“The Atiku Plan” and Kukah’s Bentley theory

By far the major attraction of Nigerians to Atiku Abubakar’s bid for the Nigerian presidency is his robust advocacy for the geo-political restructuring of the country. Of course, his opponents knew that he had struck the right cord with Nigerians. Hence, their penchant to either down play the issue of restructuring or to paint the picture that the former Vice President is merely using it to enhance his chances in his presidential bid.

But Nigerians couldn’t care less. Not even in the North, (where the erroneous impression has been created that its people are anti-restructuring) did they succeed in convincing the people that the restructuring talk by Atiku and others is not in their interest. But even if it is a ploy, as these critics claim, it has worked; because the more they try to insinuate it, the more the people buy into it. In spite of the posturing of the Muhammadu Buhari presidency that the talk about restructuring is an idle one, a far great majority of Nigerians insist on it.

Thus, on October 6, 2011 when he emerged the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the joy of Nigerians was essentially predicted on the realisation that finally, they now have an arrowhead for that collective aspiration to rework Nigeria into a form that will get working again.  This is what the PDP presidential candidate merely re-echoed in his “Atiku Plan” which he released recently.

Since Monday, November 19, 2018, when the presidential hopeful gave in inkling into what will be the content of his presidency through the unveiling of his action document, Nigerians have come to the full realisation that what Atiku has within him is a programme for a total transformation of Nigeria, that would go beyond “restructuring”; to finally take the nation to the take-off point into sustainable economic development. “The Atiku Plan” is a non-verbose articulation of Mr. Abubakar’s idea of how, in his own words, to “get Nigeria working again”. Some of his critics have tended to insinuate that the phrase, “get Nigeria working again” is a cliché that has been over used at different levels of politicking in Nigeria; but far from that.

Atiku’s “get Nigeria working again” is not just a campaign slogan; it is the summary of the collective thinking of Nigerians who, without any exaggeration, are in no doubt that their country has stopped working. It is an expression that is at once easy to comprehend and quite succinctly captures the mood of the people. Compared with President Buhari’s “Next Level” slogan (which, in any case, is said to be a plagiarized work), it is less ambiguous, devoid of conjectures and has adjuncts that make it easily adaptable to the Nigerian contemporaneous context.

Differently put, to “get Nigeria working again” is a far better philosophy than one that is predicated on the desperation of the people to get out of their perennial economic and social degradation. Mr. Abubakar himself gives a more lucid illustration when he says: “Too often, Nigerians have been promised better governance by those seeking their votes. Such individuals have preyed on the legitimate desires of our people for their conditions to be improved, that they make all sorts of promises”. Then the clincher: “I am not one for making grandiose promises. Rather than promises, I believe in policies. A promise is an indication to do a future action. A policy is a plan to achieve future goals”.

It is trite to argue that Nigerians are not only used to “grandiose promises” but have indeed given up on similar promises especially the type made by the current administration in 2014/2015. But far more remarkable is the beautiful distinction Mr. Abubakar has made between “promise” and “policy”. A “promise”, he says, “is an indication to do a future action” while a “policy is a plan to achieve future goals”.  Apart from the sheer brilliance and originality of this insight, it needs no exaggeration to state that Atiku’s preference for policy, rather than promises, arms him with the correct intellectual tool to properly interrogate the gamut of economic, social and political challenges confronting the nation. It is less presumptuous, less deceitful, more proactive and more realistic.

More important, this very refreshing perspective delineates Mr. Atiku as a presidential candidate who is very much conscious of the fact that he will need the existing state apparatuses, including human and material resources, to pursue a policy plan of action in order to achieve the desired results. This is in contradistinction to the situation whereby just promises are made when at the same time the very person making them is disdainful of the interest or inputs of others.

An illustration to this is not farfetched. Even though candidate Muhammadu Buhari had made a lot of promises to Nigerians during his campaign for their votes, he, upon assumption of office after being elected, showed disdain for the state apparatuses that would drive the policies that would lead to the fulfillment of his promises. For example, he foot dragged in the appointment of ministers and when Nigerians complained, he came up with the curious response that ministers are those who just “make noise.”

The point, therefore, is that Mr. Atiku Abubakar has shown that he fully understands the nuances of how to go about looking for the wellbeing of the people – a majority of the people at least – which is what governance is all about. He has shown that governance is not about arrogating to oneself an exclusive knowledge of what the people need. Rather, it is about involving the people in first defining their needs and then carrying them along while taking deliberate actions towards meeting such needs. This is what policy means and what Atiku Abubakar says he intends to do if elected. The difference is clear. It is now left for Nigerians to determine whether they would prefer “promises” to a situation where they are given the opportunity to articulate what they need and subsequently involved in the process that will lead in the meeting of such needs.

In talking about “policy”, Mr. Atiku Abubakar is not merely relishing in the realm of theory. He is talking from experience. He says: “… I am not talking about what I can do. I am talking of what I have done before”. And he goes ahead to illustrate this: “ I was Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria from 1999 and 2007 and in that time, I chaired the National Economic Council that gave Nigeria her highest and most consistent GDP growth of 6% per annum…” More, Atiku reminds Nigerians that “despite the fact that crude oil prices at that time were much lower than they are today, under the dynamic leadership of President Olusegun Obasanjo, we paid off Nigeria’s entire foreign debt”.

There is a popular television sound byte which depicts the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, the Most Reverend Matthew Hassan Kukah, making an analogy of a “brand new” Bentley (car) that broke down.

Bishop Kukah says, (let me paraphrase) that if you are driving a brand new Bentley and it breaks down, that you are not going to look for the original manufacturer, but a mechanic, to fix it. This is a very apt metaphor of the current Nigerian situation. Nigeria of today is the broken down Bentley. But whereas President Buhari postures to be the original manufacturer of Nigeria, what, going by Fr. Kukah’s analogy, this broken down country needs is not this fellow who claims to be its original maker, but a mechanic which Atiku Abubakar has shown good flair for.

My former boss, Ikedi Ohakim, has a similar analogy about my home state, Imo. Ohakim likens Imo to a motor car (Kukah’s Bentley) which engine has been completely damaged (knocked). According to Ohakim, what a knocked engine requires to fix it is an experienced mechanic. If we combine these two brilliant analogies (ala Ohakim and Kukah), we have a near perfect description of the Nigeria of today. Nigeria has knocked engine and needs an experienced mechanic not its original manufacturer. And what a better offer than in Atiku Abubakar who, via his “Plan”, has shown that he fits perfectly into this brilliant metaphor