition of raw power for the sake of power, Mallam El-Rufai’s bold visions are anchored on consistent principles which have come to define his life story.
As it were, only tested trailblazers with vision, knowledge and courage in this age of disruption can provide the imperative cutting-edge leadership to ensure both stability and progression. And this is El-Rufai’s forte.
As it were, a powerful vision draws in ideas, people and other resources. It creates the momentum and will to make change happen. It inspires individuals, complementary organizations and institutions to commit, to persist and to give their best. Keying into this enduring philosophy, unassuming El-Rufai has also deployed impeccable professionalism, discipline and persistence to change the traditional narrative of subnational governance and even in the national space as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory.
El-Rufai rejects staying tamely at the end of received policy prescriptions. He covets knowledge-driven innovations, proactive engagement with stake-holders, policy makers and sure-footed action. These dimensions have been boldly mirrored in his leadership of all the professional and political responsibilities he has been entrusted with thus far.
Speculations that the NSA Nuhu Ribadu may have an axe to grind with the Kaduna State ministerial pick is not far-fetched. Though they both worked under former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s regime – and were outstanding stars of that administration – they have since parted ways. And the NSA has wasted no time in ensuring that he keeps El-Rufai far from the seat of power.
The fact that El-Rufai may have been pegged by President Tinubu to head Nigeria’s new Ministry of Energy with the target of ending decades of puzzling energy sector nightmare maybe a major factor is catalysing powerful opposition to his confirmation. And this would arguably represent an old Nigerian story.
The creation of a new ministry for energy and power to manage the country’s vast gas resources seeks to solve the perennial problem of lack of gas to run plants and remove control of gas supply and pricing, something industry operators have long clamoured for.
The new ministry will be tasked with removing constraints to gas supply by establishing a complementary and flawlessly interconnected framework for electricity and natural gas giving the electricity sector regulator, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) purview of the energy, not just electricity, industry.
With the creation of a new ministry for energy and appointing a swashbuckling reformer to head it, the Federal Government is signaling its intention to turn the focus away from oil, bringing together gas and power to deepen industralisation and grow petrochemicals, experts say
With his gung-ho approach, El-Rufai will undoubtedly focus on the larger strategic goal of using the Electricity Act 2023 to bring Federal and State government capacities to widen energy access for Nigerians
President Tinubu is believed to be considering excising gas from the Ministry of Petroleum Resources. The proposed appointment of El-Rufai, with a track record as a strong-willed reformer, to head the ministry, signals a presidential intent for transformative changes in that crucial sector.
It was gathered that El-Rufai has already lined up a broad team of experts comprising local and international consultants and experts to develop a strategy for the new ministry. That’s typical, proactive El-Rufai. This may not have gone down well with some powerful forces that have long held Nigeria to ransom.
The new energy ministry it is believed will be tasked with removing constraints to gas supply by establishing a complementary and flawlessly interconnected framework for electricity and natural gas giving the electricity sector regulator, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) purview of the energy industry – not just electricity sector.
El-Rufai brilliantly illuminated the issues surrounding the sector and proposed stringent measures in the electricity sector to help boost it during his senate screening session. According to him, the electricity supply situation in Nigeria has defied every government for 60 years.
His words: “Metering is a big issue; a lot of progress has been made by some of the Distribution Companies (Discos). In the last three or four years with the support of the CBN and the World Bank, every household should have been metered, every business should be metered. Estimated billing is not acceptable. But in addition, Nigeria must take a hard stance against those that steal electricity. Those that get electricity by diverting cables; not paying, we must take a hardline stance against it if this sector is to work.
“We privatised our distribution companies, 11 of them; 60 per cent to the private sector, 40 per cent to be owned by government. The idea is that the 40 per cent is supposed to be listed on the foreign exchange so that every Nigerian will be a shareholder in it.
“But that has not happened, 10 years after privatisation, the government is still subsidising electricity in one way or the other. The last time we checked it was about N1.6 trillion in the privatised environment. This is unsustainable and unacceptable.”
Reacting, an appreciative Senator Sani Musa (APC-Niger State) had acknowledged that El-Rufai has credibility when it came to performance on every assignment he had undertaken for Nigeria.
The emerging narrative of delaying El-Rufai’s senate confirmation is already triggering some unrest in some arenas. The Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF) has warned that the patience of the Youth must not be tested further with the refusal to confirm the nomination of El-Rufai for appointment as Minister of the Federal Republic.
A statement last week by AYCF president, Yerima Shettima, said the Youth and indeed northern Nigeria felt humiliated by the news that out of the 48 names submitted to the Senate by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, El-Rufai is among the only three whose confirmations were differed.
The confirmation of El-Rufai as a minister in President Tinubu’s cabinet need not reach this point of radicalising the youths who are essentially opposing the forces of regression that has hobbled Nigeria.
The onus of resolving the seeming stalemate and confirming El-Rufai ministerial appointment hangs on the neck of President Tinubu who picked him in the first place.
*Chukwuma, development journalist and public affairs analyst, writes from Abuja
