The rest of the world probably remembers the formidable Imelda Marcos, former first lady of the Philippines, for her love of shoes. No one knew how many pairs of shoes she had. But here is a rough indication of what she owned. When the people’s revolution swept her and her husband out of the presidential palace in Manila, she left behind 3,000 pairs of shoes. Not a single pair was made in Aba. That should give you some idea of how much her indulgence cost her country’s tax payers.

I remember the former senator for her earthy wisdom. When people criticised her husband, Ferdinand, for doing so little for so many, in so many years in power, she said the people were to blame. The people, she said, made too much noise and the noise distracted her husband from doing what he should have done and consequently, the country suffered. Her argument is not as stupid as it may sound. I am beginning to see some sense in it. Rulers need some quiet to think and plan and execute their plan for the benefit of the people.

The more I look at our country and the progress it has made under our various rulers, the more I tend to disagree with the assertion by our famous man of literature, Chinua Achebe, that the problem with Nigeria is the failure of leadership. My counter argument is this: the problem with Nigeria is the failure of Nigerians to rein in their propensity for noise making and give our leaders the quiet time they need to think and plan and execute their flawless plans for our common benefit.  I will now proceed to prove my point.

In 2007, twenty-four million of us elected Umaru Yar’Adua as our president. Twenty-four millions Nigerians could not be wrong about him and his ability to rebrand Nigeria as a country in which everything works. His vote tally is etched in our history book as the largest endorsement we have ever given to our leader. We did not vote for him just because he was the candidate of the biggest political party in Africa. We elected him because we were convinced he knew a trick or two that would make our country realise its current burning ambition to become one of the biggest economies in the world by the year 2020.

 A president, upon whom such a burden is thrust, needs periods of quiet and contemplation. We have given Yar’Adua no chance to think and reflect and plan for us, as in his seven-point agenda. We overwhelm him with noise. We talk and behave as if we are his co-presidents. And then we turn round and say that the man is slow and he is not performing. Governance is not a race. So, how can the president be slow about what requires so much thinking and contemplation? Nigeria is a complex and complicated country. Anyone who attempts to rule it in a hurry, as on the fast lane, can only court trouble for himself. We expect our president to perform. What is he supposed to perform? Magic? Aso Rock is not a theatre. Presidents do not perform. They achieve. We have been told time and again that the president is energetically pursuing his seven-point agenda. I have no reasons to believe he will not catch up and over take the agenda – for the good of Nigeria – if only we would let him carry on in his way.

Not long ago, the president decided to take two weeks off to reflect on his job, the country and read some books to restock his mental ordinance. Then a storm blew up all the way from the senate. Was he on leave? We were told he was elected for four years; therefore, he is permanently on duty, even if he is not physically on duty. Then the lawyers brought out their dog-eared books to show that a president has the right to use his discretion to interpret constitutional provisions to suit his personal purposes and still fly the flag of the rule of law. Then the erudite Reuben Abati, chairman of the editorial board of The Guardian, took it upon himself to recommend a list of books that president should read – as if the man was a student of the National Open University of Nigeria.

Having fully examined the harm that noise-making and our undue interference with the way and manner the president goes about presiding over the affairs of the country have done to our national progress, as in less light, more imported generators, I wish to propose these reforms in our national attitude.

One, we should padlock our lips and let silence reign. Too much noise is anathema to national plans and progress.

Two, we should moderate our propensity to offer gratuitous advice to our president. He has enough ministers and special advisers to give him all the advice he needs to do the thankless job of moving Nigeria forward.

Three, all those who are not in government must resist the temptation of thinking that they are the repositories of knowledge or that their wisdom is superior to the wisdom of those in government. After all, those who are in government are in government precisely because they know better, much better, than those outside government.

Four, we should stop judging the progress of our government by how often we see the president in public. We should know by now that President Yar’Adua is not the kind of president who likes to attend night parties in the legislative quarters or eats pounded yam from house to house.

Five, since ruling Nigeria is neither a race nor a theatrical performance, we should stop referring to the president as ‘Baba Go Slow.’ We should quit expecting him to perform. He is there to achieve, not to perform.