1. Background:
In
April 2015, I sent a short memorandum to you, Sir - then as
president-elect. We never discussed the memo in detail and I am not even
sure you got to read it bearing in mind the levels of human traffic
visiting you in those heady days. I crave the indulgence of Mr.
President to please read the memo (attached herewith as Annex II) and
see how like every aspect of life, the memo was sometimes presciently
accurate and at the same time off-target! It is on the basis of that
message, and my commitment to write anytime I feel compelled that
matters of urgent national importance confront you, that I address this
with greatest respect and humility.
Mr. President, Sir
I
address this and other past memos with all sense of responsibility for
at least three reasons. First, I owe my modest political ascendency so
far to you. Without your adoption and trust
reposed in me and the recognition you have shown in spite of attacks on
my person by some people around you, I will not be where I am today. I
remain eternally grateful for this.
Secondly,
Sir, poll after poll in Kaduna State before and after the 2015
elections clearly show that my fate politically and
otherwise is
uncannily tied to yours. If you do well, I stand to benefit immensely.
If you do not do well Sir, whatever I try to do in Kaduna matters little
to my present and any future political trajectory.
Finally,
Sir, I am of the strong opinion and belief that you are our only hope
now and in the medium term of saving the Nigerian nation from collapse,
and enabling the north of Nigeria to regain its lost confidence, begin
to be respected as a significant contributor, and not the parasite and
problem of the Nigerian federation.
Mr.
President, it is also clear to many of us that have studied your
political career, that so long as you remain in the political landscape,
no Northerner will emerge successfully on the national scene. All
those wasting time, money and other resources to run in 2019 either do
not realize this divinely-ordained situation or are merely destined to
keep others employed and rich from electoral project doomed for certain
failure.
As
I explained to you shortly after your election in April 2015, you have
to run again in 2019 if your objectives of national restoration,
economic progress and social justice are to be attained in the medium
and long term. You must therefore succeed for the good of all of us -
individually and collectively, and particularly those of us that have
benefitted so clearly from your political ascendance.
Mr. President, Sir
As
stated in my April 2015 memo, you have inherited serious political,
economic and governance problems that you had no hand in creating but
now have a duty to solve. These inherited problems were aggravated by
the continuing slide in crude oil prices and the renewed insurgency in
the Niger Delta that reduced oil production by more than 50 per cent! In
my honest opinion, we have made this situation worse by failing to be
proactive in taking some political, economic and governance decisions
in a timely manner.
In
very blunt terms, Mr. President, our APC administration has not only
failed to manage expectations of a populace that expected overnight
‘change’ but has failed to deliver even mundane matters of governance
outside of our successes in fighting BH insurgency and corruption.
Overall, the feeling even among our supporters today is that the APC
government is not doing well.
It
is in light of all the foregoing that I intend to analyze where we
are, and present some suggestions for Mr. President’s consideration and
further necessary action in three areas - Politics, National Economy
and Governance.
2. Political Situation:
Mr.
President would recall the tribulations we went through with
membership registration, congresses and the first national convention.
And with the games played by various groupings within the party, it is
correct to assert that you got elected in spite of our party
leadership, and not due to its wholehearted support.
At
the moment, with the appointment of B.D. Lawal and Dikko Radda to
executive positions in the Federal Government, we have no more than one
or two clear supporters or sympathizers in the NWC out of 20 members.
We have no footprint in the party structure today and this situation
can remain unchanged until the national convention of 2018!
Mr. President, Sir
Your
relationship with the national leadership of the party, both the
formal (NWC) and informal (Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Atiku Abubakar, Rabiu
Musa Kwankwaso), and former Governors of ANPP, PDP (that joined us) and
ACN, is perceived by most observers to be at best frosty. Many of them
are aggrieved due to what they consider total absence of consultations
with them on your part and those you have assigned such duties. This
may not be your intention or outlook, but that is how it appears to
those that watch from afar.
This
situation is compounded by the fact that some officials around you
seem to believe and may have persuaded you that current APC State
Governors must have no say and must also be totally excluded from
political consultations, key appointments and decision-making at
federal level. These politically-naive ‘advisers’ fail to realize that
it is the current and former state governors that may, as members of
NEC of the APC, serve as an alternative locus of power to check the
excesses of the currently lopsided and perhaps ambivalent NWC.
Alienating the governors so clearly and deliberately ensures that you
have near-zero support of the party structure at both national and
state levels. It is not too late to reverse the situation.
You
appear to have neither a political adviser nor a minder of your
politics. The two officials whose titles may enable them function as
such generally alienate those that contributed to our success. The SGF
is not only inexperienced in public service but is lacking in humility,
insensitive and rude to virtually most of the party leaders, ministers
and governors. The Chief of staff is totally clueless about the APC and
its internal politics at best as he was neither part of its formation
nor a participant in the primaries, campaign and elections. In summary,
neither of them has the personality, experience and the reach to
manage your politics nationally or even regionally.
Those
of us that look forward to presenting you again to the electorate in
2019 are worried that we need to sort out the party’s membership
register, review the primaries system to eliminate the impact of money
in candidate selection, and reduce the reliance of the party on a few
businessmen, a handful of major financiers and state governments for its
operations and expenditures. A surgical operation is needed in party
machinery, financing and electoral processes if the future political
aspirations we desire for you will not be made more difficult, if not
impossible, to actualize.
Mr. President, Sir
It
is a constitutional reality that to succeed, the Federal Government
must work harmoniously with two other arms of government; the National
Assembly and the Judiciary. These relationships need improvement as
well. The relationship with the Senate was marred by the betrayal the
party suffered at the hands of many of its members, while the recent
‘padding scandal’ has created tensions with the leadership of the House
of Representatives. These challenges are difficult, but not impossible,
to fix once the Judiciary concludes the Saraki cases in a timely
manner.
The
paralysis within the National Judicial Council in the face of the
current worrying state of the Judiciary, compounded by the lack of
harmonious relationship with the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal and the
all-important Federal High Court, make the expeditious disposal of the
Saraki cases not only unlikely, but puts the administration at risk of a
humiliating loss of some key anti-corruption cases. Once again, it is
not impossible to reverse the situation.
Mr. President, Sir
The
public service we inherited is the product of one and a half decades
of doing business in the mould of the PDP. The senior public servants
are largely corrupt, with a sense of entitlement that they have a first
claim on the country’s resources, before any is spent for the benefit
of the 99.5 per cent that are ordinary Nigerians (and voters!).
Persons
on director grade today in the federal public service were mere Grade
Level 9-10 officers when President Obasanjo took office in 1999, so
PDP’s way is the only way they know and are comfortable with. Due to
these orientational and ideological differences between the federal
public service and what you believe Mr. President, most of them are
unable to serve you with integrity, dedication and commitment. We
therefore generally have an uneasy relationship with the bureaucracy as
well.
This
state of affairs is far more difficult to reverse immediately, but
must be attempted if you are to succeed, as no nation develops beyond
the capability, competence and capacity of its public service. It is
within the realm of both politics and governance that you must navigate
to extract the best out of the public service while suppressing its
base desires.
Mr. President, Sir
This
memo started with the state of our politics because it trumps
everything else. If we don’t get the political machinery smooth and
working, it will be a miracle if we are able to get the economy and
governance right. The distraction of genuinely unhappy political actors
will affect our ability to face our national problems; we need to pull
together in the same direction to resolve them.
We
have been incredibly lucky and successful so far without the support
of, and in spite of, the prevailing patron-client political system, Mr.
President. We are now in power and in a position to shape our national
political culture in your image through active stakeholders and process
engagement. We are not engaging at all, and taking things and
important matters for granted. The consequences can be negative.
3. The State of the National Economy:
Without
any doubt, Mr. President, you inherited an economy in dire straits.
The Yar’Adua-Jonathan administrations not only blew the national
savings of about $27bn in the excess crude account (ECA) and ran down
over $40bn in foreign reserves they inherited in 2007, but earned and
wasted nearly $300bn of oil and gas income between 2007 and 2015. At
the time you were sworn into office, ECA was down to some $2bn and net
reserves (allowing for swaps, forwards and other set-offs) were less
than $20bn with little or nothing to show for it.
Between
2007 and 2014, we used to earn an average of over $3bn monthly from
oil and gas sales and taxes. By May 2016, this had collapsed to about
$500 million. Mr. President, it is a simple truism that no nation loses
nearly 80 per cent of its foreign exchange earnings without
significant reprioritization and painful adjustments. This is a message
we have failed to transmit to Nigerians clearly and we must. This,
however, is merely the symptom and simplest explanation of our current
economic problems.
However,
we cannot, after more than a year in office continue to rely only on
this ‘blame them’ explanation. We were elected precisely because
Nigerians knew that the previous administration was mismanaging
resources and engaged in unprecedented waste and corruption. We must
therefore identify the roots of our enduring economic under-performance
as a nation, and present a medium-term national plan and strategy to
turn things around. We must persuade Nigerians that they have to
withstand the individual pains of today for the collective gains of
tomorrow.
With
a clear economic strategy that shows our citizens some light at the
end of the tunnel, it is not only easier for them to sacrifice and bear
some pain, but enough to highlight the wasted opportunities, wrong
choices and suboptimal decisions made by previous administrations. We
have no such clear roadmap at the moment.
Mr. President, Sir
In
this era of global interconnectedness, nations compete viciously in
the economic arena - for a larger share of international trade,
investments, maritime and aviation services, and a whole raft of
knowledge-based services and industries. This competition is neither
moral nor fair, even if the advanced nations pretend to present it as
such to those that are gullible.
No
one cares about, or will ‘help’ us unless we get our act together and
organize our political economy and national affairs to be regionally,
continentally and globally competitive. It is not rocket science. In the
last 50 years, many countries in Asia (Japan, China, Malaysia,
Singapore, etc.), and Botswana, Mauritius and Seychelles in Africa have
done it. We can do it within a generation, and we must begin this
journey of redesigning our political, economic and governance
structures, systems and staffing for superior performance and global
competitiveness as soon as possible, under your leadership!
Mr. President, Sir
In
every crisis there lies an opportunity for fundamental change. The
current crisis of reduced oil production, unit prices and earnings,
which has led to the deterioration of the exchange rate, escalation of
levels of debt and interest rates, and reduced levels of industrial
production and employment constitutes an opportunity for our nation to
change decades of bad habits and wrong direction in our political
economy and governance. This crisis should not be wasted.
Devoid
of all the economic jargon and the many, even conflicting, opinions of
the experts, the Nigerian economy suffers from the following
fundamental and structural defects that must be addressed for us to
move forward:
i.
Oil Revenue Addiction: The nation’s economy, politics and governance
are centered around, and focused on distribution of easy oil and gas
revenues amongst all tiers of government. The Nigerian economy has
therefore been consistently reliant on oil and gas revenues - averaging
90% of foreign exchange earnings and 80% of government revenues, and
accordingly characterized by low levels of:
a. national savings averaging about 15% of GDP evidenced by the low levels of ECA
b. taxes (5% of GDP versus global average of 20%), and
c.
investment (FGN’s recurrent budget is 107% of its revenues and the
capital budget is only nominally 30% of total budget, and is entirely
borrowed).
ii.
Rentier Economy, Perverse Incentives: Easy oil money creates an
unproductive society with weird incentives. Today, our best and
brightest people are attracted not to productive endeavors and sectors
like agriculture and manufacturing, but ‘get-rich-quick’ schemes
particularly in the telecoms, financial services, wholesale and retail
trade, and the extractive industries, that appear to offer quick returns
without creating jobs, adding very little value or doing little or
nothing. A whole generation of Nigerians now believe that not only does
corruption pay very well, but that honesty and hard work do not pay at
all! This has to change and only you Mr. President has the antecedents
to lead this.
iii.
Persistent Infrastructure Deficits: No society can develop without
physical and governance infrastructure. Our consistent reliance on
government control, funding and management of the infrastructure sectors
has led to persistent inefficiencies, corruption and escalating
deficits:
•
Electricity, which is the heartbeat of any modern economy is in very
short supply in our country. Currently, we produce less electricity than
the city of Dubai. The electricity supply industry whose reforms began
in the year 2000, earlier than the reforms of telecoms, is now in
serious crisis and nearly at the point of total collapse.
•
Water supply, which is largely under the purview of subnational
governments, is also in crisis, exacerbated by the failed participation
and intervention of the Federal Government bureaucrats interested only
in awarding contracts, collecting kickbacks and not caring if the
projects are completed or even feasible in the first place.
•
Transportation – interstate (Federal) roads are generally in a state
of disrepair. The national rail system is still the colonial narrow
gauge constructed by the British for the extraction of needed raw
materials rather than for the encouragement of intranational trade and
connectivity. The dual track, standard gauge national railway system
initiated by the Obasanjo administration in 2006 has been partly
abandoned in favour of piecemeal implementation of sections rather than
the integrated programme.
There
is significant potential in the development of inland waterways but
there has been no serious effort at seeing the dredging of Rivers Niger
and Benue to completion. The aviation sector is largely private and
mostly insolvent. Virtually all the major airlines are beholden to
AMCON, and their services are poor, unreliable and expensive.
•
ICT infrastructure is slightly ahead of other sectors due to the
deregulation and privatization efforts of 2001. We have nationwide GSM
system but without full 3G and 4G networks. Furthermore, there is as yet
no national fibre optic backbone with redundant satellite back-ups in
case of natural disaster.
•
E-Governance infrastructure with a foundation in a national biometric
identification system is almost non-existent. While the NIMC is
struggling to register 10 million Nigerian adults out of some 100
million, we have wasted billions in parallel biometric ID systems (FRSC,
INEC, PenCom, Nigeria Immigration Service, NCC, CBN’s BVN, etc. to
mention a few) without a central, validated and rogue-free AFIS engine.
The national potential to deploy these data and linking them with GIS,
Land administration and tax compliance has therefore not been realized.
Mr. President, Sir
It
is not difficult to reverse these negative trends and change the
narrative to one of a nation with a growing, efficient and well-managed
national infrastructure. All the plans and strategies are there. What
is needed is political will, technocratic capacity and focus, which
you, Mr. President must ensure are present here and now.
iv.
Absence of a Clear National Strategy of Export Orientation and/or
Import Substitution: Countries like Nigeria with large internal markets
tend to first pursue generic import substitution strategies before
graduating to some form of export-oriented industrial strategy. Small
countries like Singapore are forced by their demographic circumstances
to aggressively export to survive.
It
is a matter of regret that with the exception of cement (2003-2007),
Sugar (2008 to date) and Automobiles (2012 to date), no clear effort
along any of the two strategies has been invested in recent times by
governments. Indeed, only the cement strategy initiated by the Obasanjo
administration appears to have totally succeeded.
Today,
our country spends between 45% and 60% of our foreign exchange
earnings to import what it should be producing (food and fuel) and
exports what we should be processing and refining to add value (Oil,
Gas, Cocoa, Oil Palm, etc.). Indeed, Nigeria disgracefully imports for
our large domestic market items as varied as Asphalt, Fuels, Rice,
Wheat, Milk, Fertilizers, Poultry, Tomato, Fruits, Vegetable Oil,
Sugar, Motor Vehicles, Motorcycles, Boats, Textiles, Consumer
Electronics, Mobile Phones, Laptops and Tablets, etc. This is patently
misguided.
We must plan to produce as many of these as possible for our consumption and export to ECOWAS and the world.
Mr. President, Sir
We
must therefore take advantage of our large internal market, natural
endowments and comparative advantages in agriculture, minerals and human
resources to be self-sufficient in food and fuels within your first
term of office. It is neither impossible nor unduly difficult to achieve
both goals.
v.
Unproductive and Expensive Public Sector: We spend too high a
proportion of our national resources on public sector wage bills and
overheads. Federal public service salaries increased from about N600bn
in 2007 to over N1,800bn in 2015. The total budget of the National
Assembly has increased from N59bn in 2007 to N150bn under Yar’Adua and
slightly down to N130bn by 2015. Similar situations exist in most of the
states and local governments, leaving too little for capital
investment in human development, infrastructure and social services.
Our
judiciary today is dysfunctional and generally perceived to be
corrupt, with courts of coordinate jurisdiction issuing contradictory
rulings and judgments, while the appellate courts appear unable to
exercise supervisory and disciplinary control over the lower courts.
Despite
the successful introduction of a contributory pension scheme (CPS)
nationally in 2004, the burden of the pay-as-you-go system remains a
source of massive corruption and impunity. The CPS now has accumulated
over N5,000bn and is considered a global model of a viable pension
system. However, the funds are idle and are not being deployed as a
source of reliable, long term financing for infrastructure, social
development and housing sectors.
vi.
Endemic Poverty and Widening Inequality: In the days when we were
growing up, public schools were attended by the children of both the
high and low. Public health facilities were equally patronized by both
the rich and the poor. The quality of these social services and the
attendant message of egalitarianism and social justice they conveyed,
enabled people of humble backgrounds like you and me, Mr. President, to
rise to the higher positions in life depending on luck, ability and
hard work.
Today,
the exact opposite is the situation. The danger of this current state
of affairs is that we are inadvertently creating successive generations
of poorer, barely educated, unskilled, hopeless and angry children of
the poor, side by side with increasingly richer, privately educated,
skilled and optimistic children of the privileged. It is a demographic
and social time bomb waiting to explode as the poor and hopeless youths
are easy recruits of insurgents, violent politicians and criminals.
Only you, Mr. President will appreciate this danger and do something
about it with the urgency it deserves.
vii.
Failure to Sharpen Competitive Advantage in Service Industries like
ICT, Entertainment and Sports: Time and time again in the last 50 years,
Nigerians have excelled globally in athletics, boxing, basketball,
soccer and weightlifting. Yet we have never developed a national
strategy to encourage and deepen our God-given endowments in sports.
Indeed, appointment as minister of sports is seen as less prestigious
than others.
The
same attitude applies to service sectors like Art and Sculpture, ICT,
Nollywood, Kannywood, music and other creative sub-sectors. Nigerian
movies are now selling our nation positively and negatively all across
Africa and the Black Diaspora. This is an important component of soft
power which we have failed to think through, articulate to exploit to
create jobs, wealth and prestige for our country. It is not too late to
close this gap.
viii.
Fiscal and Monetary Policy Mismatch: Against the background of the
aforementioned issues, we seem to consistently suffer from disconnects
and mismatch between the Central Bank of Nigeria (that is in charge of
exchange rates, interest rates and inflation management) and the Federal
Ministry of Finance (that looks after revenue flows, custom duties,
tax policy and debt management).
The
consequence of this is the nation suffering from high interest rates
set by CBN in order to manage the exchange rate. Interest rates are also
kept high to make it easier for FGN through the DMO to sell bonds and
keep yields high. These have devastating impact on the real sector and
job creation since no business can expand production (and employment)
with the kind of interest and exchange rates offered by the banks.
The
banks also find it more attractive to mobilize public sector deposits,
purchase risk-free FGN bonds and lend little or nothing to private
sector. Mr. President, business activities are shrinking because the
private sector is suffering from multiple whammies of deteriorating and
unstable exchange rate, high interest rates and dwindling purchasing
power of customers.
Mr.
President, Sir. It is neither too late nor impossible to achieve
higher levels of policy coordination and consistency. It has been done
in the past with the right chemistry between key economic policy
centers. It must be done now.
4. Governance Issues and Challenges:
Government
performance depends on political legitimacy and administrative
capacity. It results from sound political vision, courage and the will
of the President and other appointed and elected officials, supported by
the administrative capacity of the public service. The functions of
the public service include analysis of problems and providing advice,
coordination of dispersed actors to achieve joint action, the execution
and management of policies, and the regulation of the private sector to
adhere to the national vision. You have the vision, courage and will,
Mr. President. The jury is still out whether your most senior appointed
officials share these qualities, and this must change for the better,
Sir.
Mr. President, Sir.
Our
public service today is too expensive, aging, outdated and
inadequately skilled to discharge its mandate of providing
administrative support to the political leadership. The nearly 600 MDAs
at the federal level (and smaller number of counterparts at
subnational levels) consume nearly 90% of our national revenues. This
is why the FGN borrows over 100% of its capital budget! This is neither
fair nor just.
The
800-page Transition Committee Report (summarized to 80 slides by Bain
& Co.) went some way in recommending the merger of Ministries but
implementation has been uneven and selective. Prior to this, the
Obasanjo administration had done seminal work in merging ministries,
(available on request) while the Oronsaye Committee has done some
significant work in reducing duplication between parastatals and
agencies. There exists therefore enough raw material to begin the needed
restructuring of MDAs for optimal performance at the federal level.
(Copies of both the Bain Summary and the Executive Summary of the
Oronsaye Report are provided with this submission).
The
Machinery of Government, the way and manner the President interacts
with the State House, the Ministers and the Bureaucracy, including: The
interaction between the Chief of Staff, SGF, Ministers, Special
Advisers, Assistants and other aides needs further articulation and
communication. It is clear, Mr. President, that the current system is
delivering sub-optimal outcomes. A clear evidence of this is the
lopsided nature of the appointments made so far, and the absence of any
objective selection criteria other than pure chance and closeness to a
handful of people around the President.
Another
crisis is likely to be created if the current system (or lack of it)
of appointment persists with the composition of boards of parastatals. I
have had cause to register my concerns, which also mirrors the
grievance of 23 APC Governors, about the way and manner this is being
done (see Annex III attached). I am afraid that those that are tasked
to do this, that are unwilling to be inclusive in the process, are
those that neither knew who did what nor how you got elected, but now
determine those who get appointed from the respective states.
With
the greatest respect and humility, Mr. President, neither the Chief of
Staff, nor the SGF, his Committee and National Vice Chairman
North-West, of the APC know more than the government of Kaduna State,
who contributed to our success at state level. For these officials to
sit and decide the question of who gets appointed from Kaduna without
our input is not only unfair, but likely to result in serious errors of
judgment. Mr. President should reconsider and make the process more
inclusive by giving the State Governors the opportunity to review what
the political masters are doing.
5. Suggestions for Immediate and Medium Term Action:
Arising
from the points made in earlier sections, I would like to summarize
and restate the problems and recommendations for your immediate and
medium term consideration. It is my humble opinion that our government
appears to suffer from very serious perception problems on at least
five fronts:
a)
Mr. President, there is perception that our government has been
captured by a shadowy public service/PDP cabal such that we have won
elections but the country is still run largely by these elements that
are hostile to you and to us all.
b)
There is a strong perception that your inner circle or kitchen cabinet
is incapable, unproductive and sectional. The quality and the undue
concentration of key appointments to the North-East and exclusion of
South-East are mentioned as evidence of this.
c)
There is a perception that your ministers, some of whom are competent
and willing to make real contributions, have no clear mandate,
instructions and access to you. Ministers are constitutional creations
Mr. President and it is an aberration that they are expected to report
to the Chief of Staff on policy matters.
d) Mr. President, there is an emerging view in the media
that you are neither leading the party nor the administration and
those neither elected nor accountable appear to be in charge, and
therefore the country is adrift.
e)
We are facing an unprecedented national economic crisis, but our
administration has failed to roll out a coherent response and action
plan, or even appeal to our patriotism with a rallying cry to unite and
sacrifice in face of the adversity.
Mr.
President Sir, it is the view of many informed citizens that while you
are actively fighting corruption, the institutional weaknesses that
enabled it to thrive under Jonathan, and the persons that participated
in it, and oiled the system are still very much in charge, and many are
around you. They also point to the recent appointment of key PDP
apparatchiks of a few months back into important advisory and executive
positions in the Presidency (National Assembly Adviser, NDDC Board and
Cabinet Ministers) while enduring APC loyalists are ignored to make
this point.
These
troubling perceptions whether accurate or not must be addressed
frontally by you Mr. President, and no other person. It is in light of
all these points, arguments and perceptions, and with all sense of
responsibility that I make the following suggestions for Mr. President’s
consideration, early decision and action:
The
President must communicate actively and directly with the Nigerian
public about his vision – the government’s plans, strategy and roadmap
to take the country out of the current, dire economic situation. We need
a five-year national development strategy and plan urgently.
The President should speak to the nation – something akin to a State of the Union address on December 1 or January 1,
preferably in a joint session of the National Assembly during which he
will explain away some of the perceptions and lay out the national
plans, strategies and roadmap above.
Appoint
as many of the current NWC members as possible to ambassadorial,
executive and similar positions to give way for the restructuring of the
party leadership ahead of the mid-term convention.
Institute
quarterly informal APC leadership council meetings in the State House
to host, dine and consult with formal and informal party leaders to
discuss and agree the restructuring of the party machinery after some of
the actions above are done.
Institute
quarterly dinner with APC Governors and engaging them on party issues,
executive and non-executive appointments and the like.
Consider
appointing a very experienced and nationally-connected person as your
political adviser and bring in Chief Audu Ogbeh as an honorary
political counsellor in addition to his executive functions.
Constitute
an informal task team of State Governors, National Assembly members
and Party leaders to review the constitution of the party, assess
financing needs, update the primaries system and task all State
Governors to finalize the membership register in their respective
states in accordance with pre-agreed guidelines, IT platform and
biometric standards.
Engage
constructively with the NJC to impose quick sanctions on clearly
erring judges, and appeals to the Judiciary to facilitate the
expeditious resolution of landmark corruption cases.
Initiate
the process of replacement of the leadership and commissioners of the
Federal Civil Service Commission, Police Service Commission and other
central management agencies of the federal public service, and relaunch a
federal public service reform program under the leadership of the
minister of finance.
Appoint
a high profile economic adviser to the President, and constitute a
two-level economic team – political level chaired by the VP and
technical level consisting of key economic agency heads to do the more
detailed technical analysis and present options for decision and action.
Initiate
sale of expired OMLs to India and China to raise at least $20bn to add
to our foreign reserves, stabilize our national currency, and create a
fund for future generations to be managed by the Sovereign Investment
Authority. Our children must not inherit what the previous
administration bequeathed to us, and you can pull it off, Mr. President.
Consider
the privatization of other non-productive or potentially valuable
assets like NIPP, Ajaokuta Steel and Itakpe Iron Ore, the balance of
shares in Gencos and Discos, refineries and depots to raise revenues and
achieve efficiencies.
Accelerate
TIN registration to double the number of tax payers to at least 10
million in 2017 and reduce the levels of personal and corporate income
tax, while effecting an increase of the rate for value added tax.
Commit
to a three-year reflationary budget with at least 40% of budget meant
for capital projects, supplemented by robust PPP legislation to attract
private investments in toll roads, intra-city rail systems,
electricity generation and distribution, inland waterways, airports and
concessioning of the narrow and standard gauge railway systems.
Our
entire investment environment and incentive structure needs a holistic
review to enable us compete with our neighbors and peers. The
investment policy review should prioritize encouraging local and
foreign investors and fund managers to bring their capital and
expertise to
Nigeria.
Develop
an import substitution and export strategy taking one industrial
sector, commodity or product at a time, similar to what was done
successfully with cement. The key issue is to identify firms with
potential and develop them into national, continental and global
champions.
Leverage
on the fall-out of the padding scandal to scale down the budget of the
National Assembly, put every MDA on IPPIS and begin the process of
right-sizing the federal public service with the goal of drastically
reducing the cost of governance.
Constitute
an implementation committee for the Oronsaye Report with the mandate
to update and bring up modifications as necessary for the approval of
the President.
Institute
a matching grants system that will encourage state governments to
invest more aggressively in public education and healthcare to attack
and slow the emergence of an inter-generational underclass and systemic
inequality.
Develop
a national plan, strategy and roadmap for the ICT, entertainment,
financial services and sports sectors, and appoint high profile
ministers to drive the advocacy and implementation.
Undertake
a surgical operation on the leadership of the budgetary, fiscal and
monetary management agencies to resolve conflicts between MDAs, replace
tainted and incapable persons, and enable better coordination and
policy consistency.
Effect
personnel changes in the Presidency, the ministries (cabinet and
permanent secretaries) and constitute a small team to review all future
appointments for competence, capacity, integrity, diversity and
inclusiveness.
I
am conscious of the likelihood that my memo may be misunderstood,
misinterpreted and even perverted. I am willing to accept the usual
accusations of arrogance and ambition, but Mr. President knows that none
of these hold water. I ran for state Governor because you directed me
to do so. From 2010 when we joined your team, I have no other interest
other than your place in history as our President. I believe in your
integrity, commitment and sense of duty to make our nation better. I am
distressed that our government is seen not to be succeeding mostly due
to the failures, lack of focus and selfishness of some you have
entrusted to carry on and implement your vision. I am troubled that our
own mis-steps have made the PDP and its apparatchiks so audacious and
confident. It is time to act decisively, Mr. President. I hope this memo
will contribute in some way in regaining our governance momentum.
Mr.
President, Sir. You have both a crisis and opportunity in your hands
to turn around our country in the right direction. We pray that Allah
gives you the strength and good fortune to succeed. This is an honest,
frank and objective view of an admirer, a mentee, and a loyalist. I hope
it helps, and I apologise if it displeases you. My duty to you is to
tell you the truth as I see it. I have no interest other than the
progress of our party, our president, our government and our country.
Respectfully and most humbly submitted, Sir
Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai, OFR
Governor of Kaduna State,
September 22, 2016
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