By  Gboyega  Amoboye

The late Chief  Obafemi  Awolowo  and President Muhammadu  Buhari  might  have  lived at different times but, like identical twins,  possess   many things  in common-dynamism, pragmatism, integrity, self-  discipline, vision  and passion-to make Nigeria  work. The  impeccable past of these tested leaders has  proved that the bane of the country’s slow development since independence has been lack  of  purposeful  leadership.

Chief Awolowo

Unlike the  reluctant  leaders  who  had been imposed  on  us,   Awolowo  and Buhari,  both armed with impeccable records of performance, the former as Premier of the old Western Region  as well as Vice Chairman  of the Federal Executive Council  in the regime of Gen.  Yakubu  Gowon,  and the latter, as a military Head of State, etc, adequately prepared for  the leadership of Nigeria. Three times  were each  unsuccessful- Awolowo  in 1959, 1979, 1983  and  President  Buhari  in 2003, 2007  and 20011.

Their paths  might have  crossed  in one form or the other,  that may been  the unseen hand of God in their lives preparatory to the task ahead that  :”You  Obafemi Awolowo  is my Moses and you  Muhammadu  Buhari, my Joshua, for the libration of your  people  from the  ‘rats and mosquitoes’  of your country”.  Or could it be by sheer coincidence that, for the first time since independence, both the North and the South West are in effective political alliance?  The Thomas’s   may continue to doubt.

Like the Nostradamus that  he was,   Awolowo, in a paper delivered in  Kano in  1970,had  proposed  a seven- point agenda which  he  called national objectives  that should  be implemented simultaneously in  all the states of the federation for the rapid and even development of the country. He  explained  that   the revenue allocation formula should be based on the implementation of the seven objectives and, by so doing,  put an end to  the “endless search for the appropriate allocation  formula”. He was speaking in a paper titled, Revenue Allocation Must be Based  on Even Progress  and Needs,  delivered in his capacity as the Federal Commissioner of Finance,  to the annual  conference of state commissioners  of finance.

President-elect Muhammadu Buhari reviews a document in Abuja on April 1, 2015. Nigeria’s new president-elect Muhammadu Buhari hailed polls that will lead to the first democratic change of power in Africa’s most populous nation as “historic” hours after he secured a decisive victory. AFP PHOTO

As if confirming the link between these great national heroes, Buhari recently implemented  item  seven of the   Awolowo’s   seven- point  objectives for national development  of  45 years ago  and, by so  doing,  been praised for  “bailing”  out states that could not pay workers salaries.  The late sage had said under this item that it was imperative to put the federal   government in  sufficient funds to enable it not only to perform its allotted functions but also to come readily to the aid of any state in need  while arguing: “But perchance any state falls on evil day, it would be the duty of  the federal government,  acting as  an accredited agent of all the  states, to  come to the aid of such a needy state without delay…Before leaving this topic , one may ask  Buhari’s  critics  where they were  when former President  Goodluck  Jonathan granted some members of the private sector a bail out. For instance,  Arik  Airline got 600m  dollars, Aero  -200m dollars, Air Nigeria-225.8mdollars, Chachangi-55m dollars etc.(AMCON)  in addition to an attempt to buy aircrafts for them    but for  adverse public opinion.

Revisiting the Awo agenda

If one  of    Awolowo’s  seven  objectives  has been considered  well  enough  for  implementation,  the  remaining six, which  may equally  be  as  good, are  therefore  presented though in abridged form, for  consideration  by Mr. President.  They are…

Read the fuller version of this story on our website tomorrow.