He promised to fix Nigeria with his seven-point agenda but 18 months after, President Umaru Yar’Adua’s promises have remained largely unfulfilled

He was honest enough to admit in his recent independence anniversary broadcast that his administration has been slow in handling the affairs of the nation. President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, however, justified why his government has not been more decisive in tackling the enormous challenges of fixing Nigeria. “We are resolved as an administration not to resort to quick-fix methods and short-cuts in approaching the fundamental problems which require methodical and sustainable solutions,” he said.

But many Nigerians believe that after one and half years in the saddle, the self-styled “servant-leader” ought to have started fulfilling the promises embedded in his seven-point agenda. Yar’Adua had on assumption of office on May 29, last year, promised that his administration would vigorously pursue a seven-point agenda which he hoped would accelerate Nigeria’s socio-economic and political development.

In his inaugural speech, Yar’Adua said: “Our goal now is to build on the greatest accomplishments of the past few years. Relying on the seven-point agenda that formed the basis of our contract with voters, we will concentrate on rebuilding our physical infrastructure and human capital in order to take our country forward.” He listed  the seven critical areas his administration would tackle as power and energy, food security and agriculture, wealth creation and employment, mass transportation, land reforms, security, Niger Delta and qualitative and functional education. The president was confident that his administration would adequately address these key sectors and by so doing jump-start an economy capable of making Nigeria one of the world’s 20 developed economies in 2020.

However, a critical assessment of the performance of Yar’Adua’s administration in the past one and half years shows that he has failed to implement his seven-point agenda. For instance, the president had said it loud and clear that he would declare a state of emergency on the problematic energy sector in order to tackle the problem of erratic electricity supply in Nigeria. He identified epileptic power supply as one of the strongest variables among the factors slowing down the nation’s economic progress. According to him, the power sector is characterised by low generating capacity relative to installed capacity.

The president promised to put in place the necessary machinery that would move power generation from its level in June 2007 which was below 4,000 megawatts to 10,000 megawatts in December 2007. He was confident that through the concerted efforts of his administration, power generation would be further increased to 30,000 megawatts by 2011 and 50,000 by 2015.

When the president realised that his administration could not actualise its first target of increasing power to 10,000 megawatts by December 2007, he had to establish an 11-member Presidential Committee for the Accelerated Expansion of Nigeria’s power infrastructure. He challenged the committee to deliver within 18 months the 6,000 additional megawatts targeted under the National Integrated  Power Project, NIPP, as well as add an extra 11,000 megawatts of power generation capacity by 2011 through diverse sources.

Although the committee has submitted its report to the president, the situation on ground does not give hope that the 6,000 additional megawatts target is achievable. This is because; there has not been significant improvement in power supply. Yinka Odumakin, publicity secretary of Afenifere told Newswatch that the inability of Yar’Adua to effectively declare state of emergency in the energy sector was a clear indication that his seven-point agenda was a mere slogan. “President Yar’Adua has been long on promises but very short on delivery. He promised that he would declare state of state of emergency in the power sector within his first one hundred days, But 18 months after assuming office, Nigerians are still living in darkness. It shows that he didn’t think through it. He was just mouthing it,” Odumakin said. 

In terms of food security and agriculture, the Yar’Adua administration has equally not lived up to expectation. Due to the lip service paid to the agricultural sector by the Yar’Adua administration, food prices have gone beyond the reach of many Nigerians. The situation has been worsened because of the current global food crisis. Sayyadi Abba Ruma, minister of agriculture and water resources, said recently that about 65 percent of Nigerians are food insecure. This is because a substantial number of the Nigerian people earn below the one dollar benchmark stipulated in the hunger index of the Food and Agriculture Organisation, FAO. The efforts of the present administration to ameliorate the problems faced by Nigerians as a result of food shortages through the release of 66,000 metric tonnes of food items from the strategic grains reserves did not yield the desired result. This was because the process of obtaining the allocation paper from the federal ministry of agriculture, Abuja was abused. Newswatch learnt that the release/process of the grains was hijacked by contractors who bought in bulk and rather than sell to the ordinary Nigerians, sold to the breweries or agro-allied industries.

Simeon Ehui, head economist and sector leader, sustainable development of the World Bank in Nigeria, recently painted a grim picture of the current level of hunger in Nigeria. “There is of course hunger. But I will not dramatise it in a way that people are dying. We are not at that level yet. There is concern that price rise is making some people poor. There is no question about that.” He, however, believes that since Nigeria is rich in natural resources, rich in expertise and rich in knowledge, the problem of food insecurity could be effectively tackled, if the Yar’Adua administration adopts the right policies.

The president appears to have realised that his efforts so far have not boosted food production. This was why he said recently that his government now intends to actualise food security through the utilisation of the National Resources Development Account to boost domestic production of food crops and development of agro-allied industries.

The president has equally not matched words with action in the area of providing efficient transport infrastructure in line with his seven-point agenda. The transportation system, including road, marine, rail and air are in disastrous conditions. Although it is commendable that Yar’Adua listed the transportation sector as part of his seven-point agenda, so far no concrete steps have been taken by his administration to make a difference in this important sector.

The conditions of the nation’s major roads are deplorable. Many sections of the roads have been cut off and commuters spend hours and days on the bad roads with huge costs to the economy and vehicles alike. The situation has become alarming in recent times because the two major roads linking the West to the East and the North to the South are in very bad shape. Consequently, there is always a traffic gridlock on the Benin-Ore road because of its deplorable condition.

When Diezani Alison-Madueke assumed office as minister of transportation last year, she visited the bad portion of the Benin-Ore road and was at a loss why such a major trunk road in the country was allowed to degenerate to that degree. But more than one year after her lamentations, President Yar’Adua’s administration has become guilty of the same offence - neglect. It has not done much to improve on the decayed road infrastructure inherited from its predecessor. Often times, vehicles now have to make detours through the forests to beat traffic hold ups and bad portions of the expressway.

The situation on the Benin-Ore Expressway is also replicated on the Lagos-Lokoja-Abuja road. Many Nigerians travelling from the South-west to Abuja now pass through nightmares because of the bad portions of the Owo-Ipele-Ibilo-Okene road.

Newswatch investigation revealed that commuters have long abandoned the Owo-Ipele-Ibilo-Okene road. They opted to veer off the Owo road to Akungbo-Akoko. Again, due to poor maintenance, these route  is barely motorable. Commuters have shifted to Ife-Ilesha-Aramoko-Omu-Ekiti-Kabba route. This route is also gradually becoming unmotorable, especially from the Ekiti State boundary at Omu through Kabba.

The non-completion of the dualisation of the Ibadan–Ilorin road has worsened the plight of travellers along this route. Instead, there are now detours from Ibadan through Iwo, and Ejigbo to Ogbomosho. But the trip along this route is harrowing as the roads are bad.

Despite the deplorable condition of the major roads in the country, Madueke claimed recently that her ministry has taken necessary steps to provide efficient transport infrastructure in line with President Yar’Adua’seven-point agenda and vision 2020. Eze Benett Elenda, traditional ruler of Ohiaocha Arocont kingdom in Abia State, advised the Yar’Adua administration to move beyond making declaratory statements by aggressively implementing the transportation policy that would create a modern and efficient inter-modal transportation system for the country. He suggested that he should also revive the railways and give desired attention to the inland waterways and air transport.

In consonance with the goals and targets of the Millennium Development Goals, MDGs, Yar’Adua also adopted wealth creation, job creation and qualitative education as part of his seven-point agenda. However, one and half years after he adopted the blueprint, the country has not made much progress in these areas.

For instance, despite Yar’Adua’s avowed commitment to job creation and employment, the number of unemployed graduates is still on the increase. In terms of wealth creation, the poverty index has gone up. Odumakin, spokesman of Afenifere, told Newswatch that Yar’Adua’s promise of making Nigeria one of the world’s twenty largest economies by 2020 is a mere  wish. According to him, his seven-point agenda is deficient in terms of concrete actions for a better and prosperous Nigeria. “The indices of getting there are not on ground. An average growth rate of less than seven percent, is a far cry from the needed annual growth rate for a country aspiring to compete among the top league of twenty largest economies. At the moment, the standard of living of most Nigerians remains painfully low,” he said.

President Yar’Adua appropriately made education as an item in his seven-point agenda. The huge challenges facing the nation in that sector justify putting education in the priority list by the present administration. However, beyond the proclamations made by the president on assumption of office, not much of policy articulation has been done. The sector is, in fact a disaster waiting to happen because of poor quality of education and inability of government to adequately fund education.

Uchendu Obinna, a seasoned educationist, told Newswatch that it was necessary for government to ensure that public schools are adequately funded to ensure qualitative education for the majority of Nigerian children. He advised Yar’Adua to implement his policy on education by not leaving the sector in the hands of some amorphous private sector in making policy choices on education. The government should be guided by the principle of social justice. “To price education beyond the reach of the children of the poor is a terrible injustice and it is antithetical to the provisions of the Chapter II of the 1999 Constitution,” he said.

As regards, land reforms, Yar’Adua appears not to have the political will to address the controversial issue. Nothing has happened regarding this issue.

Until recently, Yar’Adua appeared confused as to how to tackle the Niger Delta crisis. The deployment of soldiers to the Niger Delta has not succeeded in checking the activities of the militants. However, with the recent setting up of the Technical Committee on Niger Delta which he followed up with the creation of the Niger Delta Ministry, Yar’Adua looks more determined to address the problem.

Kimse Okoko, a professor of political science and president, Ijaw National Congress, INC, told Newswatch that although Yar’Adua’s seven-point agenda lacks focus, the creation of the Niger Delta Ministry is a step in the right direction. “I consider his seven-point agenda as simply a statement of the intentions of Mr. President on what he wants to embark upon within his four-year tenure. I am not sure he has gone beyond that… But I see the creation of the Niger Delta ministry as satisfying the requirement of direct federal government intervention, similar to what happened to the construction of Abuja.” Okoko, however, said the people of the oil-region are only waiting to see if the federal government would really be sincerely committed towards using the ministry to develop the Niger Delta. “The bureaucracy in the Niger Delta should not be so much that it should make nonsense of the intentions of Mr. President. It should be very purposeful in its approach to delivering the expectations of both the government and people of the Niger Delta,” he said.

Okoko warned that if the Niger Delta ministry is to function like other ministries noted for their slow pace in executing policies, then there would be no way it would fast track the development of the region and put an end to the crisis.

Okoko believes that the seven-point agenda appears deficient and so should be reviewed to adopt an integrated development approach to the country’s problems.

Like Okoko, the African Peer Review Mechanism, APRM, a self-monitoring benchmark tool of the African Union, AU, described Yar’Adua’s agenda as not far-reaching enough to take Nigeria to the promised land. The APRM was firm in faulting the seven-point agenda. “President Yar’Adua’s seven-point agenda, which is based on the commitment of the ruling political party manifesto to continue and strengthen economic reforms, does not meet the requirements for a clearly defined shared vision of the country of tomorrow for these reasons: it lacks specifications of the structural transformations to be undertaken and it is limited to seven priorities.”

The report faulted the duplication of visions and agenda on the country by successive regimes which it said had not helped the development of the country. “Generally, it seems that each administration wants to redefine its own vision of the future of Nigeria, and not as building blocks towards a common vision,” the APRM stated.

The body, however, said that Nigeria has the potential to occupy leading positions in the continent and even in the world but could only do so if it has visionary and transformative leadership at all levels of the society. The group advised the Yar’Adua administration to be more committed towards taking a comprehensive strategy for achieving set goals.

In his own assessment of Yar’Adua administration’s efforts to implement the seven-point agenda, Fred Agbaje, a constitutional lawyer, told Newswatch that the president has betrayed Nigerians. He described the seven-point agenda as laudable, achievable and implementable.  He, however, said that it was rather unfortunate that after one and half years in office, the president has not taken concrete steps to actualise them. Agbaje disparaged the president for asserting in his independence anniversary broadcast that he would not resort to quick-fix in tackling the problems of the country. “The no-quick-fix statement by the president is an after-thought, it was belated. To say that Yar’Adua has failed to live up to expectation is to put it mildly. Both Yar’Adua and the PDP have failed woefully,” he said

Agbaje said he was not surprised that Yar’Adua has not delivered on promise because he took over power without the knowledge of what to do. “It is only in our own part of the country that an unhealthy mind can lead a sick nation. How can a sick president administer a sick nation?,” Agbaje asked.

Like Agbaje, many Nigerians believe that Yar’Adua’s illness has greatly contributed to the slow pace of his administration. Since he assumed office, he had travelled abroad on two occasions on account of ill health. The first was on April 14, this year when he spent some days in a German hospital and the second was about a month ago when he went to Saudi Arabia to receive medical attention even though his media aides insisted that he went for lesser hajj. During his trip to Saudi Arabia, Yar’Adua spent more than two weeks in the holy land and throughout this period, government activities in Aso Rock almost grinded to a halt.

Sources in Aso Rock  told Newswatch that Yar’Adua is often slowed down by ill health because he has little energy to handle the complexities of the office of president.

But Odumakin believes that although the president’s ill health has been a major constraint, his lack of vision was also responsible for the tardiness with which his administration was moving. “His ill health is one of the factors but I believe that if he has a vision, if he has a plan, if he was prepared for the office, his health would not have created the kind of problem it is creating now. He was not prepared, he is ill and he has a team that cannot deliver,” Odumakin said. He explained that if you have a dying nation being governed by a sick president and assisted by an incompetent team, such a country can only expect nothing but paralysis.

Pat Utomi, presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, in the 2007 polls also believes that Yar’Adua has failed to deliver because he was not prepared for power when it was dropped on his laps. This led to his lack of a clear cut agenda for solving Nigeria’s problems. Utomi said that based on the fact that Yar’Adua has not actualised any aspect of his seven-point agenda, it was clear he was handed over challenges he did not prepare for at all and has, therefore, found himself in a trap. “The gentleman got himself in a trap. This is basically why he has no focus. We all have different styles on how to get ourselves out of traps. I don’t know whether his style is to keep lip service, watching things.”

He explained that the situation has been worsened by the fact that Yar’Adua came in with the crisis of legitimacy and inherited a team that was appointed by other people. This probably explains why Yar’Adua is now preparing to effect a cabinet shake-up. But the president is also handling the issue of cabinet reshuffle sluggishly. It is now more than one month since he announced his plan to reshuffle his cabinet but as at  press time last week, he was yet to announce the composition of his new cabinet.

But Chukwuemeka Ezeife, former governor of Anambra State believes Yar’Adua is doing his best, given the state of his health. He admitted that the president was slow in handling the affairs of the nation and urged him to be more pragmatic to avoid failure. Ezeife told Newswatch  the president ought to hasten the cabinet reshuffle so as to bring vibrancy into his administration. “I am not sure his vision is being effectively sold to Nigerians by those working with him. There is no vibrancy yet among members of his cabinet,” Ezeife said.

Olu Falae, former minister of finance passed a vote of no confidence on President Yar’Adua. To him, the Katsina born politician is simply not fit to govern Nigeria. He said Yar’Adua was working at less than 30 percent capacity not only because of his much talked about ill-health but because he never prepared to be president. “Sincerely speaking, I don’t know where this government is heading. I said when he was being touted as the president that they were being unfair to him. Obasanjo who went and dragged him from Katsina was being unfair to Yar’Adua. The man never thought of being president. He did not prepare for it,” Falae said.

Falae believes that since Yar’Adua was foisted on Nigerians as president, he had no idea of the enormity of problems of the country and did not prepare a blueprint; hence his seven-point agenda has remained mere empty slogan.

David Yango, a history lecturer at the Benue State University, Makurdi, told Newswatch he was surprised that after 18 months in office, the Yar’Adua administration is still advertising its seven-point agenda. “We have not seen any actual implementation of the agenda. In a sector like education, there is nothing on ground, no fundamental change has taken place in the area of health care delivery and our hospitals have become worse than what the military regime called consultancy clinics. There is a wide gulf between the president’s public declarations and actions,” he said.

Ahmadu Haruna Zago, a stalwart of the All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP, in Kano State, said he was sad that Yar’Adua has been offering Nigerians a “deluge of excuses for his failure.” He recalled that when Yar’Adua was declared the winner of the 2007 presidential poll, he Zago personally held a press conference where he told Nigerians that he had nothing to offer. He said that Yar’Adua  has not implemented his seven-point agenda because he is clinging to a stolen mandate. “Allah does not like cheating. Yar’Adua  did not win the election. He was hand-picked and imposed on Nigerians. So, he does not even know the basic problems of Nigerians. So, how do you expect him to perform?” Zago asked.

But Olabode George, member, board of trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, believes that Yar’Adua has used the past 18 months of his tenure to go through some teething problems. He told Newswatch  that he was confident that by the time the president appoints new ministers, he would be able to move faster next year.

He also blamed the National Assembly for Yar’Adua’s broken promises because of their delay in passing the 2008 budget. “This is not a military government where budget is passed by fiat. If the National Assembly had speedily passed the 2008 budget, Yar’Adua would have been able to roll out and execute projects that would change the lives of Nigerians,” George said.

George advised Nigerians to be patient with the Yar’Adua administration  because he has been learning the ropes and would be able to actualise his seven-point agenda within the remaining period of his tenure.

However, Osita Okechukwu, national publicity secretary of the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties, CNPP, said that it would be wrong to claim that 18 months is too short for an effective leader to deliver his promises to his people. “Is 18 months too short for an effective leader to galvanise the abundant human and material resources of the country to  make a difference? ….The CNPP regrets that the goodness, patience and tremendous resilence of Nigerians are ignobly taken as weakness and stupidity by a deceptive and failed leadership,” Okechukwu said.

Besides, the CNPP said that by forcing his aides to take the oath of secrecy, Yar’Adua was indirectly discouraging transparency in governance. Rotimi Akeredolu, SAN, president of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, also condemned the president’s recent decision to administer oath of secrecy to his aides. “Oath of secrecy is inimical to transparency. Lack of transparency breeds corruption. The administrations of oath put in question the anti-corruption stance of the federal government,” Akeredolu said.

However, despite Yar’Adua’s shortcomings, he has been able to make some progress in certain areas. For instance, in terms of accountability, he has lived up to expectation. A practical demonstration of his efforts in this regard was the N400 billion which his administration recently realised from unspent capital releases to ministries, departments and agencies. He also appears determined to institutionalise zero tolerance for corruption. This was why he sacked Adenike Grange and Gabriel Adukwu as minister of health and minister of state for health, respectively because of their involvement in the sharing the N300 million booty in the ministry. He also reversed the controversial allocation of oil blocks to some politicians and the sale of the refineries and the Ajaokuta Steel Complex by the Obasanjo administration.

Apart from a few of these positive  actions taken by the Yar’Adua administration, many Nigerians believe that he has also not demonstrated that  he is the kind of leader who can match words with action. He has not been firm and surefooted in governance.

John Odeh, minister of information and communications was most reluctant to react to the notion that Yar’Adua has failed to deliver on his promises when Newswatch approached him last week. He first requested for a formal letter through Rotimi Ajayi, his special adviser on media. When this was complied with by Newswatch, Ajayi said the minister could not find time to grant the interview.

Undaunted, Newswatch reporter laid in wait for the  minister  at Presidential Villa where he had gone for the Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting held last Wednesday, but Odeh told Newswatch after the meeting in the Villa that he was too tired to speak on the subject.

But Jerry Agada, minister of state, education told Newswatch that the Yar’Adua administration has made tremendous success of its seven-point agenda. According to him, the various sectors of the nation’s socio-economic and political spheres   were being fixed once again. He claimed that electricity supply has improved. “We are beginning to have stable electricity supply in the country. In one field of agriculture, much has been done in term of food production. Look at what the federal government has done in fertiliser procurement and distribution this year. The commodity is available everywhere. There are achievements under the President’s seven-point agenda,” Agada said.

He, however, said Nigerians must appreciate that the Yar’Adua administration does not believe in propaganda and this probably explains why there is a perception that the president has failed to deliver on his promises. “The point is just like the president did say, he is not into quick-fix. But in the end whatever is done is going to impact positively and it is going to be durable,” Agada told Newswatch.

Reported by Tobs Agbaegbu, Demola Abimboye, Kazeem Akintunde, Danusa Ochili, Anza Philips, Godfrey Azubike and Joseph Onyekwere