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Public Assets Declaration: What President Yar'Adua Should Know By Abdulrahman Muhammad Dan-Asabe, Ph.D. Ningbo, P. R. China July 02, 2007
The recent public assets declaration by President Yar'Adua has been generally and widely applauded by Nigerians, with some Nigerians showing mixed reactions.
Those who see the public assets declaration as a positive move do so because it reassures them of the generally held view of Mr. President’s personal image as a honest and sincere person. They also believe that the action is, perhaps, a sign of Mr. President’s resolve to fight corruption that has clogged the wheels of progress in Nigeria.
However, due to past experience in the hands of dishonest leaders whose ‘YES’ means ‘NO’ (or ‘yes’ or ‘maybe’) (adapted from Laurence J. Brahm of “How to Negotiate a Deal in China”), some Nigerians have become highly skeptical of politicians’ public statements and, therefore, have become difficult to impress on a short term. These Nigerians wonder if Mr. President’s extra-ordinary action is necessary since the constitution makes assets declaration a private matter. This group argues that whatever is declared cannot be verified by anyone other than the President himself or his appointed agent.
And, despite the paltry total sum of N856m that Mr. President is said to be worth (Vanguard: Friday, June 29, 2007) - compared with what other immediate past state governors might be worth - these Nigerians still question how a former lecturer in Nigeria and later, a governor, could have amassed such “stupendous” wealth. They further question the source(s) of the nineteen million naira assets said to belong to his wife and first lady, Turai.
The objective of this article is to let Mr. President know, that assets declaration while important and a must do for any leader; will not save him and his administration at the end of his stewardship. It is the overall long-term picture of how a leader discharges the responsibility for taking good care of resources entrusted on him/her that matters. And, since governing a country is based on teamwork, each team-members’ integrity, action or inaction is critically important and should be of concern to Mr. President.
Of course, given that both local and foreign observers have passed a damning verdict on the April polls that produced Mr. President, the analysis below is based on the assumption that the outcome of all the court cases challenging the credibility of the polls are in Mr. President’s favor. So, when Mr. President ends his tenure in office, the following are what will be used to judge his credibility and performance.
To start with, being honest with, and not taking Nigerians for granted, is a key success factor. Government must not, and should not, be run on deception. The US President, George W. Bush and former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair are in a better position than me to advise Mr. President on how deceit can damage one’s personal image and regime credibility. Locally, however, suffice it to say that deceit and taking Nigerians for granted, were largely responsible for the wasted years of Obasanjo’s government and the near insurmountable legitimacy problem that Mr. President now faces.
In addition to fulfilling campaign promises of resolving amongst others the electricity energy supply problem and providing security for all, Mr. President will be judged by how well-known corruption deals of the immediate past administration are dealt with. These include the embarrassing sales of our collective assets, for example, Steel Mills, Refineries, NITEL, Cement Companies, and Unity Schools, in the name of privatization.
Mr. President should know that Nigerians are not particularly against privatization but are strongly opposed to abuse of their collective intellect and of being short-changed through lack of transparency in the sales of these national assets.
Buyers of our national assets should be given conditions and specific goals in a fixed time frame to make these strategic industries functional and operating at near100 per cent efficiency. The majority of Nigerian businesspeople are opportunists, ‘wheelers’ and ‘dealers’ who may not hesitate to tie-down any of these facilities in other to continue milking the citizens through importation. After all, arguably, these so-called businesspeople caused the collapse of these companies in the first place and are already used to easy ways of making money to the detriment of the masses.
Finally, Mr. President and his government will be judged by how the public perceives the administration as playing by the rule of law. If government does not respect and enforce the rule of law, no amount of electoral or constitutional changes will make any difference. Public assets declaration alone is not sufficient, Mr. President.
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