For INEC, a new helmsman at last

For as long as anyone can remember, the question on many lips pertained to when a substantive chairman would be appointed for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The former INEC chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, had bowed out in a blaze of glory after conducting the 2015 general elections according to expectations despite all odds.
Expectations had been high that Jega’s successor would be named either on the eve of his departure or a few days after he had quit. That was, however, not to be as President Muhammadu Buhari subsequently named an acting chairperson, Amina Zakari, to hold forte pending the appointment of a substantive chairman.
Between then and now, everyone had been waiting with bated breath to know the identity of the man or woman who would be Jega’s successor. Would it be one of the other senior officials of the commission? Or would an “outsider” be brought in to head INEC just as Jega had been head-hunted from the Bayero University, Kano?
These posers persisted until last Thursday when the President made the long-expected announcement. Professor Mahmood Yakubu, ex-executive secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) was appointed as Jega’s successor along with a couple of national commissioners. Just as the new chairman’s appointment fills the void created by Jega’s departure, the new commissioners’ emergence will fill the void created by the retirement of a number of the former officials.

By way of digression, it is worth noting that for someone nicknamed “Baba Go Slow” on account of his perceived slowness in taking important steps, the President surprised not a few critics by making these appointments in one fell swoop. This is more so as he has in the past couple of weeks been so preoccupied with the onerous chore of constituting his cabinet, a not too very easy task given his insistence on appointing only the very best that are available, rather than the usual trend of dispensing political patronage.

For those who have followed Professor Yakubu’s career trajectory over the years, his new call to duty is as timely as it is well deserved. Consider, for example, his performance at TETFUND. Barely had Yakubu been appointed as this vitally important Trust Fund’s chief executive than he set about transforming the hitherto sleeping behemoth into a proactive and nimble-footed outfit which has carved a pride of place for itself in the higher education arena.
Ask educationists, administrators, students and other stakeholders alike and they would regale you with first-hand testimonies of how the then Executive Secretary had dazzled all and sundry with his exemplary brand of visionary management and leadership. Aside from emphasizing due process and accountability in the application and/or management of the Fund’s resources, TETFUND under Yakubu’s watch ensured that tertiary institutions who performed according to expectations, in terms of executing projects with the fund provided by the outfit, are duly recognised with a view to serving as an incentive for other higher institutions. The result: greater fidelity to prudence and good governance in the execution of projects that are critically important to the development of the ivory tower.

In fact, by the time Professor Yakubu bowed out of TETFUND, he had repositioned the outfit to the extent that it has been variously adjudged as one of the most responsive and proactive federal government agencies of our time.
As he mounts the INEC seat, all eyes would be on Professor Yakubu to toe the path of his illustrious predecessor, Attahiru Jega. In fact, the new INEC chairman has a couple of lessons to learn from Jega’s remarkable tour of duty. Number one: He should do his utmost best to ensure that his integrity and that of INEC remains intact under every circumstance.
Number two: like Jega before him, Professor Yakubu should ensure that his primary loyalty is to the Federal Republic of Nigeria and not necessarily to the man who appointed him. In the same vein, he must not pander to the whims and caprices of any political party.
Number three: irrespective of his track record of performance and industry, it is his performance (or non-performance) in his current job that will make or mar his tenure. Past record has its value, but present record, in terms of performance or otherwise, speaks louder than any other testimonial.
Number four: He should, like Jega, bow out when the ovation is loudest. Whether, he completes only one or two terms, he should quit honourably at the appropriate time rather than sit tight until he is unceremoniously eased out.
Here is wishing the new INEC chairman God’s guidance and success.