Article: The Tepid And The Vivacious Commander-In-Chief

Buhari; Nigeria's Commander-In-Chief

By Sunny .A. Dada

Democracy with its gorgeous doctrines cannot deliver the needed dividends without a charismatic leader who has the capacity to translate the tenets into solid developments.  In the world over, democratic governance that delivers concrete developments are piloted by enigmatic leaders who does not only place demands on the system, but drives it to conform to the expectations of the citizens.

Charismatic leaders speak volume of words in silent languages and the followers understand the direction of such words. The words which are in set of body languages reveal the mental framework of the leader’s style of governance. Interestingly everyone conforms to it without coercion.

Since June 2015, Nigeria seems to be making sudden strides in some sectors that were reputed to be jinxed with non performance over the years despite attempted efforts by previous administrations. These efforts were however mainly in the area of financial investment. Financial investment sometimes does not provide a 100% guarantee that a national malaise will be solved with an olive wave. Sometimes moral investment is the key and even works faster than financial investment.

Examples of such sectors that appear to be miraculously picking life from the gorge are the Power and Oil sectors. These sectors are the most plagued regions of our national life. Over the years, successive administrations spent fortunes of tax payer’s money in these areas with little or no result. More recently, the immediate past administration of President Goodluck Jonathan privatised the power sector, unbundling it into several Discos for optimal performance.

The administration also signed several ‘turn-around’ maintenance contracts to refurbish the nation’s Refineries. In spite of these efforts, Nigerians could hardly tell the difference while the administration lasted.

However, since June 2015, Nigerians appear to enjoy an average of eight hours power supply daily which is in sharp contrast to the average of 20-30 minutes supply that was the norm. 

The nation’s refineries have also received life with the attainment of 90% production status. The implication of this development is that fuel importation will drop by 40% as revealed by the Executive Chairman of Chrome Oil Services, Mr. Emeka Offor. Consequently its positive impact on the economy will have a ripple effect on the average masses.

Interestingly, the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is yet to settle down in governance. Some Nigerians have lambasted the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for taking the glory of the notable improvement in the sectors, queering what tangible investment the Buhari administration has done in the sectors to lay claim to the improvements. They argued that the credit should go to the Goodluck administration.

It is thus instructive to note that although the improvements are a consequence of the investments made by the GEAJ administration, it is however imperative to also state that the sectors did not work under the GEAJ’s administration due to his inability to stem the tide of the activities of economic scavengers in his administration who held him captive. His tepid nature as a president instituted a tenure of immoral autonomy for his lieutenants whose prowess as economic scavengers were beyond doubt. Apart from incarcerating the former president, these anti-progressive forces ensured that Nigerians did not have access to the dividends of the investments made in the sectors under his watch.

These unfortunate realities further reinforce the logic that the “Body Language” of the leader is a factor in governance which will always determine the attitude of his lieutenants; especially in a complex nation like Nigeria.

It is therefore not out of place to state that amongst the array of democratically elected presidents from 1999, to 2015, only President Buhari has sufficiently demonstrated a strong personality trait who despite spending a meagre days in office, has delivered these benefits to Nigerians through his stern attitude which has sent ripples down the spine of these vultures that kept the masses in economic dungeon for all these years.

Nigerians are however equally waiting to see how his perceived discipline will tame the corruption laden individuals who did not only sponsor his election, but also call the shots in the ruling party.

Only time will tell.