Demystifying Government
By Paul Nwabuikwu
M ore often than not, questions are raised on the back page of THISDAY about the quality of governance and especially the prospects of the government's reform agenda are being scrutinised. It does seem, however, that not enough attention is being given to a silent revolution taking place in the way the government' s business is being conducted as my recent experience showed.
It happened a month ago. The place was the Park and Shop supermarket in Wuse 2, Abuja. The time was about 8.00 p.m. As I walked into the bustling mall, I saw her a woman in a bright Ankara outfit engrossed in her shopping. She was studying her list of groceries with her daughter, ticking off the items she had already purchased and adding new ones. There was nothing to distinguish her in the crowd of shoppers, visually speaking. Preoccupied with the task of buying enough food and provisions in enough variety to last her family for a while, she could have been any middle class home maker in any supermarket in any town or city in Nigeria. I walked up to her.
"Good evening. You look vaguely familiar", I said. She looked up, startled, a little annoyed that her concentration had been broken. Then she smiled.
"Oh Paul, it's you. You're being mischievous again. I didn't know you were the one. I'm trying to stock up, you know my husband and the boys are coming back early tomorrow " Then she went back to her list. "I have to hurry". I said hello to her daughter and walked away.
There was no reason to hang around. I too had some shopping to do. Nothing quite as elaborate as their family fare but stuff like disposable shaving sticks, fruit juices and a few other items indispensable to the life of an "impromptu bachelor" whose wife was perhaps also busy in a supermarket at that moment hundreds of kilometres away in Lagos.
The busy woman at the supermarket was my boss, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. who just happens to be the Finance Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. As millions of Nigerians already know, the lady is partial to very simple African fabrics and her style is defined by these fabrics and her unique way of tying her scarf. But her simplicity is not just Ankara-deep. Working for her in the last nine months, I have since learnt that the usual perquisites and paraphernalia which define a "Big Man" or "Big Madam" in these parts are totally unimportant to her. She has demystified her position to the point where it has almost become normal for her to address her immediate staff standing while they sit. "Sit down if you want. I am tired of sitting. You know I have been at the executive council meeting all day", she would say. This notwithstanding, she keeps a blistering pace of work, insists on the highest standards always and has zero tolerance for laziness. This Okonjo will give you plenty of wahala if you don't keep up. But the ubiquitous bowing and scraping which has become part of the Civil Service does not impress her. With her, "Eye Service" simply does not work.
Reflecting on that rather mundane but, also very significant incident at the supermarket, I have arrived at the conclusion that, under the hurly and burly of governance, the noise and the controversies, something potentially very significant is going on. This phenomenon may not have saturated all levels of government yet, but it is taking place with enough frequency in certain islands of competence and integrity to demand attention. Simply put: certain highly visible persons in government are working hard to peel-off the layers of "Bigmanism" and loudness that have long been associated with government. In place of puffery, they have brought simplicity; they have replaced the notion of government as the "Other" with a disarming accessibility.
Okonjo-Iweala is an excellent example of this phenomenon. Happily, she is not the only one. Though this creeping revolution of simplicity in governance may be happening elsewhere in government, because of my core function of managing the profile of the Finance Ministry, I am more familiar with the style of members of the Economic Team. The Team is chaired by the Finance Minister. Having observed them at close quarters, it is tempting to believe that members of the Economic Team were chosen not only because they have what it takes to play leading roles in the economic reform process, but also because they share a strong collective conviction that government needs to be demystified, that governance needs to refocused on what matters: results. Their motto seems to be: "Let's roll-up our sleeves and get the work done with as little fuss as possible." Call it de-starching government and you wouldn't be wrong.
Three months ago, in Paris, I witnessed the practical demonstration of this orientation. I was part of the team which accompanied the Finance Minister during the Economic Team's trip to the French Capital for a series of high-level meetings with the Paris Club, top French government agencies and groups of industrialists and entrepreneurs who are already investing in Nigeria or exploring the possibility of doing so. In the team were Okonjo-Iweala, FCT Minister Nasir El-Rufai; the President's Senior Special Assistant on Due Process, Oby Ezekwesili; Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Nuhu Ribadu; CBN Executive Director Joseph Nnanna; Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation Bode Agusto and Director-General, Debt Management Office, Mansur Mukhtar.
I took away two overriding impressions from that trip. First was the sheer professionalism and competence the Economic Team displayed during the highly technical meetings with top technocrats of the French Public Service and Private Sector. There was no doubt that The Team was well briefed, completely in command of the facts and the nuances of Nigeria's position vis-a-vis the Paris Club of creditors to whom the overwhelming proportion of Nigeria�s debt is owed. This was also in evidence during the discussions with the investors and would-be-investors as well as the leadership of French government agencies involved in investment .
With the Finance Minister leading the discussions with the aplomb of the conductor of a highly skilled orchestra, the Economic Team was in its elements as it explained the philosophy and features of Nigeria�s home-grown economic reform programme and made a passionate case for practical support from the international community in terms of favourable rescheduling terms for the nation's debts. Since the BPE's Dr. Julius Bala was not on that particular trip, his predecessor, the FCT Minister captured the achievements and challenges of the privatization programme, in addition to holding forth on the strides Abuja has made on Civil Service Reform. Agusto, spoke about the new budget process and the "laundry list" of dos and don'ts which are an organic part of it. Ezekwesili and Ribadu revealed the thinking and specifics of the war against corruption. As always, their passion shone through. Nnanna laid bare the macro-economic underpinnings of the 2004 budget. And Mukhtar explained, in his courteous but firm way why debt is an emotional issue in Nigeria and why the country deserves a respite from the creditors. It was quite obvious that the team was at home with the nitty gritty of the economic and financial realities of today's world. The members did not only understand the intricacies: they spoke the same language with those on the other end of the table.
But even more relevant to this piece was the simple and unobtrusive manner in which they conducted themselves throughout the Paris trip. The atmosphere in the bus which took them around (yes, you read right) was reminiscent of a high school trip. There were several cars available but somehow they preferred the informal conviviality of the bus. Jokes flew around, thick and fast. Quite a few of them were told at the expense of the FCT Minister who gave as good as he got. The dressing was decidedly low-key and there was not one agbada or babanriga in sight. El Rufai looked like an out of work rap artist in his woolen hat and Agusto's war against ties was very much in evidence despite the very cold weather. Ezekwesili (she prefers to be addressed as simply Oby) was her usual simple, almost austere self.
Some of the French officials expressed their surprise both at the competent way The Team went about its duties and what they described as the un-Nigerian simplicity. After years of interacting with overdressed but underachieving Nigerian delegations, they found this blend of substance and low-key style astonishing. For me, a climatic moment came when I heard a lady member of staff of the Nigerian Embassy expressing her displeasure when she was asked to run an errand in the same bus that the Economic Team had so coveted. She said the vehicle was beneath her status!
On the night that the Team went to eat at a Nigerian restaurant on the outskirts of Paris, the embassy officials who accompanied them were nonplussed when the team rejected their offer to pay the bill. The Nigerian diplomats were visibly shocked at the turn of events. How could a group which included two Honourable ministers and quite a few other powerful persons in government reject their age-old "right" to a free supper at the expense of the tax payers?
The Paris trip exemplified the new spirit operating in certain areas of government. The Minister of Information, Chief Emeka Chikelu, a quiet but very effective functionary is another remarkable example of this phenomenon. His humility is simply disarming. I would not be presumptuous enough to suggest that it has permeated all levels of government. But as I have said, it is an interesting development which may lead to something very important in our culture of governance.
It is legitimate to ask: What is so important about a few government officials being simple and accessible? Some might even wonder what their example amounts to in a climate of pervasive poverty and want. These are not irrelevant questions. But my take on the matter, a position incidentally which predates my current stint in government, is that symbolism is very important because, more often than not, it goes hand in hand with real progress or unusual change. Every revolution has its culture and sometimes its uniform. If reform really means anything, it must lead to a simultaneous reform in the way government goes about its business everyday. Government cannot build the reforms on improving the lives of the people while the yawning gap between the leaders and the led continues to exist. De-starching government may not put food on the table immediately, but it does set the tone for a more sensitive approach to governance.
Nwabuikwu is a Special Assistant to the Minister of Finance
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