The People know
By
It is two years since the governors took the oath of office, pledging to selflessly serve their respective states. For these thirty-six citizens, it has been a busy time. For a season they were held captive by the need to deliver on the 100-days dateline. As I recall, only Governor Attah of Akwa Ibom State stared down the 100-days syndrome. The rest of the gang were in a frantic race against the media and time. Predictably, they lost on both counts. Fresh from a "military must go by all means" electoral process in which the primary target was the return to democratic existence, they were saddled with states which had practically no functional institutions. Thus, the very vehicles for the conceptualization and execution of the projects had to be set up, practically from scratch. It is quite doubtful therefore, if anything meaningful could have been achieved in 100 days of governance of an ill organized polity and economy like the new governors inherited in 1999.
Given what we now know about the modus of most of the military men who ran the firmament for most of Nigeria’s independent existence as a nation, it was a miracle that the new governors even found the pieces to pick up, let alone position to run a meaningful administration. Sitting in quiet anticipation was a civil service long dispossessed of its fine traditions of service and now in need of retraining as well as deprogramming from a mentality which elevated "cutting deals with the military" while pleading obedience to authority, to an art. The state of disrepair of the states and the level of organized looting that took place for all of 15 years by these military adventurers and their contractor/civil servant cronies were such that no meaningful stocktaking could take place in those 100-days let alone the execution of meaningful life enhancing projects. Such was the rot that many states claimed the regular payment of monthly salaries as one of their 100-days achievements and why not? During the days of military mis-rule, the "Big Boss Man", also known as State Military Administrator or Governor, usually preferred to pay his contractor fronts for grandiose white elephant projects rather than pay workers. So it wasn’t unknown for civil servants to go for months without pay (one reason, perhaps, for their collaborationist tendencies?)
But two years however is in a different kettle. If a governor cannot incontestably show a string of completed and on-going, people oriented and economically sensible projects in this period then it is safe to assume that his was a one term adventure, whose principal motive must have had self, rather than service, as the centre piece of its execution. The second anniversary of the governors ought to be the plank on which they stand to declare their qualification for longer service. It ought to constitute the indicator of things to come. The wise people of Oro captured this phenomenon in one of their numerous wise sayings when they postulate that it is from sleep that you can glean the ingredients of death. The second year is the time to show concrete evidence that the voters had their thinking cap on when they voted the governor into office. It is a time for the reappraisal of their contract with the people.
By its very nature, power particularly the deceptively unaccountable variety, which has been the lot of these gentlemen to practice, is extremely intoxicating. But after every drunken spree comes the hangover. It is hangover time in State Houses. The party is over. Those who are keen on discovering which of their Excellencies has been having a productive time at the executive mansion would do well to wait for this moment of reckoning. At this halfway point the picture begins to get clearer, there is no hiding place for chief executives. It is that kind of time again, which possibly explains the stirrings in the land. The flurry of political activities; the emergence of new political associations, all jostling to show just how bad and how inept the current administrations have been, can only indicate that the main players are preparing to change into re-election mode.
From the national to local government level, the virus of re-election is infecting the land. According to the provisions of the current constitution, the local government executives should be facing re-election battles in less than ten months. For them, the halfway point came much earlier. But largely because a traumatized nation had not found its voice at that relevant time, they carried on undisturbed and unperturbed in their imperious profligacy. Today, it is as if the nation cannot get rid of most of them fast enough. If it is accepted that the destruction and looting at the national and state levels were such that resuscitation of working institutions was a herculean undertaking, the same cannot be said of local government areas. These are largely manageable pieces of real estate, most of which had much more funds than their chief executives knew what to do with. From the ashes of this paucity of positive ideas arose several unseemly actions; one of which -the tradition of sharing public funds at the end of every month- has developed into a national pastime. The very ‘creative’ chairman of the Udung Uko Local Government in Akwa Ibom State calls it "human development". Deploying his own peculiar logic, he must have persuaded himself (and his hangers-on, no doubt) that LGA money shared to cronies for luxurious and flamboyant lifestyles and purchases is as much a part of development, as is delivering on properly planned and executed projects. It is even held that across the country, the more ingenious chairmen with a talent for financial gymnastics, instituted a system of personal contributions among themselves, some of these "Esusu" contributions attract monthly deposits of plural millions of Naira. It is no surprise therefore that the imperious Honorables were so busy counting their new monies that they forgot they had only three years to make an impression. They were last heard of trying to coerce the National Assembly to intervene and unconstitutionally increase their tenure. A futile exercise into which, no doubt, they have sunk-in a trove of funds meant for the development of their LGAs. The time of reckoning comes and for every Local Government chairman who was busy feathering his nest while the LGA wallowed in underdevelopment there is only one way to go, out! If the revelations making the rounds are any guide, for some of them there may even be a lingering chance of a visit to the Anti-Corruption Commission.
While the Local Government bosses have less than one year before going to the people and hence are in the main already operating in re-election mode, all other elected officials that have until 2003 before they submit for judgment. One would therefore have expected that wise counsel would dictate that those who seek to replace them in the executive mansions would wait until they trip up irredeemably. Wait until there is no time left for amends. To begin calling attention to a man’s infirmities when the guy has another year to hone-in his delivery, may amount to giving a weary patient a shot in the arm. But politicians are a breed apart. Incurable optimists that they are, they seem to be driven more by personal or group interest rather than the common good. Their occupation of Government House becomes the focus rather than the welfare of the people. Thus everywhere, all around the country, there is a noticeable energisation of organized movements whose primary aim is the replacement of the present occupant of the State House. Even if it is granted that the essence of democracy carries within its make-up the requirements for regular election, the question every discerning democrat should constantly ask in a fledgling system like ours is, whether there must be contest for office just for the fun of it. The trauma of these contests as they manifest within our environment should make us wary. The recent experiences in Ondo and other states where bye-elections have been held should give us food for thought. No democrat worth his salt will advocate the non- emphasis of electoral processes. But situations where politicians just put us through elections for elections sake simply because they fancy themselves or their cronies (rather than the incumbent) as the right tenant in Government House (even if they have no special talent) must be discouraged. There is an uneasy feeling that the lure may not be the need to deliver better service than the incumbent but the desire to seat on the honey pot. If the focus is service, then they need to do better than they are doing at the moment. Pedestrian platitudes cannot remove a governor. A well researched alternate policy and execution regime just might. Let us see more than blames and complaints.
One can understand it if the clamours for change is from a rival party, but what we have largely are intra-party struggles. The PDP particularly has had more than a fair share of these dislocations. The party is straining at every level to preserve the fabric of its existence. The cracks, which were built into its structure at foundation, are beginning to manifest. At this moment, no one but a confidant of the National chairman can tell for sure the current composition of its Board of Trustees. The party needs more than a miracle to survive. It needs the dexterous manipulations of master organizers. Every emerging organization seems to have gone into the PDP boardroom to fish for protem members. All these have had the unfortunate result of obfuscating the real issues of development on which the governors, particularly the PDP governors, should be judged and held responsible for. This may give them some respite but soon, even this shall pass and we will be in 2003, at that point even the most articulate of governors will need a well oiled party machine, but that is not a story which should detain us now.
In 2003, the people will want to know what His Excellency had done for their welfare. They will wonder if their standard of living has improved in any significant way from what it was in 1999. They will want to know if their children’s schools are better equipped. Their wives will be investigating whether Nigeria is still the most dangerous place to give birth in the world. The state of their hospitals, health centres and clinics will come under scrutiny. The public servants will still nod in approval if their enhanced pay packet is delivered promptly at the end of the month. The state of the roads to their villages and within their metropolis will be surveyed. Every bit of action and more importantly, inaction on the governors’ part will be held against the light. Fortunately, the people are not unreasonable; public opinion is usually fair in its findings. They will recall that in some instances, the governors started with significant deficits in the state account. They will give credit for prudence and vision. It will not be forgotten that in the mineral rich states, the treasury had been beefed up with significant lodgments from the derivation dividends. In states like Akwa Ibom, the people will remember that 15 years after it was created, it had practically no infrastructure and ask what had been responsible? They will also ask how succeeding governments addressed the issue and compare with what the present administration is doing.
All told, it may be advisable for those who want a shot at government house to compile a list of what they would have done if they were in charge and compare them to the list the governors will read out during their second anniversary speeches.
If the two lists are not significantly different, then the parties must begin to prepare their minds for the fact that the people are most likely to renew the incumbent’s tenancy at Government House. The current spate of innuendoes and outright falsehood aimed at the incumbents will be but water over a duck’s back if the people of their respective states decide that they are happy with the governor’s anniversary list; they will give him the nod if he successfully steers that course of development till election time and it is unlikely that he will be in any hurry to change what would have become a winning formula.
The situation in Akwa Ibom State where the projects and policies of the Victor Attah Government are beginning to bear some fruit will be an interesting case study. There is a strong current of heavyweight politicians arrayed against the governor. Apart from their disagreement with Attah’s style of leadership, they do not seem to be saying much more. Certainly the "alalok" (a.k.a. the Okada man) is not too bothered by who is performing what contract, he must have noticed that his trade has borne more dividends since the roads of the major towns in the state were resurfaced. They will need a little more convincing than is on the cards at the moment to see things the way of the heavyweights. Akwa Ibom must be one of the lucky states with this type of credible challenge underway. It is said that when two elephants fight, the grass bears the brunt, now, what happens when two elephants devote time to please the grassroots? Only the people of Akwa Ibom can tell us. But, we have to wait until after the elections of 2003. One thing however is certain, Governor Attah will now have to deliver even more than he had planned in order to take the wind from the sails of the heavyweights and he has the facilities to deliver: the funds, personnel, acumen and time. What he lacked, real challenge, he now has. The challenge of the heavyweights must have made his dynamic motivation even more kinetic. The people of Akwa Ibom State must brace themselves for the good times. A little challenge will always help for as long as they hold the key to who occupies the Hilltop Mansion. Let the party begin.
Not many other Governors have Attah’s good fortune of resources, personnel and challenge. All of them however know that as events unfold in the coming months, the people will soon begin to announce their observation and show preferences, the main verdict, though, will come in two years. Two years is also enough time to turn things around. It can give the sluggards enough second wind to scrape through the approval spectrum. Only the tardiest of Governors will not address his mind to the wants of his people. In this event, those who want to upstage His Excellencies have a sisiphusian task in their hands; they can only pray that there is a slip up in the State house. The voice of the people we are told, represents that of the deity, so if they declare that a man has served well, who is there to argue with them? In 2003 they will speak, it is only then however that they will let us know who served them well.
Mr. Toyo writes from Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.