Political Jobbers V

Political Jobbers V. Technocrats

Farouk Martins, Omo Aresa

Poor Yar’Adua. He has to choose his cabinet from so many competing forces that his final list of candidates and then ministers will, after all is said and done, be a product of his own leaning. All the previous Governors and most of the former Ministers expected to tilt his cabinet’s boat have sunk without life jackets thus far. It was a big disappointment for many. He too was a university teacher before he found some light in politics. Please bear with me while I narrow his choices to political losers and reluctant self made professionals. One sector lives by their good fortune in political arena while the other could care less about politics.

Those familiar with my humble opinions know my strong opposition to the terms of Paris Club deals with Nigeria because I still think we could have gotten that deal without paying through our nose considering per capital income of Nigerians. But as much as I disagree with the team of Obasanjo, Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, Bode Augusto etc responsible directly or indirectly on the part of Nigeria, I have never doubted the professional skills and dedication of the finance team. Their lack of political acuity pales compared to their tasks in cabinet. That is one of the silver linings of presidential system of government. The president can pick technocrats outside political arena.

There are other dedicated Nigerians like Dora Akunyili but who are unknown and preferred to work without any form of recognition. We also have others who will not take government position at any price. In the first place, they are too scared to steal and they also hate attention. I think we should also congratulate and encourage those who serve without blemish. The news is full of protests against some candidates from various parts of the Country. The charges against them range from corruption, inflated qualification or ego, lack of integrity, political rivalry to none delivery of “democracy dividend” in their home state. What is their complaint from Lagos?

Foremost, we must applaud all the demonstrators for exhibiting their alienable right under democracy to expose certain deficiencies unknown to the rest of us. But we also have to be careful of usurpers who want to abuse this right to advance and make way for their candidates. Fortunately, in our towns and villages most of us know those reluctant qualified technocrats we should encourage to serve so that Abuja is not made up of sharks alone. Please speak out!

There are also many Nigerians all over the world who went home against the wishes of some but had to run out after some years when they found out that home can be hell if you challenge the status quo and try to change the wasteful and inefficient system that is deliberately practiced for the benefit of the few filthy rich. They are ready to strike you down. Others slipped out after exhausting their hard earned euros or dollars on fruitless election campaign. Earned money used to compete against stolen hard currencies. Sio o!

So are many Nigerians from local universities whose enthusiasms, dedication and loyalty to the Country more than make up for the time they do research without teaching or stay out of class because of strikes and inadequate provision of world class materials. They also have the uncanny advantage of hostile field experience that can never be duplicated in any laboratories.

Whatever it is, Bode Augusto stands out among many of these for exactly the same reasons some people from Lagos State oppose his nomination. They claim that he is neither a member of PDP deserving political spot nor a member of AC, APP etc for a coalition spot. Apart from their lofty reasons they figured that PDP has never won since 1999 in Lagos State. So why Bode Augustus? If we were in politics, we may be savvy enough to understand their calculation but majority of Nigerians just want the best man for the job.

There were demonstrations against him by some rented crowd none of whom came from or are known in Lagos but their pay masters are native Lagosians anyway. We know them. In Nigeria, that is not uncommon. I do not want to distract attention by giving previous examples of staged demonstrations. As I ponder about these Lagos hustlers, I wonder what demonstrators could have done to Obiageli Ezekwesili, Nenadi Usman knowing what gang pressure has done to Ribadu.

It may be true that years ago, you do not find too many qualified Lagosians. But Lagosians know where the qualified professionals are in Lagos. The Augusto live in that area. Many Nigerians think Lagosians are not serious enough and more interested in fun and parties but that has never held professional Lagosians back from every profession. Indeed there are more professionals in the Campos area or popo Aguda of Lagos than many places in Nigeria in those days. There were all kinds of private practice under petesi (story buildings)

That is the area Augusto comes from. As a professional the father of this Bode Augustus was never interested in politics or government positions. He was a self made man as a lawyer. The grandfather’s family, talking about grassroots, was well known as saver of souls and the poor in religious circles of the Muslim, though their area of Lagos was dominated by Christians. Those were the days when omo area means something positive compared to area-boys of today.

While many children may not live up to the reputation of the family, as we have many examples from Lagos, Bode Augusto has managed to keep his head above water in Abuja and has never disgraced his home State. If he has, this rented crowd would have flung it in our face and I could have written about it as I did on Paris Club linked to him as part of the finance team. But it is all the qualities that should be used to his advantage that are being pelted against him. In the list of people or politicians whose home states are against, not too many Lagosians will be against him because he adhered to his family’s value well known in the professional, social and religious communities of Lagos.

Beyond Bode Augusto, who I hardly see in the last thirty years, there are a number of people who are out there in Nigeria and outside the Country who will like to help restructure the burden of mismanagement, corruption and inept allocation of resources but were driven out by losers. We all know how wrist watch was used to disfigure Tam David West when he bragged about being clean and free of corruption. He was lucky, others who were part of them, have been assassinated once they renounce their evil ways and decided to come clean exposing men of “timber and caliber.” In their parlance, it’s either you or them the desperados.

Whatever, there are those who are even more determined. They live in Nigeria, stay in Nigeria and promised to die in Nigeria except for once in a while trip outside. No matter how bad it is in that Country we are going to rock and rough it together!