*Why the task ahead is daunting

By Jide Ajani

In “The Selected Letters of THEODORE ROOSEVELT”, edited by H. W. Brands, Roosevelt had written on June 16, 1902, from Washington, to Senator George F. Hoar, that “I am striving my best, doubtless with many shortcomings, but, as I am sure you believe, with sincerity and earnestness, to hasten the day when we shall need no more force in the Philippines than is needed in New York.

“I am encouraging in every way the growth of the conditions which now make for self-government in the Philippines and which, if the Filipino people can take advantage of them, will assuredly put them where some day we shall say that if they desire independence they shall have it.

“But I cannot be certain when that day will be, and, of course, there is always the possibility that they may themselves behave in such fashion as to put it off indefinitely. Now, I do not want to make a promise which may not be kept.

“Above all things, I want for myself and for the nation that there shall be good faith.”  These words were written in relation to an expected independence for the people of Philippines.  But the President of America was sincere to himself and his friend, a senator of the United States, involved in the activities expected to lead to the Philippines independence on two fronts.

First was his wish for an independent Philippine state.  Second, and more importantly, was his expectation that the people of the Philippine would conduct themselves in such a manner that would achieve that expected end of an independent state.

Now, the trajectory of this with the Nigerian situation is that whereas President Goodluck Jonathan may have demonstrated that he wants and means well for Nigeria and Nigerians, there is a  consensus that he is at the table with wolves as typified by the activities of the leaders of his party, a party that has been in power since 1999 and yet, Nigerians continue to bemoan their fate in the hands of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

In theory, a Nigerian president desiring transformation may have hit the nail on the head.

But transformation is never engendered in a vacuum.

What with the dilly-dallying that occasioned his assemblage of a cabinet and the in-fighting within his party over names and nomination for ministerial positions – then, there was the other highwire politics from party leaders over whose names should be put forward for consideration. Even then, there were times when President Jonathan himself had inadvertently called his own judgment to question.

For instance, at a time of massive national angst against what could be described as a failure of leadership, it became public that Jonathan’s office was preparing to send a bill to the National Assembly.  Rather than appeal to popular discontent with a view to assuaging fears and despondency on the spate of insecurity in the country, a section of the populace was shocked to discover that what appeared uppermost in the consciousness of Mr. President was the issue of tenure – from two terms of four years each to six years single tenure.

To make matters worse, Mr. President was to tell Nigerians during a television interview that his proposal which was still being incubated actually envisages a single tenure of seven years. That marked a disconnect from contemporary realities, for what shall it profit the voters to hand a single tenure of seven years to a politician who, while the check of seeking re-election did not spur him into delivering on promises, should then be held accountable when he would not longer require re-election?

In the case of President Jonathan’s transformation agenda which he is pursuing, there is a plethora of challenges that go beyond executive amnesia.  Even at the best of times per sincerity, these challenges would task and tax the mind ceaselessly.  The target of transformation funds is N8.7 trillion per year for four years – this is just on the part of government.

So, the question is how does government hope to generate this? (See report on A TRANSFORMATION LONG OVERDUE)

The challenges are daunting.  First is the way government incurs losses through multiple sources like tax evasion, corruption from government officials who accept bribes to avoid payment of duties or levies by individuals or companies, under-declaration when importing or exporting goods to pay less duties, illegal economic actions like bunkering and vandalism of oil pipelines and even whimsical waivers and concessions.  These obvious leakages must be plugged if, indeed, progress must be made.

Government must reduce recurrent expenditure if it must achieve its target because at the present rate where recurrent expenditure gulps about 80 per cent of the annual budget is not sustainable. Government must find a way to bridge the gap between collection of taxes and taxes collected on the one hand, and the deployment of such funds for productive engagements on the other.  For no matter the amount of revenue generated, if it is not properly channeled, it would go to waste – though that would not be surprising, given government’s love for wastages.

Then, there is the issue of personnel to handle the various projects that are meant to engender transformation.  Would round pegs be put in round holes?

The Sovereign Wealth Fund, SWF, that the Federal Government has promised would be established with a view to saving for the future, is it constitutional?  Good idea but the state governors are kicking and the matter may be decided in court.

But there is the urgent need for government to address the critical issues of poverty, power, corruption, insecurity, unemployment and decaying infrastructure.  The failing education system and the health sectors too, would need to be attended to.  Whereas the transformation agenda seeks to do all these, the realities on ground today does not give any hope for transformation.

There is also the seemingly unfriendly investment climate infested by a cocktail of afflictions ranging from policy inconsistency, insecurity, monopolistic tendencies of government in some key sectors of the economy and lack of the political will to adhere to rules and regulations hitherto laid down by government itself.

At the end of the day, the real success of the transformation agenda would be the will power by President Jonathan to follow through with his proposition on transformation noy minding whose ox is gored.