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 Daily Independent Online.
* Friday,July 16, 2004.
Govt information
management:How far can Chikelu go?
By Maximus Uba
Sometime during the first tenure of President Olusegun
Obasanjo, the presidency put together a valedictory party for the Owelle
Ichida, Chief Gilbert Chikelu who had worked with Mr. President when he
was a military head of state. Shortly before the event came to a close,
his son Chukwuemeka, then a member of the House of Representatives, was
asked to give a vote of thanks. The President felt uneasy allowing the
young man believed to be one of turks solidly behind his enemy numero uno, Alhaji Ghali Na’Abba, who was then Speaker of the House of
Representatives, to take the floor where eminent Nigerians, including
members of the diplomatic corps, were seated especially since Mr.
President was not sure of the young man’s frame of mind. However, after
the speech, which many adjudged eloquent and brilliant, Mr. President was
said to have whispered to Owelle Chikelu, “I didn’t know you have another
Jerry Gana at home”. From that moment, President Obasanjo was said to
have kept a tab on the young man so much so that when the opportunity to
pick a Minister of Information after he secured the second term mandate
offered itself, he quickly threw his weight behind Mr. Chukwuemeka
Chikelu, dumping the likes of Akin Osuntokun and Femi Fani-Kayode.
In
picking Chikelu, many reasons have been adduced. First, President
Obasanjo saw him as a brilliant young man who would hold his own as a
minister. Secondly, the
President felt Chikelu having been a member of the House of
Representatives has garnered enough governmental experience as well as
insider knowledge of the workings of government. He was also said to have
penciled down the young man because he wanted to challenge the younger
generation by giving them an opportunity during his second term.
Importantly too, Mr. President wanted someone in the mould of the
immediate past Minister of Information, Professor Jerry Gana. Obasanjo
was also at home with the fact that in addition to a degree in Political
Science, Chukwuemeka was also a lawyer of more than 10years
standing. Most importantly,
Mr. President was comfortable with his background which is robust, moral
and principled, a background he reasoned would dissuade him from joining
men of his own generation who are wont to stealing government funds.
To perform effectively as minister of information, Mr.
Chikelu was mandated to improve on the performance of his predecessor,
Professor Jerry Gana by coordinating efficiently all the agencies and
parastatals in the Ministry of Information and National Orientation. He was also saddled with the
responsibility of churning out good government policies and seeing to its
acceptance by the Nigerian public.
Besides, he was expected to defend government policies and finally
act as the country’s undisputed spokesman. Most importantly, Chikelu was
expected to market the potential of the country at the international
level.
However, more than one year in office as the Minister
of Information and National Orientation, not a few Nigerians including
Information Ministry watchers are agreed that Mr. Chikelu has not
performed to his optimum. And that raises a most fundamental question:
How come such an eloquent and brilliant lawyer who acquitted himself as a
federal parliamentarian cannot effectively co-ordinate the Ministry of
Information and National Orientation? Analysts posit that part of
Chikelu’s failure is his inability to co-ordinate effectively the various
agencies and parastatals in the ministry. Many are of the opinion that he
is afraid of hurting those heading these agencies particularly when many
of them are quite older than he is. He has not been able to muster the
necessary political will to get all the chief executives under his
ministry to kowtow to his authority. In this instance, one remembers that
even though Col Odumegwu Ojukwu lived in the house of the then secretary
to the government of Eastern Nigeria, Chief Jerome Udoji as a bachelor,
it did not stop him from wielding the big stick when he was in the
saddle. Secondly, analysts say part of the minister’s failure derives
from his inability to assume his constitutional role as the spokesman of
the federal government. Instead, he has allowed Femi Fani-Kayode, Jerry
Gana and Mrs. Remi Oyo to usurp his constitutional responsibilities. Most
often, Mrs. Oyo who ordinarily should speak for President Obasanjo and
even Fani- Kayode whose role as special adviser is undefined and akin to
that performed by Wada Nas during the defunct General Sani Abacha regime
have taken over the functions of Chikelu as the official spokesman of the
country. Thirdly, his
failure is also associated with the duplication of duties concerning information
matters by Mr. President. For instance, besides the Minister of
Information, there are special advisers, senior special assistants and
special assistants all speaking and defending government policies. Analysts say because of his
aristocratic background, Chikelu would rather play safe than quarrel with
anyone over who should speak for the government. Again, because he is not of the
Yoruba ruling stock, members of Obasanjo’s kitchen cabinet who are mostly
his tribesmen from the Southwest are not comfortable divulging high
government secrets to him. It is not a secret therefore that Mr Chikelu
is not in the know of most sensitive government plans and actions even
when those information are readily available to the likes of Remi Oyo,
Femi Fani-Kayode and Akin Osuntokun.
The question then is: After all these, how would
history judge Chief Chukwuemeka Chikelu’s tenure as the Minister of
Information? Unless he wakes up from his self-induced slumber, he would
probably end up being counted as one of the non-performing young men ever
to occupy the position of Minister of Information and National
Orientation in Nigeria. But
can Chikelu rise to the challenges of his office or will he continue to
play shy? Only time will tell.
•Uba
wrote in from Mbaise, Imo State.
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