By Ochereome Nnann
THIS morning, I am surprised but hopeful. I am surprised at the speed and expedition with which President Muhammadu Buhari accepted the rescue lifeline thrown to him by his newfound friend and sympathiser of his All Progressives Congress (APC) Federal Government, Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka.

Buhari and Soyinka

Last Thursday when I published an article entitled: “Soyinka’s Buhari rescue bid”, little did I know that I was going to do a sequel of sorts. When prominent individuals and those not so prominent sound alerts as Soyinka did and proffer advice, our usually all-knowing and imperial Presidency usually feels indignant and either ignores it or gets back with acid repartees. When Chief Obafemi Awolowo in 1980 warned that the Nigerian economy was in grave danger, President Shehu Shagari’s Federal Government sent people like the late Dr Umaru Dikko to dismiss it with  a cavalier wave of the hand and a flurry of truculent rhetoric.

General Ibrahim Babangida’s goverment was fond of responding to such prodding with a terse one liner: “there is no alternative to SAP” (Structural Adjustment Programme). Olusegun Obasanjo would feel terribly insulted and either send his special assistant versed in the art of delivering abrasive insults (such as Femi Fani-Kayode – this chap is still actively practising his well-honed art) or he (OBJ) would personally take up the mike or pen (whichever was within easier reach) to deliver a “befitting” response.

It is not as if Buhari lacks the musketeers capable of doing this dirty job. There is his Special Assistant, Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu. There is Special Adviser, Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina (alias Kulikuli). There is also the Minister for Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, whose reputation goes ahead of him, if you get me. And now a new cadet has been added to the president’s cavalry: Tolu Ogunlesi, who coordinated Buhari’s spins in foreign media, especially The Economist Magazine.

Buhari’s eagerness to be rescued from his nine months of visionless and directionless economic programme is a conclusive evidence that he had no economic blueprint, let alone an economic team, to carry it out. What else could it be? Even his ardent supporters, such as Professor Pat Utomi have openly said so. Remember it was Utomi who, about five months ago, told those who complained about the President’s excessive pandering to people from his section of the country for appointment of his inner government to shut up. He said Buhari, for all he cared, could appoint all his officials from his village, provided they could deliver the goods. Well, it would appear that Buhari could not find economists from his village to employ?

So, I congratulate President Buhari for his humility and openness of mind to accept help. But I do not know what he would have done if the advice had come from equally concerned Nigerians who are not his “friends” like Soyinka. I say “friends”, because I expected Soyinka to go to Aso Villa and whisper the emergency conference idea into Buhari’s ears. Based on that, the President could, as usual, go to a choice foreign country and announce his government’s intention to call an economic conference. It would have been neater that way.

Nevertheless, it is not a sign of weakness or foolishness for a leader to accept the offer of help when he seems lost for ideas or strategies to tackle a challenge of this magnitude. Nobody knows it all, except the Obasanjos of this country.

Now that we are told that conference is not only imminent but already has a date attached to it (March 10/11, 2016) what should it be all about? What should we discuss? For me, the agenda is twofold: the immediate and long term strategies.

The immediate include ways of stabilising the gyrating Naira, considering options for economic diversification away from oil dependency and job creation. We must restore hope in our economy by reassuring those who operate in it (investors, traders and the organised private sector) that they will no longer be abandoned in an unmanned ship at sea. The government must define a direction for the economy to enable us key in and help Buhari to succeed.

But by for the most important objective of this conference should be to set the tone for the implementation of the APC’s manifesto and Buhari’s campaign promises. I don’t even know if he still looks at them at all. Buhari had promised, during the fight for nomination as his party’s candidate in December 2014, to “initiate action to amend the Nigerian constitution with a view to devolving powers, duties and responsibilities to states in order to entrench true Federalism and the Federal spirit”.

This has been the primary agenda of progressives in Nigerian politics. The true progressives believe that the centralised federation foisted on Nigeria by the military is responsible for our economic backwardness, particularly the heavy cost of governance. It is responsible for the fact that recurrent expenditure takes three quarters of the annual budget of each tier of government, especially the Federal Government.

If Buhari is a genuine progressive (and not just a “progressive” to grab presidential power) he must seize the opportunity of this conference to unfold the details of his agenda for economic devolution. It is the states and the private sector that create wealth and jobs, while federal government merely  guides and ensures the welfare and security of all Nigerians and the territotiral integrity of the country. Even if Buhari and some of his cohorts from the North (who usually footdrag about devolution of power) play somnolent on this item, I expect Chief Bola Tinubu to remind him that this was a driving force of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) before it merged with the other parties to form the APC.

If this conference takes place and nothing concrete is said about economic devolution and the institution of true federalism, then the APC Federal Government will, once again, be called the “one chance” regime that used seductive promises to win election only to dump them.

I have not set any agenda for Buhari on this conference. I have only reminded him to do as he said he would when given presidential power.

Will he?

Alex Otti: quotable quote

TO the agents of PDP and the Abia State Government who desperately want to hear us congratulate Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu in the spirit of sportsmanship, my answer is this: you are ignorant of the meaning of sportsmanship. From day one, you disobeyed the rules guiding the game as you threatened, attacked, assaulted, intimidated,

maimed innocent Abians and violently rigged the election; so where lay the spirit of sportsmanship in the contest? While like I said earlier, we have accepted the unpopular judgment that injures the sensibilities of Abians, we cannot congratulate you as that would amount to endorsement of criminality, so rather than arrogantly be demanding for unjust and undeserved congratulatory message from me and my party, the PDP should rather express remorse seek repentance, and be humble enough to seek for forgiveness from God and Abians.

Like President George W. Bush said: “Terrorists can attack the foundation of the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon, but cannot touch the foundation of America”. I say to the agents of election rigging and political violence that though you may have hurt us temporarily, but you cannot stop our collective desire, determination, and drive to reclaim Abia and restore its pride and lost glory to the admiration and appreciation of millions of expectant Abians”.  – At his recent thanksgiving in Aba.