by Dimgba Igwe

In one term of five years, Sanusi has accomplished what he sets out to achieve at the apex bank. He was not going to grovel or lobby for a second term, having made up his mind that one term is enough. This is sweet music to my ears, making me wonder: Is this possible in Nigeria?

“I left power twenty years ago, I left Mubarak in office, I left Mugabe in office, I left Eyadema in office, I left Omar Bongo, and even Paul Biya and I came back and they are still in power; and I just did eight years and you are asking me to go; why?”

Former Vice President Abubakar Atiku credited that statement to former President Olusegun Obasanjo. I have heard that same statement recounted by former Abia State Governor, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, also quoting Obasanjo. The statement, in substance, summarized Obasanjo’s rationale for his ill-fated third term gambit.

If we were to make a theory out of it, we would come up with something like: the longer you are in power, the better your performance. Cast in another sense, the older you are, the better you are. The rule of gerontocracy. Today, Robert Mugabe, nearly 90, who has been in power for 33 years, is Africa’s poster-boy for gerontocracy.

Do you buy into such argument? In some cases, maybe. Is it not said by those who should know that old wine tastes better? But in another sense, the logic of gerontocracy cannot stand close scrutiny. The world’s best soccer player today is not Pele who once ruled the waves, but younger compatriots named, Lionel Messi and Neymar da Silva Santos. If England wants the easy way to kiss the dust during the next World Cup, they should field David Beckam and other players of his generation who once ruled the waves. Nigeria, of course, should field Christian Chukwu, Segun Odegbami, Adokie Amasiemeka with Austin Jay Jay Okocha and Kanu Kwankwo!

But that is soccer, not governance, right? Well then, after about decades in power combined, what have Mubarak and Mugabe made of their countries? Mugabe’s Zimbabwe is in ruins with nearly 90 per cent unemployment and Mubarak’s Egypt is still boiling in discontent. Were Gnassingbe Eyadema’s Togo, Omar Bongo’s Gabon and Paul Biya’s Cameroun a model of national economic success then or today? Can Nigeria’s current woes ever be divorced from Obasanjo’s pernicious third term gambit? We are still paying the price of that evil misadventure.

These facts are self-evident argument that success in position of authority does not flow from how long but how focused, well-prepared and determined to execute well-articulated action plans.  It was this type of mindset that was behind the great achievements of Lagos State Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola, for instance, during his first term.

It seems that on this point, I share common grounds with the radical CBN Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi who recently dropped the bombshell that he would not be seeking a renewal of his term in office. In one term of five years, Sanusi has accomplished what he sets out to achieve at the apex bank. He was not going to grovel or lobby for a second term, having made up his mind that one term is enough. This is sweet music to my ears, making me wonder: Is this possible in Nigeria?

Whatever may be my sins, you cannot accuse me of being a supporter of Sanusi. I’ve written several articles in the past as a non-economist layman deploring his loquacious style of running the CBN and by implication our lives. Agreed, some of the bankers he met on the ground were like gangsters serving a holy communion. If so, Sanusi zoomed into the nation’s financial sector like an elephant rampaging through a china shop. The result was a devastating demystification of banking institution with attendant ripple effect on the stock market. Till date, most Nigerians have not recovered from the shock and institutional distrust engendered by Sanusi’s savagery of the banks and the stock market. By the time he was through, eight banks were ruined both by their former managers and the reckless onslaught of the CBN boss.

Of course, Sanusi didn’t cause the banking and stock market crisis, he only worsened them by his loud and capricious style. His critics charged that his banking reforms lacked consistent strategic framework and were driven more by “as the spirit led” template, making strategic planning a nightmare for operators.

Yet, he is also a success story. He is globally acclaimed for stabilizing the banking sector from the brink of collapse and keeping a tight rein on monetary policy that ensured that inflation is controlled at a single digit and naira remained relatively strong. He was so audacious and firm that the fear of Sanusi was the beginning of wisdom. Banking regulations were strictly enforced and bankers recovered the meaning of prudence.

But then, Sanusi’s intimidatory tactics ensured that the banks merely piled their deposits, too scared to lend money, thereby crippling investments that would have driven economic growth in the country. While bankers became totally risk averse, corporate adventurism which is at the heart of capitalism virtually died and with it, the job market. Today, Nigeria’s unemployment level is at an all-time high. At a time many central bankers in America and Europe were stimulating growth through expansionist drives, Nigeria pursed tight monetary policy which stifled growth.

Even then, Sanusi enjoyed rave reviews abroad, winning the Central Governor of the Year Award and many others. But today, if I have an award to give, it will not be for Sanusi’s success as a banker. It would be for setting a rare example in public sector leadership in Nigeria that may change the nation’s future. In deciding not to seek a second term, Sanusi, perhaps inadvertently, strikes at the heart of the nation’s greatest political problem: the quest for a second or third term.

A man moves mountain to come into public office for four years. A year into his tenure, while still grappling with the learning curves on the job, he has already started plotting for his second term. Two years into his tenure and every other thing takes a back-seat while he mobilizes every available resources for the battle of his second term. Suddenly, the purpose of coming to power is completely obliterated and second-term politicking takes over the space and nothing more matters.

While everyone I know in Nigeria wants to remain forever in position of power, especially public office, Sanusi is probably the only high profile public officer I know who has decided not to continue in a powerful and lucrative public office even when he had a chance to seek re-appointment. In one fell swoop, Sanusi has broken the spell, a national spell responsible for our political backwardness and underdevelopment. That spell is the politics of the second term.

Sanusi, according to news reports, is said to have intimated President Goodluck Jonathan as far back as 2011 that he would not be seeking a renewal of his tenure after completing his first term of five years. But that was long time ago, enough time to have changed his mind and unleashed the power brokers to start his second tenure lobby. Is he not a prince of the powerful Kano Emirate who can invoke the residual influence of his privileged background to extract a second term? Is he not the icon of the north who had turned out a lightening rod whose exploits had earned him huge admiration especially in the entire north?

But, it appears that he had stuck to his gun on this, even when it is not unlikely that influence peddlers and assorted power merchants who would have been profiting from his position would have had sessions trying to persuade him otherwise. In confirming his decision to quit to Bloomberg, Sanusi seems to cast his decision on concrete. An indication that there would be no going back, no behind-the-scene hanky-panky, no my-people-beg-me to continue charade. Simply put, there is no going back—which is why many people are already jostling for his position, including his deputies.

In my book, what Sanusi has demonstrated is a rare quality of character that is lacking in our political firmament.  I wish many more people would follow Sanusi’s model. As Shakespeare noted, we are all players on a stage. You do your stuff and get off for others to take over. It is a continuum and nobody can hope to finish all things.

 

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Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.