Shekarau's One Hundred Days and Mission: Beyond Normative Incentives

By

Ibrahim Ado-Kurawa

majekarofi@yahoo.com

Malam Ibrahim Shekarau the Governor of Kano State has attracted more media attention than any northern governor. Partly because his state is the most populous in the area and because of his victory against the PDP, the largest party in Africa. His phenomenal rise to power after he was pressured to retire from the civil service because of his pro-Shari’ah stance was also a source of inspiration for many who are wrongly treated by any incumbent no matter where.

Right from his victory he made many utterances that are radical and a signal of the things to follow. Considering his antecedents many have not been surprised about his austere lifestyle and commitment to prudence. When I took three representatives of an international agency to him shortly after his victory, they were so impressed by his commitment to human development and accountability. They were very keen and they asked me, can he deliver? They were sure if all the governors are like him Nigeria will be a better place but they were also aware of the challenges. As an optimist I had no doubt, Kano and indeed Nigeria will always progress as along as we remain democratic and have the chance to bring about change after every four years.

Since assuming office as the governor he has been building his charisma and he is now generally regarded as “Malam” or teacher who at every given opportunity invokes the incentives of goodness and personal piety as the only solutions to the predicament of the society. He has shown clearly that he believes in attitudinal change, a goal that we have never taken seriously. In other words Malam’s mission is founded on normative incentives. There can never be progress in any society if the ideology of ruling elite has no normative basis. Hence all societies believe in justice and equality. But the success of any society depends on how these values are operationalized and made effective and not only based on invocation. I came to appreciate the urgency of this fact after a seminar for local government treasury officials, in which I was a contributor. During the conclusion of the seminar the convener and myself followed the footstep of “Malam” and invoked normative incentives and a participant observed that they have no guarantee for their livelihood if they depend on these incentives alone and get sacked for offending superiors.

This brief encounter shows that Malam’s mission is not easy and it cannot be accomplished in a few years even in two terms. Therefore the task before him and those who share his vision must go beyond the current phase. There must be institutional reforms that would involve all segments of the society. The political class, the traditional elites, the business class and the labor unions must be involved. I have outlined my little contribution to this discourse in the pamphlet I wrote shortly after the victory and which is widely circulated. No segment of the society can bring about reforms alone. A segment or class can bring about revolution by annihilating others and this is not possible under the current dispensation. If a treasury official is scared in a local government, reform at that crucial tier of government requires concerted effort.

Malam can only give direction for reform to take place. Fortunately he has started well by following the good examples of previous leaders who kept to time and he has been punctual to all his engagements. As a leader he must go along with all the segments of the elites. In this respect he must be told the home truth. His appointments did not reflect this neither were they based on merit alone, very few were appointed based on merit. Most of the appointees were appointed because of their personal loyalty, there is nothing wrong with this if they deserve the appointment. What would lead to failure is rejection of a competent person for a loyal incompetent. We are supposed to be operating a government of the people and not a monarchy. No doubt those who lobbied for jobs should not be given such jobs because they might have personal hidden agendas and many who lobbied were given. Rimi’s government was successful because competent hands were appointed and majority of them were not his personal friends or loyalists but committed indigenes of Kano.

It is commendable Malam has made it public that he does not welcome lobbyists to the government house. But they always find their way through the sycophants around him. People go to leaders for favor, counsel or gossip. Some have been oppressed therefore they need access to the chief executive to lodge their complaint this is normal in a less developed society and there is nothing wrong as long as it facilitates justice even though it is regarded as a favor. Al-Maghili treated this in his treatise for Sarkin Kano Muhammadu Rumfa. Under a civilian government there is so much pressure for political patronage. Members of the political class especially the governor’s party must have access to him for as long as he will only appoint his loyalists to political offices other party stalwarts will always rightly demand “their share” hence the need to draw a criteria. If this is not done then there would be no harmony in the society and we would continue to have acrimony and spending valuable time in settling disputes instead of discussing issues of development.

The governor should cultivate the third category of the people, who are always willing to offer good advice on how the society should be managed. Under normal circumstances the governor should seek this people. He should not allow sycophants posing as men of knowledge to shield him from this genuine category of people. I was shocked when one of the leading sociologists of Kano complained at the seminar mentioned above that he cannot dream of seeing the governor to offer any advice. Others have also complained that they have written to the governor and not seeking for anything but offering suggestions but have received no replies of even acknowledgement. So who is therefore needed in the government house perhaps only familiar faces and loyalists. Those who lobby are not needed those who can speak the bitter truth have no access, what remains are only the sycophants.

Loyalists and the praise singers or sycophants are not the only ones who voted and worked for Malam’s success. There were many who slept at the collating centers and others who served as polling agents without any pay but today ignorant sycophants have taken over and even have the guts to remove the names of some people who worked for the party’s victory from political appointment based on lies that those people are not loyal to “Malam”. The people of Kano have always had access to government house under previous civilian governments there is no reason why they cannot have such access now. In all democracies including White House the electorate always have access. Malam must resist these sycophants. The issue is not those of us who can scribble something in form of writing but the more competent people of Kano who want to speak their minds.

For Malam to go beyond normative incentives there is the urgent need to assess the capacity of various communities in Kano, to know the appropriate areas of intervention. Without this proper assessment the government would keep on repeating the same previous routine and there would be little achievement. Even in the rural areas people have great potential but it is not properly directed hence perpetuation of poverty and by extension corruption because of economic insecurity as stated by the local government treasury official. It is commendable that the report of the transition committee called for involvement of the Ulama in the campaign for attitudinal change. But that report must be supplemented with strategies of capacity enhancement of the rural populace and even the ivory tower. For example there was no mention of such simple effective strategies development in the report like agricultural extension or complex ones in the field of intellectual improvement like textbook development. These are important issues that must be addressed far beyond short term planning. Malam must use the existing infrastructure to plan for long term. He must also be careful not over step his bounds in his dealing with people, he must not over-react against those presented to him as his enemies by the sycophants or else nemesis will catch up with him as it did to others before him. He is in the best position to recollect this because he was victimized. Those who criticize his actions constructively are not his enemies but his well-wishers, merely stating that he welcomes constructive criticism is not enough he must institutionalize a framework for the flourishing of conversation far beyond publicity stunt.