Good Policy, Good Governance

What is good policy? What is a good vision for governance?

It's 6 months from the next general election, and Nigerians can’t collectively answer this.

Most conversations about what should be the gold standard for politics and good governance in Nigeria get quickly derailed without ever being fleshed out. Personal attacks, hearsay, and whataboutism take center stage as virtues are painted as playing to the gallery, and vices freely attributed to all.

As a result, Nigerians have not gotten to a place where we have a shared understanding of the essentials of good leadership, and where objective conversations about what is good policy vs bad can become mainstream.

How about a different approach: What are the good ideas? Can we all agree on good ideas for the country regardless of who or where they come from?

You can know a leader’s policy bent or intent by their walk; the things they have done in the past, and their talk; their messaging in the public space, or lack of it. The rest of this piece will be focused on the talk.

So, to avoid recency bias, why don’t we go at least decade back before Nigeria’s current woes to see what some of the people in the political space today were saying about policy and governance? Are there any people still prominent today? How consistent have they been? What viewpoints have stood the test of time?

I went back to listen to a 16 minute interview from December 2017 with one of the front runners of the 2027 elections, and took 2 pages of notes so you wouldn’t have to. Here are his views on several topics which are still relevant, a decade later.

On Temperament 1:06

he doesn’t like to get angry, when you’re angry you hurt yourself more.
if you’re angry in Nigeria you’ll be angry every day.

On what is achievable in society - 1:26

every society that wants to grow show have the basics: fundamental things that you can do easily, instead of white elephants that don’t get completed.
- small roads you can reconstruct, water, repair the schools, make them function, make them work.

On continuity of governance - 2:46

the problem is an unplanned system, with a planned system spanning multiple years it’s difficult to deviate.
Millennium development goals should be mainstreamed in policy from Federal to State and Local government.
make it so everyone, (all Nigerians) knows what this plan is about.

On why the south-east hasn’t translated business skill to governance - 5:27

the need to first articulate a plan.
it’s a gradual process that should happen individually, then collectively.

On the development models that can succeeed

Chinese leadership and development model is a success story Nigeria can emulate.
Policy should be articulated, measured and followed aggressively.
Chinese leadership was focused on building an economy with the most critical component of (economic) development around micro-small, medium enterprises.
Now MSME’s contribute a large percentage - 60% to their GDP.

On what Nigeria is doing wrong

not focused on providing a conducive environment for MSME’s to thrive.
multiple taxation for small business instead of providing support for them.

On government giving hope - 9:35

Nigerians won’t risk their lives for greener pastures if there’s hope.
leadership and government has to give the people a sense of hope.

On local government autonomy - 10:45

governance is like a team with everyone playing their role
if the federal government has mainstreamed a development agenda, it cascades down to the sate and local governments.
remove people for not doing the right thing.

On Marginalization of south east - 12:28

create inclusive environment for everybody.
where people’s talent, hard work, and ingenuity can match up with their opportunities.
no to nepotism, you can become somebody without knowing anyone.
on south-east presidency: now wasn’t the time for that - what was more important was building a better country for younger ones in their productive age.

On being stingy - 14:25

it depends on what you’re stingy about - the issue is about managing public money. Public money is meant for public good. It is not personal money.
it is money meant to rebuild the schools, construct roads, provide health facilities and support small businesses.
the more you provide this infrastructure, the more you invest in education, the better the society.
even his personal money is used for good purposes, he visits 3-4 schools every month all over nigeria, supporting them with funds to rebuild infrastructure.