In another four days, the administration of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua will be a year in office. And it is time for stock taking. Nigerians expectedly, are wont to go down memory lane, engage in sober reflection and do some comparative analysis.

With the benefit of hindsight, critical observers would be compelled to place the government of the former Katsina State governor side by side that of his predecessor, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.
One of the issues in contention is the caliber of ministers in the immediate past administration and those serving under the present government.

As he stood on the podium on May 29, 2007 at the Eagles Square, Abuja, Yar’Adua had said among other things in his inaugural speech, that: “The administration of President Obasanjo has laid the foundation upon which we can build our future prosperity. Over the past eight years, Nigerians have reached a national consensus in at least four areas: to deepen democracy and the rule of law; build an economy driven primarily by the private sector, not government; display zero tolerance for corruption in all its forms, and, finally, restructure and staff our government to ensure efficiency and good governance. I commit myself to these tasks.

“Our goal now is to build on the greatest accomplishments of the past few years. Relying on the seven-point agenda that formed the basis of our compact with voters during the recent campaigns, we will concentrate on rebuilding our physical infrastructure and human capital in order to take our country forward. We will focus on accelerating economic and other reforms in a way that makes a concrete and visible difference to ordinary people”.

But 365 days down the road, that ‘difference to ordinary people’ is yet to be seen and Nigerians are blaming it all on his almost inactive, colourless and poor cabinet, which has failed miserably to drive that vision with passion and zest.
The question on the lips of many is, between the two teams, which is better? While some believe it is too early to score Yar’Adua’s ministers, others argue that one year is long enough to discover their potential.

Seven-Point Agenda
Fact is that in Nigeria, elections are not won on the basis of the manifesto canvassed by political parties. In fact, analysts have always insisted that elections in Nigeria are not fought on the basis of ideologies, programmes or manifesto but on the basis of ‘bandwagon’ effect of ‘this is the party we know, vote or it’.
But somehow while the campaigns for the April 2007 general election lasted, Yar’Adua and his party went round the country with the gospel of a Seven-Point Agenda.
He told Nigerians that with this and of course cooperation from them, Nigeria should be up there in a period of not more than 20 years.
The key areas are: Power and energy; food security; wealth creation; transport sector; land reforms; general security and education.
Analysts say these are key areas that can, if well handled, transform any nation. But whether Yar’Adua’s good intention in identifying these critical areas have been matched by proper execution is another thing.

Team OBJ vs Team Yar’Adua
Critics insist that despite the foibles of the Obasanjo administration, nobody would take it away that he had a good team. Their position is that throughout the eight year tenure of the former president, he paraded a crop of Nigerians who dazzled in their own right, and within a short time made their mark in office.
Many people are wondering whether, at present, Nigeria has the caliber of Dr. (Mrs). Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in the present administration. As Minister of Finance, she was outstanding and highly visible to the public and quite instrumental to all economic policy decisions taken by the last administration. While in office, she literally dictated the nation’s economic direction and her efforts paid off when the nation’s debt burden was cancelled by international creditors.

Even when she was redeployed to the Foreign Affairs Ministry, Iweala still asserted herself. It was a shock to many Nigerians when she resigned from the cabinet. Despite leaving the Obasanjo administration, her image still looms large across the globe, hence, her appointment as the Vice President of the World Bank.
The same comparison goes for the Federal Capital Territory. Many would call for the head of el-Rufai for non-compliance with due process in the demolition of some properties and for allegedly pandering to the whims of Obasanjo while he was in office. But not a few would also agree that he largely contributed to making Abuja what it is today.

There are those who also believe that the present cabinet does not have people with strong personality like the former Minister of Education, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili. The passion, zest and drive to make an impact in the various ministries as was visible in the last administration by the likes of Frank Nweke Jnr in the Information Ministry, Femi Fani Kayode in the Aviation Ministry and many more are glaringly lacking.
Ezekwesili for instance remained outstanding in all the ministries where she served. When she was in the Due Process Office, where she earned the appellation of ‘Madam Due Process’ because of her ‘stubbornness’ to see that the spirit of the name of the office was lived; to her days in the Solid Minerals Ministry, even her critics saw her as an asset to the government of the federation.
Though some of her policies in the education ministry were controversial, it was indicative of the fact that the government of the day had come up with a policy and that it was ready to see to its implementation.
What is on offer presently is a situation where nobody can point to any policy statement that is being implemented, covertly or otherwise.

At the Ministry of Information and National Orientation, the story is the same. The ministry under Obasanjo paraded the likes of Professor Jerry Gana, Chukwuemeka Chikelu, and of course Nweke Jnr. In the eight years of the Obasanjo administration, the trio brought an uncommon vibrancy into the ministry. The story is no longer the same in the same ministry.
For the Ministry of Works, none of the appointees has shown any outstanding potential for leadership. Under Obasanjo, all those he appointed to supervise the ministry also failed to achieve results. The cumulative result is the breakdown of infrastructure, especially roads, across the country.

And just now, it is like the mess has continued under Mrs Deziani Alison-Madueke, who is the current Minister of Transportation. Many say she has not been able to distinguish herself in the critical ministry beyond her initial inspection of the nerve wracking Shagamu - Ore – Benin Expressway, where she reportedly wept over the degree of abandonment.
Arguably, observers insist that Obasnjo’s ministers were visible in their activities unlike the present ones under Yar’Adua.

In the Foreign Affairs Ministry, Nigerians from inception expected some radical transformation because of the wealth of experience of Chief Ojo Maduekwe who is at the helms of affairs. So far, he has not proved that the ministry would fair better under him. In fact, many people are infuriated that his ‘Citizen Diplomacy’ has miserably failed to remedy the uncountable cases of maltreatment being meted out to Nigerians by citizens and sometimes, authorities of other countries, on a daily basis.

The Verdict
Writing on Sunday, July 8, 2007, Reuben Abati noted that, “Persons in public positions are not necessarily good or bad because they are unknown; the test is in what they do. Who knew Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in 1999 but who doesn't know her today to be an excellent material? We never heard of Dora Akunyili, but today we can all attest to her passion and commitment”.
He went on to add, almost prophetically, that: “Team Yar'Adua is a combination of technocrats, the young and the not-so-old, very bright young men and the not-so-bright, those who may become Minister perhaps because they came from the Godfather's list, and those who are recommended by their track record”.
The result of that awkward combination is what is playing out today in almost all the ministries, from sports to health, to aviation and down to agriculture among others.
Lagos based constitutional lawyer, Chief Fred Agbaje, told Sunday Sun that the dismal performance of the Team Yar’Adua is because the cabinet lacks intellectual depth. A position many would not agree with though.

“There is no basis for comparison between Team Obasanjo, in all his eight years and Team Yar’Adua. Obasanjo was always there with people, who were never known before but quickly proved to be men and women of substance except few, of course. But there is no single entity you can hold on to in the Yar’Adua regime. We don’t have the likes of Iweala, we don’t have the Ezekwesilis. The cabinet lacks intellectual depth that is why the government is not moving anywhere. What we have now is all motion no movement. They were all drawn from the PDP, they keep addressing PDP issues and how they would rule forever. They want to use N80 billion to import rice because their children are no more getting rice to eat from fast food joints. So what is the basis of comparison?”, he fumed.

When Iweala resigned, Obasanjo sang her praises to the high heavens.
The letter from the presidency to her reads in part: “Mr. President notes in particular the monumental achievements recorded by Nigeria during your tenure as Minister of Finance, and Chairperson Economic Management Team, as well as the successes of our reform programme in the Finance Sector with clearly visible results being applauded worldwide and by all Nigerians. You were able to utilize the vast network and experience of over 20 years at the World Bank to contribute to getting our nation the debt relief that had eluded us for so long. You delivered on all the tasks and targets set for you in that sector by Mr. President. At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, you have within this short time set the tone for a transformation of the Ministry. This Administration will certainly miss you”.
All Nigerians attest to that. And the question is, which minister merits this kind of commendation today? Whether Yar’Adua would use his first anniversary in office to re-focus his cabinet remains a matter of guess.

The Niger Delta albatross
There is no doubt that the Niger Delta crisis has become an Albatross in the neck of the various administrations in the country. Yar’Adua’s determination to tackle the crisis, which has degenerated into a serious nightmare to all, came early in the life of the administration.
On June 4, 2007, he convened the first Niger Delta Summit to consider all ideas and initiatives, including the Niger Delta Master Plan, with a view to finding an enduring solution to the crisis in the region.
But all his subsequent efforts have paled into insignificance considering the fact that the crisis had assumed a more alarming proportion in the last one year. Today, the creeks are by far more dangerous, and the militants more daring and seemingly implacable.

The price of crude at the international market has been linked to the Niger Delta crisis and other flash points where crude is sourced globally. The Yar’Adua approach has been more or less the same with that of his predecessor in office, but analysts canvass a more pragmatic approach that has a bold and unwavering political will to tackle the crisis once and for all. For now, nothing significant has changed, if anything, the crisis is assuming a frightening dimension than ever.

Observance of Rule of Law
Clearly, President Yar'Adua's commitment to rule of law as opposed to President Obasanjo's supposedly militaristic presidency is very open for all to see. The president has always harped on the need to do thing in the light of the provisions of the law. And since he came to power, he has always acted that way. Few days after he assumed office, the Supreme Court nullified the purported election of Andy Uba as the governor of Anambra State. The reason it gave was that Governor Peter Obi had not exhausted his constitutional tenure as Governor under the 1999 constitution, by the time of the 2007 Governorship election. In a jiffy, the President ordered that the Supreme Court order be carried out by the Inspector General of Police.
This, to many Nigerians, was a marked departure from the days of Obasanjo when the then minister of Justice and Attorney General would ask for a further interpretation of the court’s pronouncement before obeying or outright disobedience, as was the case in the Lagos State local government funds decision. This is one area Nigerians have continued to applaud and are still applauding the government.

Lowmarks
However, Prof. Pat Utomi, in assessing the performance of Yar’Adua so far, told Sunday Sun in an interview in April that the country has stagnated in the last 365 days and that there was nothing to assess.

“Assessment of Yar’Adua’s government.
is really an unfair question because if you ask me to assess something, you have to give me something to assess. What I am saying is that nothing has happened. You cannot assess nothing. As far as I am concerned, nothing has happened. The country has stagnated. There is a momentum in parts of the economy that is running on its own in spite of government. But nothing has happened in Nigeria because of government in the last one year”, he had said.

Many people will share the same view. As the Yar’Adua administration moves into the second year of its four year tenure, its primary focus would be how to regain lost ground and do something in concrete terms to re-assure Nigerians that the vision the seven-point agenda is set out to achieve is still on course.
That was exactly what Utomi, perhaps meant when he declared in the same interview that: “We need to have a vision of where we are going and we have to have people who are passionately committed to getting there for something to happen. One of the first things that must happen is that politicians have to get together and accept that Nigeria is in trouble because of their conduct. That is trying to develop some kind of collective vision of where Nigeria should be going no matter who is there. We need to make some sacrifices for nation building rather than be obsessed with individual quest for power, who is doing what as a person rather than who and who have something to offer the people. Until we do that, Nigeria will be a regressive economy, one step forward, two backwards. What we have been seeing are reversals of policies in the last one year”, he advised.