On appointments and disappointments

When Hadiza Bala Usman was appointed last week as the Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), I was torn between different emotions of happiness, regrets, pains and pride. Now, I don’t know the lady but media footages of the youngish, fortyish woman showed that she is serious minded and ferocious as they come. I know her dad though, the fearsome History teacher at my alma-mater, the venerable late Dr. Bala Usman, who taught me so many things as his student back in the day. Decades later, his daughter is this strong iron lady, ruling the headlines first, as Chief of Staff and now, the powerful MD of NPA. What of Emma, his student? Well I’m still floundering in the waves of life on the Chanji cruise. I began to wonder if “na only me waka come” as our people like to put it. Destiny, of course, has many things to do with that, I know.
But beyond destiny are other issues like personal preparation, opportunities, and just being in the right place at the right time. In the case of Hadiza, some sound schooling plus taking the risk to be part of the Bring Back Our Girls movement and to be sired by a Katsina man – all these could have played a role in her meteoric rise. But timing is also of essence when it comes to these matters. For instance, what would have happened to Hadiza if Goodluck Jonathan had returned to power? See, what I mean? So, all of that ran through my mind after the announcement. Of course, somewhere in the back of my mind, I was also happy for my teacher’s daughter, knowing daddy would be humbly proud of his child’s rise in life. Family members and friends of all those getting appointments are right now expectedly very happy.
No matter how “small” an appointment is, such a beautiful thing: The appointee suddenly finds himself or herself in a new world. I recall when I was called from my state capital, Jalingo, and told to forward my CV for what eventually became my experience with political appointments. The announcement is often the sweetest music for those so lucky to be picked. It is also a huge honour to be singled out in an array of people and be assigned a portfolio. I know the exhilarating feeling that comes with that swift transportation from a relatively unknown quantity to the height of fame. It goes without saying that one suddenly feels special, relevant and ordained. In your private moments after the appointment, you fall on your knees and whisper a “thank you” to your maker for His loving kindness.
Somewhere in the corner of your mind, you believe the appointment may be the beginning of a long journey, culminating in some really big destination in your journey. In time though, reality cures some of that enthusiasm and expectation. It gets to a point where you wake one morning and almost wished you were never appointed in the first place. All these are kept somewhere deep by the appointee, who ensures the public doesn’t know about the private soul turmoil. A special adviser, for instance, suddenly realises there’s nothing special about him or her.
A commissioner finally squares up to the reality that the governor is not really interested in his or her ideas. A minister suddenly finds out he or she is actually a “noise maker”. In the end, everyone is disappointed. The one who hired may also be disappointed: His picks are not exactly the team he needed, he realises. He thought they would bring in the sunshine; he had looked at them from the distance and thought they were fantastic people; he was told they were magnificent people, who would help him or her realise his goals.
Alas, he recognises the solid fact that they are only humans too.  Some of the angels he appointed suddenly turn out to be devils. The loyalists he assembled have some “Judasic” tendency. He finds out the dream team can also be a nightmare. Disappointment. Conversely, his team is also disappointed in him. They thought he meant well by bringing them in; they were hoping they would get to see him more often; they actually thought the position would end their woes in life. To their chagrin, they suddenly discover it was all a charade.
Another fact is there has never been any appointment that had not been lampooned by observers. For Nigerians, the last thing that comes to mind is competence. Gender is not even an issue. The first thing, I think, is the faith of the appointee. This is followed by their geographical location. We then scrutinised the motives of their appointment. Now, even if the appointments should be done to reflect all sides in equal proportion, there would still be enough room for complaints and petitions.
When I first got appointed as a media aide, some people complained that I was “not known”, having been away from the state for some time! Forget that I came into the position with some powerful credentials needed by the office! There are other strange petitions like the nominee was too short or tall! In one case, the appointee was said to be a womaniser and was rejected. The other one was said to be a recluse and so detached from the people.
Some appointments are practically based on nothing. In such a case, the appointer was presented with names of people he doesn’t even know.
They could be people known to those in the power circle. In one state where this happened, the governor in his inaugural meeting with the newly constituted cabinet, gave them a bland look and declared, “look, gentlemen and ladies, I won’t lie to you people. I don’t even know you. You were all given to me by some powerful people here and I accepted because I have faith in them. So, I would have to now start studying you guys to get to know you.” This often hampers growth. Precious time is wasted in trying to build a synergy. In one state, the governor was introducing his team. After introducing the first ten Special Advisers with their names and portfolios, he pointed to another ten, waiting and with a shrug said “they too are special advisers of all sorts of things. I don’t know.”
Sometimes, the appointments are anchored on a reward system based on what one did to usher in the new dispensation. Competence, in some cases, is not even an issue. Who needs competence or capacity when there is always money from the federal purse to oil governance? But why reimburse a village thug, who helped in stuffing ballot boxes or helping to rig an election with a sensitive appointment? Just because someone was an expert at stealing votes doesn’t transform them into a fantastic commissioner of finance, for instance.
A brash, khaki wearing, party activist doesn’t necessarily make for a cool headed minister of anything! A woman of easy virtue, who is fantastic at mobilising women for election, shouldn’t suddenly be made the leader of goodly mothers as commissioner of women affairs.
In all these examples, the hardworking party personages can be compensated with other things like contracts, etc. Elsewhere in the world, where progress is the operational word, appointments are scientific exercise devoid of any sentiment. When the new Britain’s PM, Thereza May, recently did her appointments, it was based on a number of things: Reward (yes, why not if properly done), competence, appropriateness and relevance. No wonder we didn’t hear the complaints that usually follow any such exercise here. When are we going to get even appointments right?