Peter Mbah and the burden of leadership

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By Prince Ejeh Josh

The stage for a new dawn in the history of our nation is beginning to phase in with current administrations winding down on May 29, and new administrations taking over the mantle of leadership in Nigeria and its federating units. The coast has become clearer after the February 25 and March 18 general elections as to which power blocs are forming governments at different levels.

The formation of new governments by emerging class of leaders, however, is not the fundamental issue bulging the minds of citizens. The shapes and dynamics of the last elections pointed unambiguously to the primary concerns of Nigerians, more so, the youths who constitute a sizeable determinant demography of who leads them. The general elections, although consigned to the rubble of history, have been described by watchers and analysts as a bloodless revolution which, to an extent, defied political parties, tribal and clannish affiliations and religious sentiment to personalisation assessment. It became what the social scientists would usually refer to as the principle of behavioralism. It is no longer about the abstract entity called political party even though the constitution and the electoral law recognise political parties as inevitable vehicles that must convey individuals canvassing to lead or rule the people.

The recent political wave left a strong message behind which many analysts had failed to predict accurately. The message was clear: it is no longer business as usual. It is no longer about politics of political parties but individuals. Voters became increasingly cognizant of their political environment and the role their votes could play in charting a new course in their lives, future, destiny and shared patrimony. They became even more participatory in the political and electoral process in the build-up to the general elections. In an international conference organised by the Faculty of Law, University of Nigeria, last year, where I presented a paper on the “Impacts of Political Culture and Electoral Process on Political Behaviour” with my focus on Nigeria, I bemoaned the triggers of political apathy among voters and how the end products benefitted some accidental candidates that found themselves in power by the benevolence and dictates of political godfathers rather than riding on the general assessment of the electorate based on independent phenomena such as competence, capacity, character, credibility, track records, and above all, clear vision on the pathway to socio-political harmony and economic recovery.

Indeed, we are all disgruntled as voters spanning and stretching from years of unfulfilled promises and unmet expectations from rulers in the context of democracy. Years of frustration and bottled up anger from the wasteful lifestyle of political actors, deceit, unemployment, poverty, lack of basic amenities in the midst of vexatious and scandalous waste and plenty aroused Nigerian voters to action. Economic depression, inflation, weak legal tender, insecurity and mindless lack of empathy by supposed representatives of the people led to the accumulated provocation leading to a major electoral explosion. The Southeast zone became a theatre of electoral battle. Lagos, Anambra, Enugu, Benue, Abia, Rivers, Kano, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, among other states and constituencies were lost and won. It was ostensibly, the battle of Armageddon. The people queried individual candidates on their proposed programmes and policies and how they intended to implement them. Their capacities were tactically assessed despite the fact that some candidates rode on the altar of the wave of the tsunami that swept across the nation.

By the time the storm was over, some people were not lucky enough to be accommodated in the sweeping hurricane for obvious reasons; gross incompetence and history of leadership failure. Like the former Nigeria President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, once wrote: “You do not reinforce failure.” This was the case in Enugu State. The electorate had vehemently refused to reinforce failure in the governorship election. Peter Ndubuishi Mbah emerged victorious from the electoral struggle. He won free, fair and square despite the malignant character assassination, fake news, falsehood and calculated attempts by opposition traducers to misrepresent him before the people. Mbah won laudably based on his antecedent as a successful manager of the economy, wealth creator, employment generator and competence. Among all the candidates that contested the election in the state, he was rated the best in terms of competence, capacity, character, and preparedness. The people voted for him. They handed over their collective mandate to him. They are all looking up to him for another revolution in governance and administration.

Let me note this with sly aloofness. I am not envious of Mbah’s governorship seat. Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown. Enugu people are desperate for good governance just like Nigerians are. Mbah will have to do the impossible out of sheer ingenuity and leadership dexterity to meet up with the high expectations and craves from the people. He has to be audacious, step on toes in order to correct some festering anomalies, take some firmer resolutions, unsettle some sensitive establishments through alternative displacement, and set up a functional system with immediacy. He shoulders burdens expected of someone with a magical wand. I will, however, not be surprised if he delivers on these expectations taking account of his background. Will Mbah become another Lee Kuan Yew who turned Singapore from a poor country; an island of mudflats and swamps into a developed metropolitan country competing as one of the world’s best today? Time will tell.

The brazen fact about Mbah’s leadership is that he would face multiple challenges, ranging from how to manage and reconcile disparate interests with that of his core administration policies, reform the prevailing socio-economic policies for meaningful improvement, avoid distraction by critics posing as agents of democracy, distance self from sycophants and political demagogues, think inwards on revenue generation, favourable tax regime, and prepare for frequent but unavoidable clashes with elitist philosophy especially in the redistribution of income and recapitalization of the economy through small and medium scale enterprises.

To succeed on his promises to the people of the state, Mbah would have to take a radical approach on the economy and those he employs to manage critical sectors of the economy. This will require political will that will ultimately resist political pressure and blackmail. The best hands must be engaged, regardless of political leaning. Experts and technocrats must be sourced to run the system in order to encourage investors. At all times, the governor must have in mind that, whatever be the credit or blame arising from administrative inefficiencies, recklessness or incompetence from his appointees goes to him. He bears the direct consequences and impact. This is why politics should not be the first consideration in making appointments. The people that voted for him and how he intended to fulfil his social charter with them should be the first consideration.

Although, we have seen Mbah take some decisive steps pointing to the direction of his administration. His appointment of a 64-man transition committee described as seasoned “technocrats, good governance, transparency and accountability advocates, financial and management experts, entrepreneurs as well as tech and innovation specialists” to streamline the state development plan to implementable charter. Like he noted in his 62-page manifesto, his governance philosophy is to deliver quality, people-focused governance by making the state the preferred destination for investment, business, tourism and living, and to also make it one of the top 3 states in Nigeria in terms of gross domestic product, and achieve a zero percent rate in poverty headcount index, these steps have far-reaching effect on the economy and welfare of the people. One would, however, query the extent this tactical operation can go without extraneous influence and scuttling by political actors who are or may likely consider some of the policies as too complex to manage their interest.

Mbah would also work hard to win the confidence of both local and foreign investors since his economic blueprint will be taking a shift from public sector to private sector driven economy. He wants to industrialize. He wants to build world tech hub. He wants to attract Google, Twitter, Meta (Facebook) and other tech giants. Policies must be transparent with easy accessibility of information by interested investors. Mbah has laid his roadmap for agro-allied revolution through land tenure reform. To achieve this, he must urgently address the burning issue of land grabbing among the citizens by those in positions of public trust and ensure justice is served. Writing in his, The Prince, the Italian diplomat, Niccolo Machiavelli, warned leaders against willful land grabbing as it could spark off violence and protracted resentment. According to him, “But above all, he (leaders/rulers) must refrain from seizing the property of others, because a man is quicker to forget the death of his father than the loss of his patrimony (property).” Addressing accusations of land grabbing by the government will restore people’s confidence in the land administration, and this will be a win for the planned agro-industrialisation.

While I hope Mbah would look at the different economic models and stimulus that could help him navigate the lean and dwindling state’s resources in order to manage the all time rising debt profile of the state, I would want to commend him on the drastic steps he has been taking to fulfill his promise of giving water to the people within 180 days in office. This is a herculean task laying ahead of him. It is, however, not insurmountable. In one of his unreported journeys in search for water in the forest as an assurance that he meant business, I was privileged to be in the tour. Mbah was in the bush, drenched in swamp, asking questions as to the millions of litres or cubic meters of clean water the Ajali Water Scheme, Oji River Waterworks, Iva Valley water etc, could supply in a day in their full capacity. We spent hours in the forest with his team of engineers assessing the upstream and midstream infrastructure. To be frank, Mbah would have to buckle his belt to fulfill this promise. We saw decayed infrastructure. We saw abandonment. We saw waste. Most interesting, the state still depends on the badly damaged, outlived infrastructure laid by the colonial masters to run. But Mbah said he is bringing respite. I hope Enugu people will support his efforts by keying into the collective agenda.

Tapping into the unmined natural resources and other deposits in the state to boost the revenues accruing to the government will be the best bet. However, this is not always easy because of the time, plan, capital, expertise and policies involved. Mbah would have to take courage in grabbing this space to break even in his administration. He would partner not only with private investors but also with the federal government for license and concession, and with the people who would see the project as a collective responsibility and patrimony for the greater good of the state. The Mbah’s administration will definitely come under attacks and campaign of calumny by profiteers of the massive corruption and thievery of the state resources. There are presently illegal mining activities in the state by some elements. Enugu has one of the best coal in the world. Over the years, mining activities are illegally going on while government is losing huge revenue as a result of that. This would have to stop. Resistance is expected.

The incoming leadership must carefully negotiate the state’s political economy to avoid pitfalls of its predecessors. A government that wants to succeed must never strive to please everybody. According to the English philosopher, Jeremy Bentham, the job of government must be to champion and promote the greatest good of the greatest number of the people. That means that some selfish interest from few segments of the society aiming detrimentally at the majority interest, regardless of how powerful the group is, must be ignored. The present Enugu State is in dire needs of sanitation and clean environment, infrastructure, robust health programmes that will enhance citizens’ wellbeing, and education reform that will inculcate modern curriculum such as concentration on science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Mbah has a lot of workloads on his shoulder and he must drive that with sense of urgency. After all, he is fond of the famous quote by the former American First Lady, Rosalynn Carter that, “A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go, but ought to be.” I hope Mbah will be the great leader that will take his people to where they ought to be.

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