The Sun News On-line/politics

Dr Segun Ogundimu, former Commissioner of Health, Lagos State and a chieftain of the People's Democratic Party (PDP), has urged Nigerians to do their best in the quest to realize the vision 2020 agenda of President Musa Yar'Adua.

He described Yar'Adua as a meticulous Chemist, whose careful steps should not be mistaken for sluggishness.
He said people like Yar'Adua are not good in making noises over their plans but always like to spring surprises.
He speaks on his expectations from the president among other issues

Expectations from Yar'Adua
You see, Nigerians have come a very long way and sincerely speaking, they've been victims once too many. Governments come, governments go; they promise them things that are never met. It has put Nigerians into a state where they don't trust anyone. The disappointments are in all ramifications, in all spheres of life. That's why I feel pity for this current administration. For the first time in the history of Nigeria, we're having a proper graduate at the helm of affairs. Not just a graduate, but an analytical chemist and by virtue of their training, they're very meticulous. Very painstaking.

They watch their steps. If they want to move, they do so carefully. They want to be exact and precise in what they do. So, he's really taking his time and watching his steps, but as always, Nigerians are now in a hurry, which is unfortunate for this administration. We want to get to the promised land within one day. But am happy with the recent speech of Mr. President, where he said we must fast track governance. That means he's a good listener who has heard so many things as per being slow, but as I said, he's being careful and meticulous.

What Nigerians need to do is to try and understand the man on the saddle. You cannot compare two heads of state and besides he's different from everyone that has ruled us. His nature, background, mien etc are different. One of the things journalists must learn about him is that he doesn't like being speculated. And that's the mistake the media has made in the last couple of weeks. He doesn't like it at all. With the kind of a leader, journalists must learn to adjust and accommodate the new President. Obviously, it'll take the media some time to do so, but we must adjust.

He should be respected in that regard. I've also observed one thing in the man; he likes an element of surprise. He doesn't like making noise before acting. He has a seven-point agenda he's trying to carry out, but my point is that he should tarry on that for a while so that the new ministers waiting to be appointment can come in and make some inputs, especially in the budget in order to reflect what is needed in their own sectors. Because, if the budget is passed before they come in, they're going to be so strapped and might not have enough to handle certain projects. But if they're part of it, they'll know areas to highlight.

Yar'Adua's moral burden of legitimacy
I'm going to be sincere with you; I don't think he has that burden at all. Anybody who feels he wasn't elected legitimately is just deceiving himself. The figures are there. He scored over 12 million votes and the second person to him had about three million plus, so what are we talking about? I think what brought about this issue of legitimacy is the canceling or election results here and there, people heading for the election petition tribunals and so on. So the issue of illegitimacy is completely out of it. More so, we're expecting that the hearing coming up soon at the Supreme Court will completely be in his favour. Apart from the figures, the hearing at the Supreme Court looks at various factors like peace, security and so on. So, he'll win no issue of legitimacy burden.

Vision 2020
This vision runs in tandem with the etiquettes of Nigerians. Most countries are very humble about the utterances of their nation. I remember when the recent German President (the Chancellor) was taking over, he said Germany may not be great but they're trying to be great. That's very instructive, but here we try to be very loud, ascribing greatness to ourselves.

We call ourselves the great nation, the giant of Africa and what have you. Even in football competitions, without adequate preparations, we keep on living in our own words, we'll boast of beating our opponents. We'll boast of harvesting 40 gold medals in Olympics and so on. We keep living in our own world. The government should try and change the psyche of her citizens. Every Nigerian believes the country is very big and this is affecting us and getting us more enemies even within the Francophone and Anglophone countries. Realizing the vision 2020 thing is a bit tough considering the time lag.

Why are we choosing the first 20 economies as our contemporaries by year 2020? Why not the first 100? What's our current position? For vision 2020, are we not being too enthusiastic and over-optimistic on it? We must be humble in our utterances. Let's avoid exaggerations. There's nothing wrong in setting that target. If we achieve 70 per cent of what we set out to achieve, then, it's still a success. We have to draw some realistic things here. If he has set that 2020 goal by himself, we must also ensure that all hands must be on deck to follow that dream. It is a projection that we must works towards. We must show seriousness that depicts we mean real business.

That's why he wants to fast track governance to show Nigerians he means business. And if he's lucky to have a nice crop of technocrats that he's looking for now, we might get there. When we set a high goal for ourselves, we might get disappointed if do not have a matching action. We must put necessary machinery in place to achieve it. So for the vision 20/20, if we put our onions and house together, we can achieve it.

Nigeria at 48 vis a vis her vision
It still boils down to the issue of promising and promising and promising and yet no fulfillment. At a point, you become disappointed. The issue with most government promises is that it's at times unrealistic considering the time lag. The content may be good but the time lag makes it unrealistic. The current President inherited this culture of making promises and promises. Nigerians are tired of promises. Just go ahead and act and I think that's what the administration wants to do. Promising and failing is what Yar'Adua wants to avoid. Nigerians want to be surprised and not telling them you'll do this or that without fulfilling it.
If you recollect, our celebrated late Bola Ige, in 1999, said within six to nine months, there would be electricity everywhere, like New York.

But what happened? No steady light till now. Perhaps, the current President, from what I think, underestimated the problems in the power sector by giving a specific time frame within which to fix it. It's one of the politicians’ style of wooing the electorate. So, when he finally gets on the saddle, he sees so many competing challenges that must be met within the confines of limited funds. And when the set target is not met, that turn him into a mini-liar as it were.

So for Yar'Adua to have said at the beginning of his tenure that he would declare a state of emergency on power, it just shows the desires of his heart to tackle. He appreciates the fact that the biggest problem in the country today is power and he wants to tackle it with full steam. But getting there, he now appreciates the enormity of the problem.

That's why he retraced his steps and utterances, having evaluated the problems on ground. But in doing that, it was at a moral cost to him, which I think pains him too. That's why he set another target, but we're not there yet.

He has put the plough on and let's see what happens. But baring saboteurs in that sector, which he wants to overcome anyhow, then Nigerians are going to smile in the long run. He has promised 6,000 megawatts before the end of 2010 or thereabout; let's give him the needed support to achieve it. He'll throw in every resource to achieve it, but I would've preferred he didn't peg it on any date but rather within a time frame. Nigerians know the enormity of the problems in the power sector.

They know that tackling it is a big one and that any president that solves that problem will go down the history of the country as the best leader Nigeria has. I also pray that any Minister that is posted to handle power should work closely with Mr. President on how to find the lasting solution. The solution is as glaring as the problem itself. If God gives us a good man to oversee the Power sector as Minister, then Nigeria can enjoy good power within the shortest time.

Factions of PDP in Lagos
There're two warring factions in Lagos PDP, the Establishment Group and the Lagos Solidarity Front. This is not good for us. I'm a founding member of the PDP in Lagos. I spearheaded the Rescue Team in 1999. Because of my calling as a Medical Doctor, I've never supported this faction thing. I know that factions can never unite a party, rather it destroys it. I've played in NPN, Liberal Convention, and the NRC etc. Factions may help you develop peripherally, but when it comes to central strength, it's not there. That was the case after the death of Funsho Williams.

The party went haywire and the centre could not hold. Bode George tried to put the party together, but because Obanikoro too had his own ambition, it was not feasible. Obanikoro came from AD to PDP. By the time the party decided to flaunt Mrs. Funsho Williams, which was the endorsement of Obasanjo, the others kicked because they had their own individual ambitions. But unfortunately the machinery of Obanikoro was so strong that it led to a lot of anti-party activities during the elections.

Bode George tried to mend the fence but Obanikoro had won at the primaries, so there was the need for the party to come together and back him, but Obanikoro did not believe Bode George was working with him. Obanikoro did not believe all the efforts of Bode George. That accounted for the loss of PDP. The party was not united nor coherent in its activities. More so, the Ogunlewe faction was there. He too had the ambition to become the governor but with the furore over Funsho Williams death, he had to back down. So at the end of the election, the gulf escalated. Bode George was in the control of the party. From the ward level, to two local government councils, then zonal and then national.

These problems led to the emergence of the Rescue Team because what was happening in the party is that is either you're for Bode George or Obanikoro. So that development further enlarged the coast for Rescue Team. Later, the Ogunlewe group came in which some party members feel it didn't totally stand for PDP. People saw them as one leg in AD and the other in PDP. Some of his followers were appointment in other party.

The Rescue Team was there to ensure that PDP never lost more than it had already in the name of factions. We understood the consequences.