Akume as Stabilising Hand in Tinubu’s Govt

Emmanuel Ado writes about the need for those around President Bola Tinubu to allow the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, to function effectively as the nation’s number one Chief Servant.

The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in service of others - Mahatma Ghandi

These are certainly not the best of times for President Bola Tinubu. There appears to be a brewing storm between his government and the hegemonic North. And this has been further worsened by the pockets of protests against some policies of the Federal Government, due to the unbearable cost of living. The other problem is external; the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is at the verge of disintegration under his watch.

Though the protests might fizzle out with time, and the military prodigals may return eventually to ECOWAS at a future date, there seems as yet no road map for dealing with the brewing storm from the North. Accordingly, in the coming days, Tinubu will be needing a strong army of contacts in the North to help him fix things. He has a battery of them already, but for some reasons, his joker appears to be Senator George Akume. But who is George Akume, and why could he be the reliable truce maker?

Given the dimensions of geo-political interest in who gets the top job of Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), under President Tinubu, the media speculations and permutations did not give Akume, a long-time political associate of Tinubu, any iota of chance.

But the President, known for his high sense of humour, and who must have thoroughly enjoyed the media-miss, had no reservations whatsoever in appointing Akume to the covetous post of SGF, the central clearing house for all Federal Government’s activities. He apparently knew more than others that Akume would be an asset to the administration. And Akume has since proved the President right by being a steady hand in positioning the government to deliver on its campaign promises.

The SGF position is a lofty and enviable one. But only few persons would admire Akume, because Tinubu has saddled him with a job that is not for the faint-hearted. Nigeria has serious security and economic challenges, due to the failure of previous governments to implement some tough but necessary decisions like the removal of petroleum subsidy, floating of the exchange rate, and the diversification of the economy,which the Tinubu administration has boldly taken, and has made it hugely unpopular.

Akume could be said to have seen it all, in terms of occupying impactful offices and discharging onerous responsibility of governance. He was the first governor of Benue State to complete two terms in office (1999-2007), elected Senator of Benue North West Senatorial District under the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and emerged as Minority Leader of the Senate, where his paths with Tinubu further crossed and deepened.

Though Akume’s bid to return to the Upper Legislative Chamber of the National Assembly was thwarted by Senator Orke Jev of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Akume bounced back to reckoning when President Muhammadu Buhari appointed him Minister of Special Duties and Inter-governmental Affairs. All the while, he has remained down-to-earth, courteous, humble and extremely loyal.

But while there is absolutely no doubt that Tinubu has found an asset of inestimable value in Akume, a consummate public servant, a team player, a bridge builder, an unassuming politician, and a nationalist, who is not overbearing or supercilious, the fact remains that Akume can only effectively function as the SGF if he is trusted and given the room to operate.

The recent leakage of the request for N1 billion for the Trapartite Committee on the National Minimum Wage is believed to have been by forces bent on pitching Akume against the public, as financially irresponsible and undermining his capacity to function.

A former secretary to a state government described the N1 billion as “very reasonable”. He said: “Committee assignment is one of the most expensive line items in government expenditure. I was an SSG and know this for a fact”. It’s a shame that the leakers refused to leak the supporting documents to allow Nigerians make an informed judgement.

Although the tasks of the SGF are well speltout, in time past, some administrations all but took away the functions of that office and assigned them to people from their region. This inevitably led to hiccups, distortions and even malfunctions in the system.

Although there have been no whispers of Akume having this problem, it is expected that the politically astute Tinubu will not tread that path of discordance, as his Lagos Boys hover around every available space.

There is absolutely no doubt that while Akume needs the solid support of the President, who has the final word on both domestic and foreign policies, to effectively discharge the responsibility of his office and to help him calm the North, but his effectiveness depends largely on how some key people around the president relate with him, because Akume already enjoys the confidence of the president. NOTE: Interested readers should continue in the online edition on www.thisdaylive.com