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President Jonathan's Slip-Ups: A Right of Reply-By Ima Niboro
Newsdiaryonline Tue July 26,2011
I am no more the official spokesman of the President. But
huhuonline editorial titled President Goodluck Jonathan's Slip-
ups rankles, and I would not keep quiet while a good man is
mauled unjustly and unjustifiably in cyberspace. The facts that
under gird your editorial are rather specious: something in the
character of a "wuruwuru to the answer".
Of the issues raised in the editorial, the most salient are
the Lagos floods and Boko Haram. The issue of the credentials
and competency of the new ministers has been sufficiently dealt
with by other quite knowledgeable commentators. My only remarks
on the subject, passing remarks really, would be to insist the
president has put together a cabinet whose profile is excellent.
He has successfully juggled the competing requirements of
constitutionality, national spread, party interests, good
conscience and capacity. I repeat what I said during a press
briefing on the subject a little over a month ago: there are
brilliant minds in every state and in the political parties.
What the president was doing (and has now done) is to achieve a
creative blend of the best put forward by these institutions,
side by side pure technocrats of his own choosing. The
ministers' business now is to drive the president's
transformation agenda as a cohesive team,
committed to the
ideals of nationhood and democracy.
On this topic, I must note finally that a cabinet usually means
different things to different interests. Usually those who feel
short-changed would dismiss its content and character in no
uncertain terms. Those whose interests have been served of
course praise it to high heaven. Thus there is hardly any
purpose to be served by picketing the president's front lawns
over the choice of ministers. There is work to be done and the
business of Nigerians in this affair is to hold the ministers to
the electoral promises of the president.
As a Lagosian myself, the issue of the Lagos floods resonated on
a rather personal note. My long suffering housekeeper in Lagos
who had been in a race against time to save our home from slow
and steady decay since we relocated to Abuja in 2007, called me
with alarm on his voice. The house, he said, had been flooded,
and he required N50,000 to plumb the premises and pipe out the
water on a more permanent basis.
Even as I joked to my wife that we were now official flood
victims requiring NEMA aid, I knew that the situation in Lagos
had become quite dire. So did the president. I know that he was
in touch with the governor of Lagos all through the period. He
had visited during the floods of last year. But the symbolism of
that visit did not stop the watery encore this year. What we
therefore should be looking at are the defining steps he took to
prevent the "water" next time! I wonder if anyone noticed that
the first assignment of the new works minister was to relocate
to Lagos. His crucial assignment could only have been to take
definitive charge of federal infrastructure in Lagos, from
highways to major drainways that have been blocked by years of
neglect.
Though it is difficult to hazard the net contributions of
federal infrastructure to the current Lagos floods, there is no
question that Lagos needs help. Nigeria's most important city,
next only to the Federal Capital, is collapsing under its own
weight. Governors Bola Tinubu and Babatunde Fashola in that
order, have like my Lagos housekeeper (ACN must pardon this
irreverent metaphor) been in a race against time in Lagos. Huge
sections of the metropolis are decaying, not because Lagos
government lacks will. No. There is abundant will on display.
What they lack is the means. Lagos cannot do it alone, and there
is no one that realises this more keenly than President
Jonathan. Immediately after the presidential elections, I had a
long talk with the president over Lagos. I discovered very
early, from our days in the Vice Presidency, that Jonathan loved
Lagos. I found this to be somewhat of a relief. Not because I
lived almost all of my working life in
Lagos, or that my wife
and love of my life is Lagosian, or that I can myself
justifiably claim to be a Lagosian. No. My sense of relief even
in those days came from the fact that we Lagosians had always
felt a sense of disconnect from governments at the centre. This
feeling seems to have been similarly replicated in leaders at
the centre who also feel no connection whatsoever with Lagos.
This mutual disconnect inevitably led to mutual distrust, and
in Nigeria, if Lagosians distrust you, please do something about
it, or it will be only a question of time...
Thus I was relieved when I found out that my boss genuinely
loved Lagos. And he went ahead to show it in his one year as
substantive president. He gave the city a pride of place,
revamped the aged but eternally elegant Marina State House where
he hosted British Prime Minister, David Cameron, only a few days
ago. President Jonathan has spent more time in Lagos than
anywhere else outside Abuja. He has returned Lagos, the city
that controls 50 percent of the country's marketplace, to
the leadership map of Nigeria. Of course there were a couple of
traffic snarl ups in the process that gave us a little bit of
bad press, but the use of helicopters fixed all that.
Lagosians reciprocated with a massive endorsement of Jonathan at
the presidential polls. It is generally accepted that the votes
the president garnered in Lagos have never happened in any
presidential election in recent memory.
I watched the president's face closely when we had the talk
about Lagos. I saw the passion and enthusiasm that shone forth
as he spoke of the plans to fix Federal infrastructure, and
bring adequate power to the commercial hub of the nation. He
spoke of fixing the highway leading to the airport so that first
time arrivals in Nigeria via Lagos are not confronted with the
sudden stark realities of a struggling city.
I am convinced beyond doubt that the president loves Lagos. He
has demonstrated it, and the months and years ahead will confirm
it.
Boko Haram is not my favourite topic. As presidential spokesman,
I devised a strategy of outsourcing comments on the subject to
the police and the other security services. I was determined not
to drag the presidency into the streets of Maiduguri and
environs when there were statutory agencies whose job was to
keep Nigeria safe, and communicate to the rest of us how they
were going about it.
I still don't like talking about Boko Haram, but like the
president said in New York, members of this dreaded sect are
Nigerians, and because they are our nationals, government would
adopt a carrot and stick approach. The size and deployment of
both instruments can only be determined through a day by day
assessment by those whose jobs it is to do so. I find it strange
that anyone could have found this approach to be "out of touch",
and amounting to "pandering to the demands of terrorists."
I would only make one comment about Government Ekpemupolo (Tompolo), The
last time I saw him, he complained bitterly about his inability
to see the president. He was convinced that there was an
orchestrated plan by powerful interests to fence him away from
the seat of power. That evening when we spoke, he did not sound
at all like someone who was in any position to give
"instructions" on ministerial portfolios. He cannot decide for
the president and the president Jonathan I know takes no orders
for any quarters. Good counsel? Yes. Orders? Not on your life.
Altogether I find your editorial disrespectful and somewhat
uncouth. Your choice of epithets
was convey
a strange anger- at a
government that is just settling down to work Nowhere in
the world is a government that is barely weeks old judged,
sentenced and condemned like you just did. President Jonathan
surely deserves an apology from you.
Ima Niboro,immediate past presidential
spokesman wrote this from
Abuja
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