Hadi Sirika: My kind of minister
In Nigeria’s political history I do not quite remember any minister or indeed any significant government appointee who had voluntarily resigned his/her appointment. There may have been, but I do not remember. Yes, Dr Christopher Kolade resigned as the Chairman of SURE-P after he attained the age of 80 in 2014. Yes, some ministers were compelled to resign in compliance with INEC requirement for contesting elections. That’s all I can remember!
None has resigned out of principle, may be in disagreement with his principal or in repugnation of any action taken by the government which offends his values or conscience; none has resigned because of poor performance; none has resigned following accusations of corruption or indictments for other misdemeanours; and certainly none for failing to keep a promise or fulfil a pledge. None! They wait for end of tenure of the government or wait to be fired! So when about six weeks ago, Hadi Sirika, the young, handsome, sun-shade wearing minister of state for Aviation announced that he would resign if the Abuja airport run-way rehabilitation was not completed and the airport reopened as scheduled, I giggled.
I told myself that this guy was just joking and did not understand what he was up to. But I was prepared to keep his threat in mind. Not that I ever believed that the rehab work would be completed in six weeks, nor did I believe he would resign, even if the work was not completed in six months. I actually believed it would take a minimum of 12 weeks (twice the length of time promised) and a ‘realistic’ time of 6 months to reopen the airport. My ‘realistic’ estimation was enhanced by my reasoning that the government could not be undertaking such huge investments at the Kaduna airport and all the repairs of the Abuja-Kaduna highway, and all the investments on security just for a-six week period interregnum. When I went to Abuja about three weeks ago through Kaduna, and found that upgrade work was still going on at the Kaduna airport, I mused to myself that this minister would disappoint himself in a big way.
A week after, I heard that the Abuja airport was almost ready, but I discounted it as propaganda. Even the publicized media tour did not clear my doubt. Until I saw the Ethiopian Airbus land at the airport on the 18th of April, 24 hours ahead of the promised date of 19th April and then I went into a hilarious cheer. Hadi Sirika has disappointed me! I had lost an opportunity to write an article criticizing the man for making a promise which he was sure he could never fulfil in six short weeks. The man denied me the opportunity of seeing a minister resign for the first time for failing to fulfil a promise. I pray that I have another opportunity in my life time!
Truly I was proud of Hadi and I yelled: this is my kind of minister. I have particularly felt proud of three ministers in the past for exceeding my expectations and doing the unusual. I was very proud of the late Dora Akunyili as NAFDAC DG. Many Nigerians and non-Nigerians were also very proud of her. But when she as minister of Information went against the grain and wrote a letter asking “the ruling cabal” to tell Nigerians what was the true situation of President Umaru Yar’adua’s health and making a case for the then Vice President Good luck Jonathan to be sworn in as acting President, at a time the entire Yar’adua cabinet was part of the conspiracy to hide the truth from Nigerians, I was proud of her exemplary courage and I said, this was my kind of minister. She seemed not to bother about the possibility of President Yar’adua returning to health and sacking her or the cabal doing something sinister to her for jumping the boat. I was also thoroughly excited when Stella Oduah who is now a senator was minister of Aviation. She undertook in my view one of the most ambitious projects I had even seen. She began the rebuilding and renovation of 18 airports in Nigeria simultaneously. Though she was removed prematurely due to political pressure, the airports (except Abuja) have essentially remained at the state she left them nearly 3 years after! How she was able to fund those projects remains a puzzle. I believe we need more of such audacious ministers who work to change the status quo. I see ministers Fashola and Enelamah toeing this line in this government. But the other time I was really proud of a Nigerian minister was when the world held its breath expecting a catastrophic explosion of the Ebola Crisis in Nigeria. Knowing the poor situation of our healthcare system and our famed inability to effectively manage health crisis (or any crisis at all), the world stood on edge wondering how to respond to the certain bungling of the crisis. But Nigeria disappointed the world as Onyebuchi Chukwu, then minister of Health, coordinated an unusual Nigerian effort to contain the crisis in the most professional and efficient manner never seen in Nigeria, nay Africa.
The works done by Onyebuchi Chukwu and his team and now by Hadi Sirika and his team show that all hope is not lost in Nigeria. These flashes of brilliance and exceptional performance are cheering and should become the norm, not the exception. What made these ministers and some others who have done exceptionally well achieve the desired successes? Me thinks that the first factor is the quality of the leadership provided by the ministers. Hadi had a vision and worked really hard to motivate action. He also stoutly resisted all the efforts to dissuade him, because he seemed focused on his vision. Second is depth of planning. It is clear that a detailed planning had been undertaken which assured the minister that six weeks were enough to accomplish the task. Third is the assembling of an effective team to drive action in a well sequenced and coordinated fashion. Fourth is the provision of adequate financial resources. Both Hadi and Onyebuchi achieved because they had or mobilized adequate resources and efficiently applied them in pursuit of their projects. Fifth is effective communication and the carrying-along of all stakeholders, so that everybody knew who was doing what and what was happening at every point. Sixth is political will or political support of the President. Dr Goodluck Jonathan fully supported Onyebuchi while President Buhari and then acting President Osinbajo gave Hadi a high level of political support and freedom of action. Finally the seventh factor which relates to the first, is the level of competence of the ministers and their depth of professional confidence. They were competent, and had high level of confidence in their ability to deliver.
What will Nigeria look like when we have Ministers and heads of Parastatals like Hadi who make promises and deliver on their promises with precision? – No stories and no Nigerian factor! Just imagine!
Mazi Sam I. Ohuabunwa OFR