Jonathan: A Mandate and its Challenges

In a few days, Goodluck Jonathan will make history in many ways. Although his bag is already filled with records of previous incidents in which the ‘hand of God’ decided his climb on the political ladder, May 29, 2011 will even be more significant. On that day, when he is sworn in as Nigeria’s President, he will be the first from the oil-producing Niger Delta to be so democratically installed. The first such succession in Nigeria’s history by a former Vice President, the May 29 event will indeed put the icing on Jonathan’s political cake.
However, the road to a full tenure for him was not laid with roses. The campaigns that preceded the presidential election on April 16, was perhaps the country’s most bitter. His entry into the contest on September 18, 2010 had elicited strong resistance from certain Northern politicians who believed that it was a negation of the zoning arrangement in the Peoples Democratic Party. Coming four months after he assumed presidential powers following the death of President Umaru Yar’adua, a Northerner, their argument was that another Northerner should have been allowed to pick the PDP ticket.
If the issue of zoning of the PDP presidential ticket was rancorous, the extent to which his credential for the position was questioned, was downright ridiculous. To his critics, Jonathan’s candidacy was driven more by sentiments than reason. The president had done nothing on record to support his aspiration. Even his comportment was was an issue more important that what he represents, or has the potential to achieve.

Of course, such critics' opinions were far from objective. The period spent by the President after taking over the mantle, was too short for any meaningful achievement or a fundamental departure from what he inheritated. Even at that, any rational analysis should reveal that he had taken some decisive steps in the critical areas of power, electoral reform, education, anti-corruption and the Niger Delta. In any case, he went ahead to run an issue-based campaign across the length and breadth of the country based on well articulated programmes. His campaign, devoid of subterfuge, muck-raking and distractive name-calling was a departure from the 'norm'.
On April 16, his programs and his Pan Nigerian disposition were convincing enough for the electorate. In a country well known for divisive national politics, Jonathan’s triumph in the presidential poll, made a profound statement about the new Nigeria that is evolving: one in which the spirit of national reawakening has become pervasive. Never before had a presidential election broken all regional, ethnic, traditional and religious boundaries in the search for a common goal. Perhaps for the first time in recent history, Nigerians were bequeathing in one man, a mandate that was not only truly national, it came close to fulfilling the long-cherished dream of national oneness and purpose.
Beyond history making, however, the Jonathan mandate comes with unique challenges. The economy, in spite of government disputations to the contrary, is anything but healthy. The real sector on which a great majority of the citizens survive, is comatose while unemployment is on a record high. Power supply which drives every modern economy may have improved marginally in the past year, but it is still nowhere near the people’s expectations. The power production level is neither commensurate with the huge funding of the past three years, nor what he promised while unveiling the road map for the sector in the last quarter of 2010.

The political sector is not too different, even if it is an area the administration has made the most noticeable impact. Jonathan’s appointment of Dr Attahiru Jega as head of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the unprecedented independence and adequate funding granted the electoral body have all paid off well and vindicated him, going by the rating of Elections 2011. However, the promise of full electoral reform is still far from delivered.
The president’s decision to set up nine new universities is a bold move to address the deficit in that sector, but this is just salutary. Like roads and other public infrastructure, the decay in Nigeria’s educational system goes down to the elementary. The rot in our tertiary education system is deep indeed, so much that almost all the indices that qualify them as institutions of higher learning are preponderantly negative.

Of course the huge budgetary provisions for tackling these problems hardly translate to any meaningful impact due to the endemic issue of corruption in our public life. Any government that must succeed, must do more than pay lip service to the issue of tackling corruption. So far, President Jonathan has ensured that the nation’s anti-corruption agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) enjoys a free hand in fighting crime, but that may not count for much if Nigerians are not convinced that corrupt public officers are effectively brought to book.There must be the political will to do this, beyond the limits of the EFCC.
Key to the successful implementation of those lofty programmes he enumerated during the campaigns is the appointment of a capable team to assist him. Over the years, the assembly of political appointees easily indicates how far-reaching an incoming government’s performance will be. So far, several suggestions have gone out to the President on the choice of his aides. People expect that the President would put round pegs to man the round holes. More voices appear to favour technocrats and knowledgeable Nigerians for the ministries and government parastatals, especially those that are key for driving national development. Whether he can get the key stakeholders, mainly his party leaders and state governors to endorse the preference for technocrats against the old practice of rewarding political foot soldiers, is yet to be seen. Already, the President is facing fire from South East zone stakeholders over the arrangement adopted by the PDP for sharing of top political positions in the incoming federal administration among the six geo-political zones.
The formula, which allocates the post of Secretary to the Federal Government to the zone, is adjudged unfair to the Igbo. They insist that the zone deserves better, either as compensation for their whole-hearted support of Jonathan in the April election, or for the fact that Igbo is one of the Big Three ethnic groupings that form the tripod on which Nigeria stands. They have, with enough justification, voiced their dissatisfaction with the SGF offer on the ground that the position is least among those of the five other zones in the national order of protocol.
As the next few days unfold, the world will watch Jonathan more keenly, on how he tackles those challenges.The task of addressing the national problems begging for attention, is as important as restoring confidence in a polity suffering from bruises of divisive politicking. However, the President’s mandate is unequivocal about whose duty it is. So much has been given and Nigerians are justified in expecting from him, more than they ever did with his predecessors. Jonathan must hit the ground running on May 29.

Note: This article was first published in Thisday newspaper, just before the President was sworn in on May 29, 2011