1. What the Next Nigerian President
Must Do (2)
By Prince Val C Oji
Pick an all-inclusive, competent cabinet comprising a few good men and women, with
evangelical zeal to serve Nigeria.
Sounds simple and straightforward, right? But it’s far from being simple with all the competing
interests, the Federal Character issue for instance, and the delicate balancing act to ensure
equitable and fair representation, which the President has to contend with. Professor Wole
Soyinka, the Nobel Laureate, addressing a powerful group of Nigerian Governors in Delta State
recently, recalled that, “when the United States of America invaded Iraq under the pretext of
looking for weapons of mass destruction, the Arab League happened to be holding its session at
the time. The Secretary General was reported to have exclaimed, “The inhabitants of hell have
been let loose”. Several members of that League thought he was being alarmist”. The rest is
history.
Coming back to Nigeria, we know several cabinet members of past administrations, and the
current PDP led federal government, who behaved with impunity, utter contempt for the people,
including refusing to appear before the legislature - representatives of the people - to answer
questions bothering on alleged missing billions of US Dollars, embezzlement and other corrupt
practices. When public servants comport themselves like emperors, or celebrities, refusing to be
accountable to the people, the same people from whose taxes their salaries are drawn; aren’t
they behaving like inhabitants of hell? Some even resorted to dirty arm-twisting tactics, like
using the law courts to prevent lawmakers from carrying out their constitutional duties. What
crass impunity! How else does one explain the usual practice of some government appointees
using charter aircraft to official assignments within and outside the country? This is executive
impunity, and it must be condemned by all. How dare we condone this callous, colossal and
reckless waste of public funds, when millions of Nigerians literally “feed from the dustbin”?
Let’s recall, fellow citizens of this great country that the Prime Minister of Britain does not own
a fleet of aircrafts. He flies in commercial airplanes like ordinary Britons – he flies the British
Airways.
The next Nigerian president needs to comb the nooks and crannies of this great country and fish
for credible, competent men and women with evangelical zeal, and passion to serve this country.
Men and women who are prepared to render service to the fatherland, not to themselves, their
families and cronies. The next president actually needs to borrow a leaf from Plato, who while

2. writing in his famous book, The Republic, enumerated the values of a leader to include wisdom,
courage, temperance and justice. The leader, according to Plato, who is wise must be
philosophical in his thinking. Plato insists that only a “small group of highly educated, highly
rational and morally incorruptible philosophers were qualified to know what is best for the
public and only such people should rule” Do we have these men and women that Plato
described? The next president must rise above primordial beliefs, ethnic, religious and party
considerations; and chose men and women who are ready to serve conscientiously, patriotically,
passionately and with the fear of God.
End Insurgency now by declaring an all-out war.
We must recognize the urgency of now. In the words of the former Vice President, Dr. Alex
Ekwueme, we must regain the “years the locust had eaten”. To achieve this, we must end
insurgency now with all that Nigeria has. If it means deploying the entire Nigerian army, let’s do
so; and clean up with a post-war attitude. To further illustrate the urgency of now, let us
consider the words of Mahatma Gandhi. While speaking to ordinary Indians on the urgency of
developing India, he said, “We are the makers of our own state…individuals who realize the fact
need not, ought not, to wait for collective action – even as a hungry man does not wait for others
to commence a meal before he falls for it. The only necessary condition for action is that, like the
hungry man, we must hunger for our deliverance”.
The next Nigerian President must hunger for Nigeria’s deliverance. He must remember that the
inside of a hungry child, is neither patient nor understanding. Neither are the needs of the
unemployed.
Reduce the bloated emoluments of legislators and cost of governance now. It is a matter of
urgent national importance.
Believe me, or better still do the math - crunch the numbers. Examine Nigeria’s daily income
from crude oil, minus the 40% the Minster of Petroleum, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke says is
stolen daily by oil thieves, Vis a Vis the ever increasing need for funds to cater for government
expenditure. You will then agree to my suggestion that the time to act is now. Cutting down the
cost of governance is not just a patriotic duty at this stage, but a lifesaving one for that matter. A
situation where we have more ministers than portfolios, and hordes of government appointees,
with the attendant obscene paraphernalia, cannot continue. This is the time to revisit the
allowances of legislators and streamline them to reflect the reality of the Nigerian situation.
Recall how Professor Wole Soyinka described them recently, “They are the ones who, even
while claiming to defend the rights of their constituencies, do little more than defend the rights
and entitlements of their privileged existence”, the erudite and iconic professor of letter states.
It is a crime against humanity, that 469 men and women in the legislature should earn about
N2.3 billion a year, the equivalent of the budget of Enugu State for one year, a state that has over
2 million people. It is also a matter of urgent national importance to cut these bloated
emoluments. The next president must lead by example. He must find ways and means of cutting
the bloated salaries of legislators, and other government officials.

3. This is not the time to give the all-too-familiar and tired patronizing excuses of separation of
powers, and the much-touted independence of the legislature. We know the legislators will
fight with their last blood. They will threaten the President with impeachment, as usual. But
when did governance become the business of the faint-hearted? Ask General Collin Powell.
“Leadership can’t be a popularity contest. Trying not to offend anyone, or trying to get everyone
to like you, will set you on the road to mediocrity”
Any attempt at introducing austerity, as is being rumored, without radically reducing the
emoluments of legislators and government appointees, is crass hypocrisy. It will further alienate
the government from the governed.
Prince Val C Oji, a Reputation Management Consultant contributed this piece from Abuja.