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Observing
President Jonathan at very close quarters for 2 days in Abuja was quite
revealing. It is one thing to listen to him or read his words, it is
quite another to hear him in the flesh. What is clear is that his grasp
of issues is extremely and painfully limited. There is no evidence of
any depth to the things he says at all.
Yet,
that need not be a permanent problem - it can be overcome by better
preparation as many world leaders have been known to do. This is where
the problem is compounded - he clearly does not spend time preparing for
his public appearances.
2
examples from his speech at the opening plenary - With the Chinese
Premier, Li Keqiang, sitting right beside him, he said the population of
China is '1.2 billion or 1.3 billion'. Actually, the population of
China is now at 1.36bn.
The difference he casually uttered is easily more than Nigeria's
population. Yet, a simple search could have prepared him for this if he
needed to make reference to it at all. Is this the fault of his aides?
Perhaps, but then for a PhD where is the curiosity?
He also said Nigeria is trying to copy Bolsa Familia from
Brazil and then bizarrely added 'I don't know the correct
pronunciation'. Why? This was an interesting revelation because in 2012,
his Senior Special Assistant on MDGs, Dr Precious Gbeneol, said they
were 'considering'
adopting this same Bolsa Familia programme after a tour of Brazil. 2
years later we are 'trying' to adopt it and the President doesnt even
know the correct pronunciation.
All
the recent remarks credited to him - Nigerians are not poor because we
have private jets and corruption is not corruption but mere stealing -
for which he was ridiculed were repeatedat
WEF. He also added a new one when he said - in trying to cast doubt on
the altruism of the Occupy Nigeria protests - that the protesters were
being fed during the protests with food from 'Kingsway'. One can
understand that the President has never lived in Lagos, but Kingsway?
Perhaps his aides have found a way to completely shield him from
criticism but that then means he actually believes that mere stealing is
not corruption etc and needs to be told that makes no sense.
Continue after the cut...
As someone said to me - even if he bypassed all his aides and went to the cleaner in Aso Rock and said 'You know say dem bomb Abuja yesterday, how you feel say e go be if I go dance for PDP rally today for Kano today?',
the cleaner would have easily told him 'Oga, I no think say e go pure
if you do am like that'. In other words, anyone could have told him it
was a bad idea. Does the President not know this?
There is evidence that
his aides compound the problem for him - for example Abati picked a
spot under a Transcorp Hilton plaque for the president to address the
press from. [I overheard people asking who picked that spot and one of
the pressmen saying it was Abati]. Of course the pictures then went out
with the President looking like a spokesman for the Hilton Hotel. How
hard would it have been to scan around to ensure there's nothing
unnecessary in the picture before picking a spot for him? This is
anyhowness on steroids.
On
Thursday, various leaders and businessmen were heading out of a meeting
room and everyone gathered round the entrance to take photos as they
came out. The President came out with around 6 security guards around
him (in front and behind him as well as beside). The problem with this
was that all the guards were taller than him so it was hard to see him.
He walked by without waving or smiling to anyone while everyone just
watched him in silence. Contrast with Kagame who came out with all his
guards behind him and he leading the way - the President was constantly
being directed this way or that to the point where one of his security
guards put his hand on his back and gave him a gentle push to guide him
into a room. This might be understandable if the events were taking
place outdoors but it was all indoors and the President was supposed to
be the chief host. Instead Tony Elumelu and Aliko Dangote ended up doing
the work of schmoozing the guests and smiling for the cameras.
He
was on a 'Partnering for Prosperity' panel with a number of CEOs and
tried to make an argument for protectionism. One of the other panelists
then countered him not so subtly as to the dangers of this type of
policy (he was touting Dangote's wealth as something that was a result
of government policy and also suggested that the insecurity in the
country was an opportunity for investors), the way he responded showed
that he had not even considered that this policy has weaknesses. He
simply conceded that argument by saying 'you are the expert' and smiled.
All of this was painful to watch and people sitting beside me were either laughing or sighing.
Yet
it will not deter those who are supporters and admirers of the
President. You might even say this is all nitpicking which it probably
is.
But
we really have to ask ourselves how we gave such a demanding and
difficult job to a man who by all accounts will be perfectly happy doing
something else.
(Excerpts from his article The Word On The Streets XI on aguntasolo.com)
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