Having worked for a while with NAFDAC as an intern, I had waited patiently till after her inauguration to name her as my December role model of the month. I had hoped silently that she will deal with the situation in the health sector, a ministry that has not had a minister in over eight months of the Yaradua tenure. But then, I was disappointed… for a while. Then I started clapping,…… Yaradua now has a voice, a strong one at that. Among the pool that President Yaradua has ‘thoughtfully’ brought together, only this woman can be trusted with the nation’s image making. I mean only a mercenary like this can be given the task of what could be called a product that is fast losing appeal among the generality of Nigerians.
Why are we complaining? Because some people feel you need to be in the information business to transform and superintend the affairs of the information ministry. I beg to disagree. In core principles of management, accurate technical know-how is an added advantage and is not a compulsory requisite for success. I’d rather a vibrant individual who is ignorant of the limitations of the field, than an old horse that has been beaten into shape by the Nigerian factor. How many past ministers were professors in the communication business? Imagine the series of crises, the woman has been managing- from indomie to Coca-Cola, Dangote and to the recent my pikin teething mixture. I remember the famous outcry that hit the nation when Professor Chukwuma Soludo became the CBN head. I remember bank CEOs pulling out every trick in the bag to tell us why the professor, who has never worked in a business environment should not head the CBN, and why his 25bn capitalization was a very tall dream. I remember reading a news clip where prayer meetings were organized to reverse the ‘dangerous’ order, all today is history.
For me, it was a tough war between Dora and Osotimehin and I think the former head of NACA won. I am thinking the present Government is looking at the way the woman organized media campaign and organized noise making for NAFDAC. But then, it will be a herculean task to sell this government, especially when she has started by promising not to lie…we have not forgotten Wada-Nas, Chukwumerije, Fani Kayode…I hope the NAFDAC boss will not scamper away when the kitchen gets too hot as it did for Okonjo Iweala. All in all, I think she will add zest to the image of a government fast gaining the reputation of being snail-like in its approach to issues.
But then if she succeeds in carrying the grace and strength she used to become outstanding in her duties at the PTF and NAFDAC, I think the media should begin to sell the FOI bill to the Government and National Assembly.
But then where are the fresh bloods, the thoroughbreds, the technocrats with proven track records? With President Yaradua having about a year to go before 2011 campaigns start going , I am still waiting for a clear success or direction for this tenure.
