Paradigm paralysis and PMB reform agenda
Against the backdrop of the interplay between the litany of infractions on the public weal by past governments and the corrective stance of the present administration, lies a paradox. On one hand there is a groundswell of widespread public acceptance of the government’s frontal attack on the state of decay in the country, especially in the domain of public service delivery. On the other hand is a seeming inaction on the part of the government with respect to deploying in full measure, the complement of mission-critical options, for facilitating good governance in a democracy. The outcome is the present state of affairs whereby in spite of its spirited efforts at turning things around, the administration is rapidly losing out in public rating of its performance, because it is seen to be dithering over allowing Nigerians to share in, and brace up to the vision of the future which hopefully, it is inventing for the country.
During the past week the Vice President Professor Yemi Osinbanjo provided an insight into one of the problem areas that has denied the present administration the traction needed for a quick march forward - a paradigm paralysis. A paradigm paralysis occurs when the mental attachment to a current state of affairs or set of information prevents a leadership or any actor, from exploring new and often uncharted as well as unfamiliar ways of doing things, and thereby escapes from the trappings of some long held old ways. In a meeting with the Northern States Pentecostal Bishops Forum, Osinbanjo lamented that the country had been badly governed hence the present crises in various areas of the country’s public life. To buttress his point he cited the serial cases of looting of public funds and observed rightly that the government remained duty bound to address such instances of haemorrhage of the nation’s common patrimony. He rounded up his homily by expressing hope that the country will be better soon.
Good talk one will say. Yet after one year in office a mere repeat of tales about the loot of public property may no more sound like trending music to Nigerians, given the present state of affairs whereby Nigerians are undergoing perhaps the worst forms of economic and social privations. For instance, is the government aware that by owing domestic creditors and contractors over N1.3 trillion, it has helped to close down thousands of businesses and sent fellow Nigerians into penury? As a result of some of its policies, a new season of criminal racketeering has also sprouted in the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), and associated taxation circles in the wake of the Presidential directive that no tax clearance certificate from any company no payment by any MDA. Not a few entrepreneurs are now exploiting the option of abandoning their existing companies with heavy tax arrears and floating new ones if the tax assessment is beyond the debt owed them.
Infact, borrowing the words of the late journalist Dele Giwa, Nigerians have become so “unshockable” that even if by tomorrow it is revealed that a smart Alek has sold off Aso Rock the seat of the Nigerian President, it may not sound outrageous in the context of the capacity of some ‘fellow Nigerians’ for high level acts of mischief. In fact, it was specifically to address the prevalence of such acts of superlative mischief that President Muhamadu Buhari was massively elected into office in 2015.And so far, the response of the administration has enjoyed mixed reactions even if not outrightly disappointing, given the odds that surround a typical anti-corruption campaign in this country; especially when corruption is fighting back.
Yet as Nigerians are already asking in the face of endless recount of past sins -“na wetin we go chop?”it is a reminder that they need a new song. What the Nigerian people want to hear now is for the government to invent a viable future for the country, and define a credible path to get there. Shikena!
Hence even as Osinbanjo is today expressing the nation’s lament over the failure of governance in the past, so is it imperative that the present administration does not join the cycle of failure by dwelling too long on the tales of woe from the receded past. According to the African proverb, “when a monkey’s hand stays too long in the pot of soup it starts looking like the hand of a human”, thus turning from a delicacy to an abhorrence.
After one year in office the footprint of the present administration has become visible enough for Nigerians to see where it is heading. And the public response to the revelation so far dictates a review of its compact with the Nigerian people either in respect of its direction or the public perception of same, or both. Clearly the message from Nigerians is that the way forward cannot be business as usual.
Governance is essentially an interaction of policies, decisions and actions in furtherance of the public good. And at every stage, there are designated officials who are duty bound, to execute specific assignments, in furtherance of the same public good. The failure of governance by past administrations reflects a system wide syndrome of dereliction of duty by some past and present occupants of public office. So while it may be fashionable to lament over the sins of the past administration it may not be out of place to also consider that the very causative factors that facilitated failures in the past may still be lurking in the structure of the present dispensation. After all, government as the cliché says is a continuum, hence succeeding administrations are constrained to inherit the strengths and weaknesses of their preceding dispensations. In this respect the public may not always share Osinbanjo’s thesis of separating the sins of the past from the present administration, and may even be tempted to start assigning part of the blame to his team.
That is why the government needs to fast track its restorative agenda by weaning itself from an unduly prolonged fixation with blame game politics and focus on administration of the country. And in the new paradigm for the country, the success factor for the executive arm remains in no other place expanding its focus to rein in the contributions of a wider spectrum of stakeholders. That is the only way it can make the administration people based and usher in a welcome change in the country. By the way does the President read the anguish of Nigerians as expressed in various outlets such as the print electronic and the social media, Nigerians are asking?