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Nasir El-Rufai: Peeling the Onions By Zayyad I. Muhammad In today’s Nigeria of ours, we are on the path towards the existence of two groups of government policies observers, the pessimists and the optimists; the first, see El- Rufai as arrogant, quarrelsome, and only propitiating president Obasanjo, for him El-Rufai to achieved his designed ambition of a new emerging young Nigerian politicians; who want to play politics by hiding in the shadows of the usual politicians and at the same time maintaining standard and excellence as technocrats, while the latter observers see confidence and dogged commitment in the man. Which of the two groups does one belongs. Some people are pessimistic about El-Rufai’s ability to deliver, largely due to his age and his orthodox ideas on compelling national issues, especially some decision he took, which some consider as bitter pills, Nigerians were forced to swallowed, when he was at helm of affairs of the Bureau For Public Enterprises (BPE) and presently as a minister, though in life, a man can only comprehend what his eyes can see. As human some times along the line we fail to distinguish between what we thought was truth and what is in fact the truth, we need to understand that better administrators would always attempt at the difficulties of today and tomorrow and also focus the future rather than the history of the past; this will help in coping new problems, which are set of challenges, though this can only be achieved when there is harmony between our thought and our deeds. Modern decisions makers always ask the most important questions first ‘is what is it, what ought to be?’ when a task is assigned to them, especially in administrating a city like Abuja in a complex country as Nigeria. As an operations researcher and also an enthusiast of system thinking, one may say, E l-Rufai must have ask himself this important question as the first step to administering the 25 years old city, but is El-Rufai translating the vision of the founding fathers of Abuja into reality or is the man just displaying raw capitalist views and his bed room dreams?
Abuja created via the federal government
official notice No1205 gazette No55 of 1976 had it master plan virtually
distorted for over 25 years, one have to say that what El-Rufai is doing
is to revert to the original master plan of the city and to clean it up of
official corruptions and return to it original functions as a capital city
in a federation, though this cannot be accomplish in the life of this
administration or even in the life of many governments to come, but we
need to begin, because the distortion is not only in the part of
individuals and private organizations but also the government , for
instance the Aso Rock Villa was built on a forest reserve, the wuse market
was built on a piece of land meant for primary school and many of such
examples. The current steps taken by El-Rufai in restructuring the city
back to it original master plan and functions, are in the right direction,
if the current non- happy –go-lucky approach is maintained, but is El-Rufai
selective in his actions? Certainly without mincing words, one may say no,
because many toes were and are continue to be marched on; the rich,
those in authority and the poor are all affected. The demolition of
structures on sewage system and green areas and illegal structures in
markets are not the only problem facing the city, but are the most vivid,
the fencing of the restored green areas need to be modern, the current one
would not stand the test of time, the proposed streets naming and house
numbering though privately sponsored have to under go an
inter-disciplinary approach i.e. many experts have to be involve to avoid
the mistake of the past, for instance there is a place in the main city
where MKO ROAD was spelt as MKO RAOD, this is a mess When we read the arithmetic certainly we will understand the logic behind El-Rufai efforts, is just like peeling the onions while the eyes are wide open, this an Herculean task only brave men can, but is El-Rufai peeling the onions to make Nigeria great? Or is the man just want to make his soap sweet? Certainly the young man is doing it for Nigeria, he is goal seeking and purposeful and serve as a symbol to courageous young people. Mallam Nasiru El-Rufai keeps on peeling the onions; many Nigerian are behind you. Zayyad I. Muhammad 5B Abeokuta Street, Jimata, Yola-North, Adamawa State
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