BY KOLA ODEPEJU
At a retreat organised for his cabinet members, permanent secretaries and other aides which took place at the State House Conference Center recently, President Bola Tinubu charged these top government functionaries to “perform or be sacked”.
This order, which has been commended by many Nigerians, is what l also personally see as a welcome statement.
It is a welcome statement because the situation in the country now requires urgent solutions or else, things may get out of hand.
In view of the current reality on ground; the massive unprecedented hunger across the land and the multi-dimensional poverty that has become the lot of many Nigerians, occasioned by the removal of fuel subsidy, there’s urgent need to put the country back on track.
No doubt the country demands a quick fix to avoid the looming explosion. There should be no delay at all in doing this as delay is dangerous; as dangerous as to leave the roof burning and go to sleep.
President Bola Tinubu himself must have also seen the fire on the mountain if urgent solutions are not immediately offered to the multi-faceted problems facing the country; chiefs amongst which are hunger and poverty, hence his order to his team.
The way he gave the order clearly shows that he’s eager to change the narratives of the country for better. This is why he used a commanding tone. For him there’s no time for play.
“We are here to work and we must deliver on good governance”, President Tinubu seemed to have asserted with that order.
On his part President Tinubu has a clear vision of what to do to turn the country around.
However, he cannot do it alone as a tree doesn’t make a forest. No leader no matter how focused, visionary, brilliant and intelligent can do it alone.
“President Tinubu will not hesitate to carry out his threat against any member of his team who may perform below expectation”
This is why leaders all over the world on assuming office constitute teams who work together with them and assist in driving their visions. Whether at national or state levels, cabinets are constituted to assist the principal to achieve his goals for the country/state.
To me, with that order, President Tinubu seemed to be repeating the statement of Chief Obafemi Awolowo of blessed memory that, “governance is a serious business”.
It means that anyone who is not ready for the task is not fit to be in the same ship with him.
Just like Chief Awolowo said, for Mr. President you either face this serious business squarely or deliver or you’re shown the way out. The president was saying in unequivocal terms that he won’t hesitate to send a non-performing minister or any other aide packing. That it is no longer business as usual.
The era when a minister fails to perform and would still remain in the cabinet is over.
Mr. President is not ready to tolerate laziness and unseriousness on the part of any member of his cabinet/team. You just cannot afford to be a lay back member in my cabinet and you still expect to remain inside; never. This is exactly the simple message of President Tinubu to his team.
Having given this order, the onus is on the members of his team to carry out this order. Of course anyone that may fail to do the needful would only be doing so at his or her own peril because the Tinubu that many people know is a man who doesn’t tolerate nonsense.
He is a hard worker and courageous and never will he condone laziness and non-performance. So his team better rolls up their sleeves in readiness to perform because that order is more than an empty threat.
Given his activist background and being a courageous leader, President Tinubu will not hesitate to carry out his threat against any member of his team who may perform below expectation. He had demonstrated this in the past as the governor in Lagos State and so it will be a wrong notion on the part of any minister to believe that he cannot match his words with action.
The ministers have jobs to do. They need to assist Mr. President in fixing the country. People’s expectations are high and there are justifications for that.
Nigerians are suffering. People are already dying of hunger. There’s depression in the land. Many are insolvent and unable to feed their families; leading to committing suicide every now and then. The suffering in the land is unprecedented in the history of our nation and this is why the situation has to be urgently addressed.
Of course President Tinubu needs to be commended for the efforts he has been making to ensure that there is improvement in the living conditions of the people.
But as l stated above, he cannot do it alone. The ministers must join hands with him. They must not be “we have been invited to come and chop” type of ministers but rather, they need to imbibe the culture of hard work, dedication, patriotism and service delivery.
Nigerians want to see the ministers working. They must justify their pays and perquisites of office.
Virtually every sector in the country’s life is begging for attention. Our roads are in bad shape, electricity is as epileptic as ever, health and education sectors are in states of near collapse while we are yet to overcome the challenge of insecurity.
Of course it will be wrong to put the blame of the aforementioned problems on the doorstep of the present administration, as they are cumulative effects of bad governance in the past.
Still, President Tinubu’s team must follow in their principal’s footsteps by working hard towards achieving results in line with Mr. President’s renewed hope
agenda.
*Odepeju, newspaper columnist and social commentator writes from Lagos via kolaodepeju@gmail.com
