|
Memo To
President Obasanjo
By
Okey Ikechukwu
culled from GUARDIAN, March 19,
2006
It is with a sense of
responsibility that I invite Your Excellency's attention to some matters of
urgent national concern, which can be attended to in the short term. In
couching this submission as a memo, I have taken the liberty of following
the "bad" example of the editors of Thisday newspapers, who recently
unleashed an avalanche of memos on the National Assembly. Let me begin by
boring Your Excellency with the story of a memorable encounter with Chief
Onyema Ugochukwu, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public
Communications, in 1998. He came to my office at Rutam House, headquarters
of The Guardian Newspapers, and asked for support in his resolve to campaign
for you as President. He was frank, very frank.
He spoke about Your
Excellency's far above average patriotism, capacity for hard work and
concern that the glory of our country be restored. He referred to the
prison experience and the fact that dying for the country would not make
you shrink from speaking up for what is right. Ugochukwu said: "Look,
Okey, I know this man. Please, trust me, I know this man", etc etc.
Chief Ugochukwu is not a desperado and is highly respected in the media.
He is neither flippant nor a man of many words. His blunt and
unapologetic avowals on Your Excellency's behalf could not be taken
lightly. He spent the better half of the 70 minutes in my office arguing
that you would make a good President and he did not at any point mention
money or any material benefits that would accrue to anyone who supported
his candidate. That made him more believable. He was just marketing what
he believed was good for Nigeria. In the end we struck a compromise, or
something that looked like one.
I told Chief Ugochukwu
that we had suffered for too long under bad leadership, but that
because of his confidence and his counter claim that he knew Your
Excellency at close quarters, amid the fears of some people, some of
us would give limited support. We would also fuel such doubts as
would make his candidate eager to prove some people wrong when he
entered Aso Rock. Astonished but not offended, Chief Ugochukwu left
and we maintained contact, even when some of the proceedings in the
media must have brought him some irritation.
I have gone to this
length because I believe Mr. President may wish to reappraise
the general trajectory of the nation and the Federal Government,
against the background of the thoughts and hopes that made Your
Excellency accept to be President in 1999. The Federal
Government initiated a comprehensive reform programme in order
to make institutions of state efficient, effective and
procedurally relevant in today's world. This step became
inevitable when Your Excellency realised that: (1) The nation
had been bled for too long and was wobbling on its foundations;
(2) Nigeria cannot make progress unless the government and the
people stop violating civilized rules of engagement in all
aspects of our national life; (3) The cheerful slide of Nigeria
to decay and death should not be allowed to continue; (4) The
decay can be slowed down, stopped and turned to progress and
development; and (5) the first step to national rebirth in this
regard is to find out what went wrong, work out a remedial
strategy and come design specific, remedial actions and a clear
sequence and time frame for such remedial actions.
Even at that,
the bulk of "government people" did not, and still do
not, really understand the reforms. Many of those who do
are not enthusiastic about it, because its core
objectives are doing violence to the many abuses and
unearned advantages they had become accustomed to. The
NEEDS document has many merits, but it is not a
particularly entertaining write up. Very few government
functionaries and media critics have bothered to wade
through it. That document delineates a formula by which
Nigeria can be made a modern state. Every modern state
"works" by developing its human resources and creating
the right dialectical equilibrium between human and
material resources. Because the human being is the
primary resource of any nation, we needed a holistic
policy revolution that would make our institutions,
administrative tools and processes deliver to the
optimum, using Best Global Practices as bench mark. In
June 2003, Your Excellency observed: "Nigerians have for
too long been short-changed by the quality of public
service... We shall ensure they get what is better".
In the
last months of the same year, the Federal Government
commissioned a report to (a) review service delivery
in Nigeria; (b) analyse the institutional
environment for service delivery; (c) collect
citizens' views and experiences on public sector
services; and (d) draw a roadmap for a service
delivery programme. The report that came out in
February, 2004, was damning. A Presidential retreat
was organized in March and SERVICOM, headed by one
of the few people who can look Mr. President in the
face and tell the truth, Mr. Obe, was born. With
SERVICOM in place, government was presumed to have
dedicated itself, through its Ministers and agents,
to ensuring that the basic services to which
citizens are entitled are provided in a timely,
honest, effective, transparent fair and cost
effective manner. All Ministries, Parastatals,
Government Departments and Agencies prepared and
published their service charters not later than July
1, 2004. The charters included: (a) clear
information on the services provided by each Agency
of Government; (b) the entitlements of citizens; (c)
correct official costs, if any, for such services;
(d) realistic time frames for service delivery; (e)
details of persons and agencies to whom dissatisfied
"Customers" could channel complaints; and (f)
periodically conduct and publish research/surveys to
determine levels of "Customer" satisfaction. The
SERVICOM office in the Presidency co-ordinates and
manages the foregoing; but that has hardly solved
any problem.
As
the agencies of government published their
Service Charters, they raised public
expectations of better service. But they were,
and most probably still are, unable to institute
the necessary radical improvement of the
capacity of their organizations to deliver the
services. Therefore most people do not see any
change and they cannot understand why. Even
within government circles, not enough people
appreciate the fact that training and retraining
of staff, change of work processes and tools and
the various policy reforms are needed for us to
realise the aspirations of SERVICOM. Meanwhile
government functionaries content themselves with
reckless affirmations of records of government
expenditure and the provisions of the Charter;
with a cheerful disregard for the impact on
citizen welfare and the hard work that would
lead to this desirable goal.
Your Excellency had course to say in the
past that Charters in themselves do not
change anything. They do not give new skills
or empower employees to make the
attitudinal, structural or procedural
changes required to create a new service
culture. That is why charters can sometimes
annoy both service providers and customers;
because of the hopes they raise and the
realities they sometimes appear to mask. It
is this scenario that can further lower the
credibility of a government, or an
organisation, by creating a cynical public
that cannot appreciate the determined
efforts at improved customer service. I
fear, Mr. President, that the Nigerian
"customer" is in that state at the moment.
It is perhaps against this background
that the much-vaunted "hostility" of the
media is to be understood. My friend,
Eni B., the Managing Director of Thisday
newspapers, even got caught up in this
hostility thesis in his recent brilliant
response to Chief Ugochukwu's remarks on
'the third term bogey'. Eni B, located
the hostility of the media in the
behaviour of government and its
functionaries and protested that the
culture of double speak had eroded
trust. If Eni B.'s intervention was to
bury a bogey, like he said, I believe he
ended up digging up another one: the
bogey of media hostility. I suggest,
Your Excellency, that the Nigerian
Media, as the Fourth Estate of the
Realm, is not hostile to the Federal
Government or to your person.
I suggest, further, sir, that there
are individual journalists, media
practitioners or media owners who
are hostile and who feel no
obligation to act contrariwise,
because they are resolute detractors
of Your Excellency. Some people are
yet to recover from the inherited
distrust of government and the
wretched performance of the
political opposition has constrained
some media practitioners/houses to
raise issues that should ordinarily
be the business of an organized and
intelligent opposition. In the
process, the many flaws and dubious
aspirations of some journalists are
thrust on public consciousness.
Every media house has an
Editorial Policy and is set up
to protect certain interests,
within the laws of the land. The
protest about media hostility
seems misplaced when it is
couched in the form of the
media's failure to "celebrate"
the achievements of government.
Your Excellency may wish to note
that unremitting denigration of
the government is not all we
fight in the media and that the
government has to tell its own
story and fight responsibly for
media space by conscious agenda
setting. Government business is
reported in the news pages but
the management of the public
communication relating to that
business is rarely considered in
government circles. That is why
government information managers
often find themselves reacting
to the unintended mischief of
government functionaries who
make announcements before they
realize that third party
endorsement would have done the
magic. Blind hostility will only
undermine the credibility of the
journalist and diminish his
ability to give praise and blame
in just measure. It will also
quickly stigmatize him and his
medium before the reading
public.
The internet is open to
every freelance grumbler and
available evidence indicates
that it is overrun by
hostile commentators, who
have no relations with our
media. This is without
prejudice to the determined
mischief of some
journalists. Your
Excellency's is the only
government in the last
twenty years which appointed
top media executives,
without the latter being
urged by their media
colleagues to turn down the
appointments. No past
government, since
independence, has had so
many past Presidents of the
Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE),
or so many Members of the
Nigerian Union of
Journalists (NUJ), in its
team of respected and
performing functionaries. No
function of the NGE and the
NUJ has taken place without
heavy government presence in
the last six years.
Notwithstanding, several
journalists have issues with
some specific actions,
policies, or inactions of
government. These
journalists do not, in my
humble view, constitute the
Nigerian media. Despite her
occasional bruises from a
few irreverent media men, I
do not believe that my
respected colleague and
friend, Mrs. Remi Oyo, will
gladly canvass the view that
the Nigerian Media as an
institution is hostile to
the Federal Government. I
concede that it can do
better; and Your Excellency
may wish to note, as an
aside, that the Nigerian
Press Council is not really
as strong as it ought to be.
Chief Onyema Ugochukwu
has been proven right in
many things he said
about Your Excellency in
my Office, eight years
ago. As Chairman of NDDC,
he often found it
necessary to rendezvous
repeatedly with the
media, to explain one
thing or the other
during some difficult
moments of Your
Excellency's tenure. On
the matter of whether
Your Excellency has a
spine or not, Nigerians
have come to realize
that Your Excellency has
nerves of steel (and
most probably a spine
made of reinforced alloy
metal). There can be no
debate today about
whether Mr. President
can take hard,
unpopular, but necessary
decisions. There is also
the growing realization
that the President means
well. That is why I have
taken the allegedly
dangerous step of
speaking "in public" and
inflicting my thoughts
on Your Excellency,
concerning things I
believe should be done
now; and very quickly.
My interest is in the
limited matter of some
aspects of the reform
initiatives of the
Federal Government,
which need urgent
attention.
I canvass the view,
Your Excellency,
that we are still
remiss in the
strengthening of
institutions of
state. The Bills
that would give
teeth to the reforms
are yet to become
part of our cocktail
of statutes. Most of
the seven Ministries
and agencies that
were marked out as
Pilot, to test-run
the civil service
reforms and be
professionalized are
not anywhere near
the stipulated time
lines. The
professionalisation
of any Ministry
cannot be
contemplated for as
long as the Service
Wide Rules subsist
in their present
form and for as long
as the Civil Service
Commission is what
it is by law. The
Bureau of Public
Service reforms was
created for a
specific purpose,
but it is now open
to argument whether
the bureau exists at
all. There is an
objectionable
disconnect between
the reality in
government
Ministries and the
documentation on the
service reforms. The
accounting and
auditing system
still looks like a
clever box of
numbered tricks and
the integrated
payroll system
remains a mirage
because of a dearth
of skills and the
failure to
distinguish between
infrastructure and
skill.
The EFFCC is in
the news today
because we have
a committed
officer and some
loyal
lieutenants. We
cannot afford to
take that for
granted, or work
these patriotic
Nigerians to
death, as the
enemies of the
anti-corruption
war are hoping
to bring the
roof down. There
are indications
that the
organisation can
be routed by the
police high
command, once it
is not specially
protected by the
government. It
can be severed
from the police.
Within the next
six months, it
can recruit more
hands to augment
the existing,
overworked,
staff and train
them under the
FBI, the Israeli
intelligence
corps and
Scotland Yard
(for Interpol
savvy), and pay
them so well
that it would be
easy to separate
the needs of
staff from the
greed of a few
bad eggs. But
that will not
address the
question of the
interface with
the SSS, DMI,
NIA, etc. The
NDLEA was in the
news when Gen.
Musa Bamaiyi was
the helmsman.
Today, it is
NAFDAC, Due
Process, and one
or two others.
Reason? The
individuals
managing these
organisations
have changed.
It would be
unpardonable
disservice
to have the
brilliant
initiatives
of the last
few years
run to sand
because the
necessary
pillars for
this well
designed
building
were not
reinforced.
The
reluctant
passengers
aboard the
reform train
constitute
an absolute
majority and
their
misgivings
are being
strengthened
by the many
loose ends
in the
trajectory
of state
policy. I
assure Mr.
President of
my deep
respects and
continued
goodwill, as
I maintain
that the
issues
raised
heretofore
need urgent
attention.
Dr,
Ikechukwu,
Chairman
of
Skylab
Communications,
lives in
Abuja.
|
