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The title of this article is not original to me. It was taken off the mouth of President Olusegun Obasanjo, as he then was. At least, that was how Obasanjo described Nasir El-Rufai prior to his assumption of office as President of the Federal Republic in 1999.
And, el-Rufai has not disappointed. At least, not yet! Obasanjo’s description of El-Rufai that way stemmed from his stubborn disposition and indeed fixation on the reforms that were necessary for Obasanjo’s government to get underway in 1999. The major crux of El-Rufai’s fixation was his insistence on the privatization of the economy, a recommendation that started with El-Rufai’s work on getting the economy working again under the leadership of Gen. Sani Abacha.
What transpired between Obasanjo and El-Rufai, prior to the May 29 inauguration in 1999, eventually led to the creation of the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE) with El-Rufai as director-general. However, Obasanjo needed a team of eggheads to bring his ideas to fruition. Events moved quickly and El-Rufai eventually found himself at the centre of the creation of a team that consisted of Obiageli Ezekwesili, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nuhu Ribadu and Prof. Chukwuma Soludo. Those who recall how Obasanjo’s government scored major goals between 1999 and 2007 will easily remember the role this quartet played.
This discourse, however, emanates from a recent interview on television with Prof. Pat Utomi, who, in reviewing the President Muhammadu Buhari government’s last budget, passed at the same time as a 2022 supplementary budget, dismissed it as evidence of the lack of eggheads in government.
According to Utomi, the budget, which will deliver more inflation and push the exchange rate to N1,000, shows that there are no thinkers in Buhari’s government. In a different interview, El-Rufai said that while in the cabinet as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), there were only about four ministers who were ‘stubborn’ enough to challenge the President on policy issues. According to him, the four ministers would, in council, challenge Obasanjo’s proposals.
The aim of such a challenge was to get the best out of every policy for the sake of Nigeria. And, like Prof. Soludo once said, Obasanjo would always yield to superior argument.
Sadly, such a ‘stubborn’ disposition to what works best for Nigeria seems to have ended with the President Goodluck Jonathan administration. As it is, Nigeria is now ‘blessed’ with an array of ministers who, rather than engage and debate policies, would thank and praise-sing the President as the best thing to have happened to Nigeria since Independence.
Under Buhari’s watch, intellectualism in government, which made the Obasanjo cabinet stand out, died. For instance, not many Nigerians still remember that a BPE exists. The best stories of BPE are still told in reference to when El-Rufai was there. The story is the same with the FCT. Not a few students will fail an examination where the name of the FCT Minister and, or, his achievements are in question. Many residents and MFCT staff will readily argue that El-Rufai’s time was more eventful when compared to his successors.
For instance, as FCT minister, El-Rufai was informed that the ministry had a staff strength of 26,000. A review process initiated by the minister discovered 3,000 ghost workers. a further review, including headcount and qualification review, brought the number down to 18,000.
This was a reform process that made the ministry stand out in service delivery and sustenance of the Abuja master plan. This is also a disposition that El-Rufai has taken to Kaduna State as governor. In executing the demands of leadership, El-Rufai makes deliberate efforts to build a team of eggheads who are capable of translating vision into realizable deliverables with little supervision. I guess this is what has enabled him to stand out in his public service years.
No doubt, many people misunderstand El-Rufai. But that is the lot of transformational leaders, to always be misunderstood. However, he is not bogged down by situations where he has been misunderstood. Rather, he has remained stubbornly focused on his message that Nigeria needs eggheads who have the capacity to translate visions into reality and also push hard for their delivery.
That was what he did with Okonjo-Iweala, Ezekwesili and Soludo to achieve the landmarks, especially the success of the privatization programme and the unbundling of NEPA into 18 companies preparatory to the final privatization. Those were landmarks that made the Obasanjo government a success. They are also achievements that Nigerians reference when comparing the Buhari government with those of Obasanjo and others after it.
In the a few months, El-Rufai will sign off from the governance of Kaduna State. He had stated his desire to take a break and retire to an island where he would read more and write more. Before then, his years in Kaduna have been eventful even as they are seen as controversial.
While he has been able to put square pegs in square holes in the pursuit of the good of Kaduna, the evidence of which has shown in infrastructural development, he has also attracted criticisms for his effort at cleaning up the teaching stables through an examination that exposed the depth of rot in the primary and secondary education system.
In doing just that, his mindset was not set on punishing unqualified teachers but on reforming the system to ensure that the best hands are recruited to help build Kaduna’s future. The fact is that a reformist mindset pushes for the best, irrespective of how painful the process is.
Reading El-Rufai, from his involvement in the Abacha government to working with Obasanjo to push through some hard reforms, says a lot about the involvement of the elite in leadership.
The fact is, Nigeria’s elite ought to begin to see the role they must play in the recruitment process. This has become important to save Nigeria from the leadership of the unprepared, the un-trained, and those who feel that leadership offers them the opportunity that they desire to satisfy previous deprivations.
Sadly, there are too many such persons who had failed in previous endeavours but now masquerade as leaders. Many out there may have to read El-Rufai’s leadership mindset again.
