Redemptive Mission: Potholes Tinubu must avoid in appointing his lieutenants

By Ismaila Bako

The triumph of President Bola Tinubu at the February 25, 2023 presidential election came at some costs. In the first instance, the weight of the trust Nigerians thrust on him was heavy, especially when considered against the backdrop of the precarious situation in which the country is currently enmeshed in. In Tinubu, Nigerians found a glimpse of hope.

To say the least in the mildest way, the trust was not a blind one; rather, it is based on his past antecedents in governance. He has gained positive notoriety as a recruiter-in-chief of. The thinking is that Tinubu is the lifeline on which the hope of redeeming Nigeria is hinged. Nigerians trust Tinubu’s pedigree not to settle for less. Records speak for themselves that Tinubu is not a man who entertains excuses. That is why he can search till the end of the earth to pull out result-oriented, tested and trusted brains to form his cabinet. Hence, he cannot afford to disappoint.

So far, Nigerians have started applauding Tinubu for the appointments already made. Their expectation is that he’ll maintain this streak without deviating. Though President Tinubu is a maverick politician who can never be tossed, dictated for or cowed around, the federal character principles impose some restraints. For instance, Section 147(3), which speaks to the need to appoint a minister from each state of the federation, serves one major purpose. It reinforces Section 14(3) in terms of ensuring that the federal character of Nigeria is reflected in the appointment of ministers. Accordingly, it enjoins the president to ensure that a minister is appointed from each state of the federation.

As excellent as the foregoing constitutional provision is, the president must however ensure that his templates for selecting those to work with as ministers and other cabinet members are not lowered. As expected, Since February when Tinubu was declared winner of the presidential election, political jobbers have gone to town, peddling names of those who are best suited to be appointed as ministers and officials of the new government. Now that Tinubu has taken office, these scavengers have intensified their nefarious activities of misleading the government, while lobbying for former government officials with questionable characters to be appointed ministers of head of key government agencies.

Tinubu cannot fall into this trap. He is a leader of no mean experience and pedigree. His administrative acumen is so vast that he knows the implications of appointing or working with those that are ill-equipped and whose reputations are tainted.

For example, one of the names that are been peddled for appointment as minister is a former Managing Director of a federal government revenue yielding agency. She was forced to step aside by President Muhammadu Buhari who appointed her and had defended her all along. But when her can of worms were opened to the former president, he was dazed, perplexed and jaw-dropped that he withdrew his support for her immediately and ordered her to step aside.

It would be an understatement to say former President Buhari regretted her appointment. Is that kind of person fit to return to government when she has shown obvious tendency towards pilferage, incompetence and nepotism? Your answer is as good as mine – certainly not!

Because of gross incompetence and corrupt tendencies, the likes of her do their job with impunity and slack hands. She exudes unimaginable arrogance and disrespected due processes and procedures. In government protocols, agencies under any ministry are answerable to the supervising minister. In her own case, she disregarded her supervising minister, and when corrected or called to order she flaunts her connections in high places.

Tinubu cannot afford to base his appointments on politics and party affiliation because of people like this. The enormity of responsibility on Tinubu’s shoulders is beyond politics. It is a national duty that requires open-mindedness and courage. The president should consider the larger picture, rather than party patronage. The buck stops on the president’s table. If he fails to deliver, no one will share the blame with him.

President Tinubu understands the harshness of the judgement of history; hence, he will defy the immense pressure some henchmen are mounting on him to appoint half-baked people of questionable public service track records.

Suffice it to highlight some of the breaches of this former public servant in question. She ran the federal government revenue agency like a personal estate. For instance, she concessioned berths 9, 10 and 11, FOT Onne, without recourse to the relevant provisions of the ICRC for the concession of Public Assets. This is gross breach of procedures and processes of government. According to findings, she allegedly excised that berth 9,10, & 11 in Onne from intels Ltd consolidated lease, and leased them out to a company from Philippines (ICTSI Ltd) which she brought into the country.

Without approval from the ICRC, FMT and the Federal Executive Council (FEC), which the president and commander-in-chief presides over, the former MD allegedly created a new terminal without concession. It was a new terminal with direct port calls.

The same pattern was adopted in the outsourcing of the Traffic Management system at Apapa where a unilateral action to swing the award of the contract from a prior qualified contractor to the present one was done without recourse to due process and approval thresholds. The failure to subject these processes to due process and transparent bidding process prevented the federal government from optimising the returns from such transactions as well as value for money.

The agency had long been in the process of appointment of a service provider long before the lady in question assumed office, but she jettisoned the company that was pre-qualified through compliance with the provisions of PPA 2007 and unilaterally picked the current company Truck Transit Park (TTP), whose operations had been widely condemned by truckers and other stakeholders for the introduction of clandestine charges and lack of transparency in its operations.

The (TTP) truck call up concession was allegedly awarded to her childhood friend in Kaduna without the approval of the FMOT, Certificate of no Objection from ICRC and no FEC approval in contravention of the requirement of the law.

The initial preferred bidder (Truckit Limited) was to be given a one-off payment, while subsequent earnings were to the Authority directly. However, the TTP Ltd contract is on revenue sharing which shortchanges the Authority. The TRUCKIT solution was a reliable app and the company appeared to be of good pedigree with a credible track record. This beautiful concept was jettisoned for more expensive concept with its attendant problems.

She assumed office as the head of the agency with a smack of arrogance never seen before. She vehemently undermined the culture of courtesy and camaraderie that existed in the agency to the extent that her office became like sacred room that even a General Manager cannot have access to except on her personal call, no matter how urgent the matter was. This attitude resulted in breach of known procedural channels on several occasions as she sidelined General Managers and other ranking officials in decision making.

Her time as managing director of the agency witnessed the most of abuse of public service procedures, with the appointment of her crony, who she grew up with in Zaria as the general manager (Procurement), with her PA who coordinated the activities of several companies they used for cornering contracts.

Service contracts that were met in 2010 at five years tenure were extended to 10 years tenure to ensure the protection of entrenched interests long after she must have left service. Old competent contractors for stevedoring and cargo survey were all disengaged and replaced by new and inexperienced companies with protection from the MD.

Since the engagement of the JV companies, the agency had remained competitive with complete elimination of outrage of the shipping community over the inadequate channel depths of the past. However, upon realizing that contracts were nearing expiration, rather than engage in fresh negotiations with the companies that have provided world class services and made the ports stay competitive, she advertised the jobs for open bidding and positioned her cronies to take over the jobs that were performing well.

Throughout the entire duration of her tenure as the MD of the agency, she was replete with official recklessness fueled by her purported closeness with the President. This access emboldened her to take actions in outright circumvention of official channels of communication and disregard for Public Service Pules (PSR). These acts were manifest in emergency procurement of official vehicles to the tune of over N1.2billion, direct communication for procurement waivers on expenditure above the Authority’s thresholds which should have been routed through the Ministerial Tenders Board, conclusion of award of contracts requiring FEC and other layers of approval without recourse to such approving authorities, among others.

The new administration of President Bola Tinubu must be given the space to breathe, supported to succeed but not pressured to appoint people of questionable character, who will only be a burden rather than asset to the new government.

Bako, an economic analyst, wrote in from Abuja