*The loftiness of an idea; but ..

By Jide Ajani

In Tony Blair’s “A JOURNEY”, the former British Prime Minister talks in Chapter II, The Apprentice Leadership, about fear and courage as he did in many chapters of the book.  For instance, he remembers that “The journey from Opposition (read obscurity in Jonathan’s case) to government had taken three years.

It sounds a short time. It’s not how it feels. Everyday drags. Every week a fresh anxiety or event or statement disturbs the careful orchestration of the march from impotence to power. Every month your competitors or someone in the media simply bored or irritated by your success, looks to sully the brand, cheapen it, ridicule it.

Every year there is a new height to be attained so that the momentum is not lost…. Later, you learn courage in different situations: the first time onstage, when you wish you had never agreed to do it, you curse your pretensions and lament your ego, and want only to go back into the corner”.

Yes, indeed, there would have been  times that President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan would have wished he never sought to become President and Commander-in-Chief; or times when the media or critics were just irritated by his modest achievements. And has President Jonathan learned courage?  Can we say such of Mr. President?
Of course yes.  But some would say NO!

With a promise to transform Nigeria, Jonathan may have hoisted the flag of expectations of Nigerians on that paradigm.

Still, Nigerians are not as enamoured as would have been expected of this new cliché – TRANSFORMATION AGENDA.

In times past, the long suffering people of Nigeria have been inundated with confetti of clichés – some even better sounding.

There was Low Profile, Operation Feed The Nation, OFN, Austerity Measure, Green Revolution, Counter Trade, Structural Adjustment Programme, SAP, Seven Point Agenda, the list is endless.

Today, the sing-song is that of Transformation Agenda.

Indeed, woe betide any minister of the federal government today who does not mention the glowing benefits Nigerians are bound to derive from the heavens-inspired Transformation Agenda of Mr. President.  It is even mouthed to sickening heights some times and, in some more ridiculous instances, ministerial speeches are reduced to repetitive concurrence with everything Mr. President has said or says.  To be fair, everything Nigerian is in dire need of transformation so the ministers may be excused for being sycophantic.

Every Nigerian needs to be transformed from his or her timid, sometimes uninspiring yet naturally boisterous disposition which has imbibed a people with that persevering spirit.

In terms of cliché, it scores a 100%.

But the nitty-gritty of the agenda professes very lofty, seemingly over-bloated and some times confusing expectations.  Yet, Mr. President is marching on!

For instance, adopting a long term perspective the agenda’s general outlay seeks to focus on the following: Culture of accountability, Job creation, Public expenditure management, Governance, Justice and judiciary, Foreign policy and economic diplomacy, Legislature, Education, Health sector, Labour and productivity, Infrastructure policies, programmes and projects, Power, Information and Communication Technology, Niger Delta, Transportation.

In specific terms and for achievability, the agenda professes to do away with the lack of continuity, consistency and commitment to agreed policies. The Agenda draws its inspiration from the Vision  20:2020 and the first National Implementation Plan (NIP) – just as there are the National Strategic Health Development Plan (NSHDP), and the National Action Plan on Employment Creation (NAPEC) targeted at creating five million new jobs annually within the next three years.

The Macroeconomic framework and economic direction posits that government is targeting a baseline GDP growth rate of 11.7 per cent per annum for the period 2011-2015 and hopes that it will translate to real and nominal GDP of about N428.6billion and N73.2trillion respectively.

The Agenda assumes that the projected GDP growth will be driven by the oil and gas, solid minerals, agriculture, ICT equipment and softwares, telecommunication, wholesale and retail trade, tourism and entertainment, manufacturing and building and construction sectors.

There is a total investment of N40.75trillion in nominal terms that is projected for the period.   A breakdown of this shows that the public sector will account for N24.45trillion or 60 per cent, while the remaining N16.30trillion or 40 per cent is expected to be invested by the private sector. Overall, public sector investment plan is made up of N11.59 trillion for states and local governments respectively.

The key policies to be pursued include but are not limited to
a.    Ensuring greater harmony between fiscal and monetary policy – the National Economic Management Team will be strengthened to facilitate effective coordination of fiscal and monetary policies.
b.    Pursuit of sound macroeconomic policies, including fiscal prudence supported by appropriate monetary policy to contain inflation at single digit.

c.    The budget process shall be reviewed to provide greater clarity of roles between the executive and legislature and to ensure that the appropriation bill is enacted into law within the first month of any year. The direction of policy shall concentrate on setting allocation priorities rather than micro-budgeting or contesting figures with the executive.

d.    The existing revenue allocation formula shall be reviewed to achieve a more balanced fiscal federalism. This is expected to pave the way for more effective implementation of programmes at the sub-national level.

e.    Institutionalising the culture of development planning at all levels of government and ensuring that the annual capital budget allocation takes a cue from medium and long term development plans – government wants the National Assembly to expedite the passage of the Planning and Project Continuity Bill in order to strengthen the Plan-Budget link and reduce the high incidence of abandoned projects.

The Agenda’s priority projects are derived from 20 ministries, department and agencies, and sectors where a total of 1,613 projects were identified out of which 385 are new while 1,361 are ongoing.

Whereas these are lofty goals, it is now a bounding duty of President Jonathan to ensure that he is able to deliver on the promises of his agenda for transformation.