By Donu Kogbara

MANY Nigerians and foreigners are convinced that Nigeria cannot move forward significantly until Mr President totally or partially reshuffles his Cabinet.

I agree that the Jonathan Administration will benefit from some personnel changes but feel that the widespread belief that a reshuffle will miraculously solve the nation’s most pressing problems is totally misguided and naïve…

…because – let’s face facts! – it is Presidents, NOT those who are below them in the pecking order (Ministers, critics, advisors, etc) who set the tone, call the shots, determine agendas and decide how the country should be governed.

If a President allows his Ministers to do as they please and be overbearing, politically insensitive, blatantly unethical or downright incompetent, he is making a conscious choice to keep working with these individuals despite their flaws.

Malfunctioning Ministers are, after all, not powerful or invincible in their own rights. They do not bestow impunity, influence or the ability to be high-handed upon themselves. They are only able to escape punishment or dismissal because their Boss likes them as they are or simply regards them as necessary or useful. And they aren’t necessarily dim-witted or ill-qualified or irredeemably corrupt.

As far as I can see, all of the Ministers who are being accused of tarnishing Jonathan’s image are smart and professionally experienced enough to handle their portfolios adequately – impressively even – under certain circumstances.

And I put it to you, dear Readers, that they WOULD have been much better public servants if Jonathan had made it crystal clear to them that they would be disciplined or ditched or jailed and disgraced if they dared to shame him.

Some folks are saintly by nature and will do the right thing even when nobody is monitoring their progress or putting a gun to their heads or rewarding them.

Some folks are such icons of moral rectitude that they would rather suffer or die than NOT do the right thing. But most mere mortals are riddled with human frailties and will misbehave within laissez faire, Anything Goes environments.

When I was a schoolgirl, my classmates and I related to different teachers in different ways. We lavished respect on the strict ones who struck fear into our hearts….and bullied or ignored the timid ones who let us get away with rubbish.

And there were exceptions to the rule, but most of us only excelled academically in subjects that were taught by no-nonsense types who insisted on high standards and flatly refused to tolerate our tiresome teenage-isms.

In other words, the character of the Leader is more important, in almost every situation, than the characters of juniors or followers; and the buck stops very firmly on our Oga At The Top’s desk on the ministerial performance front.

Ministers who have what it takes to achieve reasonable results – but are not innately saintly and can only resist juicy temptations and do their jobs properly if they are compelled to do so – will only pull their socks up, fulfil their potential and stop cruelly depriving us of the socio-economic development we crave if Mr President becomes a tougher taskmaster and puts both of his feet down.

Meanwhile, even if Mr President recruits a bunch of angelic, super-special newcomers who have great CVs and are resolutely principled, these newcomers will fail or flounder unless Mr President provides them with quality leadership.

A lot of people think that Dr Jonathan is an easily manipulated weakling. But he can be extremely stubborn and ruthless when he feels like being extremely stubborn and ruthless! Let us remember that he sacked nine Ministers last year.

Retention of cabinet

I can only assume that he feels very comfortable with the Ministers he DIDN’T sack and doesn’t care what their detractors think; and I won’t be surprised if Jonathan continues to doggedly cling to the status quo; and I reckon that it won’t be the end of the world if he insists on retaining his current Cabinet.

Jonathan’s reputation will go up several notches if he tosses controversial Ministers and injects fresh blood into his premier league. But he can also boost his reputation by forcing Ministers who are messing up to quit being scandalous.

The average Nigerian is a forgiving pragmatist. If a formerly dodgy leopard changes its spots, the average Nigerian will forget about its past delinquency.

The point I am making is that Mr President needs to change his mindset and modus operandi much more than the Cabinet needs to be reshuffled!

The Bottom Line is that whether he reshuffles or doesn’t reshuffle, the ball is in HIS court. And the truth is that he will not become the kind of Numero Uno we desperately need until he embraces a more aggressive, kick-ass management style that is driven by a genuine commitment to integrity and effectiveness.