By Gozie Okutaoloibe…
It is a well-known fact that lack of succession-planning is a major contributor to Africa’s woeful leadership challenges. It does not matter which field of human endeavor, Africa and Africans seem content to wait for things to happen rather than plan and pre-figure the basic steps that would put them in the control room of tomorrow.
Nigeria’s leadership dilemma has a great deal to do with a near lack of succession planning by our political and business leaders. Every so often, we see a leader that succeeds in almost everything but without the slightest attention to the question of who would be his successor.
Interestingly, the tables are gradually turning around. In the last 10 years, we have seen some modern Nigerian political leaders show a commendable vision in the choice of their successors. Former Governor Donald Duke of Cross River State is perhaps the most remarkable in this regard. Whatever credit would have gone to former Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu of Lagos State in this regard has been voided by his disruptive influence on the administration of his successor. In fact, it is widely believed that Tinubu still runs Lagos from his Bourdillion Avenue, Ikoyi, residence, to date. On the other hand, Duke has demonstrated a higher grace, taking a role that has cast him in the mold of a true statesman.
It is gratifying to see that Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State is toeing this noble path. Obi whose stewardship will end on March 17, 2014 having steered the ship of state to safe waters, has ensured that his legacy of excellent service will not be thrown to the dogs with the emergence of Willie Obiano as the Governor Elect of Anambra State. There is no doubt that the emergence of Willie Obiano is borne of good intention and a succession plan engineered by Governor Peter Obi. Today Anambra State stands to reap bountifully from the evolving seamless transition. Simply put, it is like the story of the Biblical Moses handing over the baton to Joshua at the appointed time.
Whereas in some states succession have turned awry due to disagreements with former Chief executives, there are pockets of good performing Governors who can attribute their successes to non-interference by their predecessors, and their readiness for the challenges of the office. This class of men have gone ahead to carve their respective niches. Also there are other non-performing Chief executives who are simply incompetent largely because they came to power ill prepared to serve, lacking in vision and direction. Thankfully, Obiano belongs to the earlier category whose credentials and good understanding of the needs of the people will serve well in office.
Willie Obiano, ‘Anambra’s Governor in-waiting come March 2014,’ comes fully made for the office and the responsibility therein with his background as a technocrat and successful manager of men and resources. Obiano’s emergence as the candidate to beat from the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) was a political master-stroke by Governor Peter Obi as his squeaky-clean image and a pedigree ensured that Ndi Anambra began to take Obi’s rhetoric of continuity more seriously. Beyond his personal qualities, one factor that will help Obiano succeed insiders confirm, is that Mr. Peter Obi is a man of principle who would not meddle in his successors’ affairs.
Often the transition between highfaluting election campaign promises and actual delivery of the so called dividend of democracy becomes a problem for less endowed and ill-prepared public office holders. Again, this cannot be said of Willie Obiano, whose Blueprint hinged on “Anambra Wheels of Development” which is anchored on four Pillars – Agriculture, Trade and Commerce, Oil and Gas and Industrialization. Intrinsic in Obiano’s plans is the recognition that Governor Obi has built a solid foundation for Anambra in the last eight years and that his task is to build a super-structure by leveraging the strengths of all sections of the State where each community holds comparative advantage embedded in the four Pillars that would create jobs for the teeming youths. This is one of the triggers that will enable Obiano build on and surpass the performance of Governor Peter Obi.
After the electrifying days of the campaign rallies, the expectations of Ndi Anambra of the in-coming Governor are huge but justified. Obiano is aware of the heritage he is stopping into. The trick might just be to concentrate on small things that matter before embarking on the big tasks. Some have even argued that the spate of donations to institutions and organizations by Governor Obi has unwittingly created the impression that the State is awash with money. This is not necessarily true judging from the meager N6bn revenue per month (including LGAs allocation and State IGR). The fact is that the current regime has made effective use of the counterpart fund window to grow and execute capital projects. Obiano has promised during the campaigns that the counterpart funding option would be further exploited and expanded to boost the state’s revenue base.
Another issue of note is that the influence of money in politics still counts whenever Anambra State is mentioned but the fact that Mr. Peter Obi’s urbane or austere style had lowered expectations and helped check wastages associated with the office of the Governor in the past also serves Willie Obiano well. Certainly Obiano cannot be cast in the same cloth with Peter Obi, thus it would be wrong to expect exactly the same approach in their management of the State’s resources. Reading Obiano’s lips during the gubernatorial debates, what perhaps stood out was that prudence would still remain the watchword in Anambra.
Obiano will make a good Governor because his work and challenges are cut-out for him on several fronts. He should not go to sleep in the hope that political jobbers and turn-coat politicians will go away. No, they remain a constant threat to every power center both at the national and state levels. What determines the rate of success of public officials is not the absence of detractors in and outside the corridors power but the extent to which they focus on their goals. Ndi Anambra have no doubt that Governor Willie Obiano will be intensely focused on the goals and objectives of his administration once he receives the baton of leadership on March 17, 2014.
*Okotaoloibe writes from Enugu-Ukwu, Anambra State