Government of former governors. What will they do differently?

When Bola Tinubu and Kashim Shettima are sworn in as Nigeria’s 16th President and Vice President respectively on May 29, 2023, they would become the first Nigerian President and Vice who had been legislators (Senators) and governors before becoming the No. 1 and 2 citizens of the world’s most populous black nation. It would also be the second time two former governors will be running the country as President and Vice, the first being Umar Musa Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan when they were sworn-in in 2007. 

By the time members of the 10th National Assembly are inaugurated in June, the battle for the Senate Presidency, barring any last-minute change, would likely be between two leading southern candidates – Orji Uzor Kalu and Godswill Akpabio – who are also former governors of Abia and Akwa-Ibom state respectively. Should any of them emerge, Nigeria’s first three citizens – the President, Vice President and Senate President, for the first time since independence, would be former governors, who have spent eight years managing the affairs of their respective states. The first three citizens also have legislative experience as Senators.

Tinubu was elected a Lagos Senator in 1992 before the military grabbed power in 1993 and truncated democracy. He was governor from 1999-2007 and has remained a political godfather since then, before running for president in 2023. He has business interests in TVC and The Nation newspaper and several others.

Shettima, a former banker, was governor of Boko Haram-ravaged Borno state from 2011-2019 and has been a Senator since 2019. The abduction of Chibok girls in 2014 took place when he was governor.

Kalu, a businessman and former banker with business interest in two national newspapers – The Sun and New Telegraph, was governor of Abia state Southeast Nigeria (1999-2007). In December 2019, he was convicted by the Federal High Court in Lagos and sentenced to 12 years in prison for ₦‎7.65 billion fraud. In May 2020, the Supreme Court, however, nullified his trial and ordered his release and retrial.

Akpabio, a lawyer, former Commissioner and two term governor of Akwa Ibom state South-South Nigeria, was elected Senator in 2015 but lost his re-election in 2019. He was appointed Minister of Niger Delta Affairs and spent three years before resigning to run for President under the APC. He is now returning to the Senate and aspiring to be the Senate President.

At the Senate which has become a sort of retirement home of former governors, 14 of the 109 lawmakers are former and outgoing governors.

Many of the politicians queuing to be appointed Ministers are also former governors. Former Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti state is being tipped as the Foreign Affairs Minister. Also on the queue is Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano state, and other outgoing and former APC governors who all lost their Senatorial bid – Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi state, Simon Lalong of Plateau State who was Director General of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Ben Ayade of Cross River State, among others.

The next government is likely going to be a party of former governors who are also positioning to be the leading players. But what do they bring to the table and what difference would their experiences as former State CEOs make on the dwindling fortune of the country? 

The next government inherits:

• A nation with 63% (133 million) multidimensionally poor residents;
• 33.3% (23.18 million people) jobless citizens;
• 21.82% inflation as of January 2023, the highest since September 2005;
• N46.25 trillion national debt as at the end of December 2022. Experts say it is likely to hit above N77 trillion by end of 2023;
• 9.6 million out-of-school children from ages six to 11;
• 4,545 people were killed by non-state actors and 4,611 others were kidnapped in 2022.

The list goes on.

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If it is by impressive résumés, experience and the charisma to lead, we may not be bothered, but the many demons of the Nigerian state have defeated impressive résumés in the past. Jonathan is a PhD holder, former governor and Vice President. Muhammadu Buhari, a former military general, could not tackle insecurity in eight years.

Who would have thought that a government where Yemi Osinbajo, a Professor of Law, law lecturer and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, is the Vice President, would demonstrate the worst form of disregard for rule of law and court orders? Then there is Babatunde Fashola – the Lagos ‘poster boy for good governance’ – who couldn’t fix the country’s power sector when he was put in-charge of the nation’s Ministry of Power for four years. 

Although many Nigerians have doubts in the résumés of the new set of leaders, those who see it as a spark of hope believe the country’s new leadership would perform better than the outgoing government, if their résumés can be trusted.

Managing Nigeria is a herculean task that requires more than a solid résumé, you also need the mental and physical strength, empathy, doggedness, strength of character and more. Do the new leaders have this? We may not be able to say.

With a lot of overlap in the characteristics and the experience that the President, Vice, incoming Senate President and cabinet members are bringing on board that is expected to make them a dynamic team, we hope they stick to the script and the country turns out just fine in a few years.