INTERVIEW: Tinubu Has Good Team But Poor Coordination Can Mess Up His Vision for Nigeria- Laolu Akande, Ex Presidential Spokesman

Mr Laolu Akande is a Nigerian journalist, editor, scholar, lecturer and a former spokesperson of the immediate Vice President of Nigeria, Prof Yemi Osinbajo. In this exclusive interview with THE WHISTLER, he spoke on why he left private practice to serve in the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari, what the administration of President Bola Tinubu needs to do to achieve his vision for Nigeria and what next for him after leaving government on May 29.

EXCERPTS…

You were the Spokesman for the Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, what was the experience like for you in the public service between 2015 and 2023 and how were you able to effectively discharge your duties?

I think the first thing to say is that serving your country at that national level is actually a thing of privilege to be able to do that, especially when you work with a government that came clearly with a lot of goodwill.

I mean, the only reason why people like us must have got in was because of the massive goodwill that heralded the incoming administration in 2015, of course. The candidacy of the then General Muhammadu Buhari was very popular, and then for me, his nomination of Professor Yemi Osinbajo as his running mate was the turning point for me, because I had followed closely Professor Osinbajo’s antecedents, especially when he was the attorney-general in Lagos and all the reforms that he managed to put in place between 1999 and 2007.

So, I felt that that kind of capacity that he had demonstrated showed clearly that he would be a transformative leader if he were to get the opportunity.

So, when he was picked, I felt that, okay, this is somebody to work with, you know, if you’ve got the opportunity, because I have always had the passion to be part of the solution.

I’ve always been involved in public life myself since 1989, and part of that involvement had shown me the need for some critical engagement if the opportunity presented itself from the inside.

So, when then General Buhari picked Osinbajo, I felt that, okay, good that is a good choice and I joined the campaign and the service was quite eye-opening. We were able to do quite a few things that one is proud of today.

A lot was promised by the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari during his campaign for President, while some of these promises were achieved for Nigerians, others were not. What were the challenge that confronted the government in realizing some of its campaign goals?

Well, I think that we made a lot of progress and achievement in my view, especially in the first term.
We were able to, for the first time in the history of Nigeria, set up what essentially is a social safety net that had never existed in Nigeria at that level when the President asked the Vice President to implement the social investment programme and of course, everybody knows what happened, we were able to get the N-Power in place, trader moni, GEEP, all kinds of very soft credit facility, and the school feeding programme. The school feeding programme at its peak fed for free, over 10 million school children across this country.

So, I think in the first term, we were able to do quite a bit, and it was also in the first term the President asked the Vice President to coordinate the economy. So, we had the economy management team, which was a weekly meeting, but this ended in the second term when the President changed strategy. The Vice President’s office didn’t get the opportunity that it had in the first term, in the second term

But, although, clearly there are still a lot of things that can be said, that the Buhari administration, has managed to do, infrastructure, big deal, you’ve never had that kind of investment in infrastructure, He fixed the second Niger bridge, the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, restored the railway lines across the country and we also had the tax credit facility where people like NNPC, Dangote, I think NLNG and some other private sector players, were able to fix the roads, across the country, which is ongoing.

So, I think, at the end of the day, it’s going to be difficult not to give the Buhari Administration a pass mark in my view.

President Bola Tinubu has sworn-in his ministers that will assist in driving his agenda for Nigeria. What is your assessment of the team that he has put together in terms of their capacity and ability to deliver on his ‘Renewed Hope’ Agenda?

I think that without a doubt, we have quite a good number of notable technocrats. People like Chief Lateef Fagbemi, Mr Cardoso, Mr. Wale Edun, Prof Pate among others. The President has managed to put some very good people in his cabinet, some very capable hands, people that inspire some level of public expectations. Based on my own experience, what would make the difference is the ability to effectively coordinate this team, especially the economic team.

The President has done very well by naming the coordinating minister of the economy who should go ahead and lead the economic team. One of the most important elements that will determine the success or failure of the Tinubu administration is how effective the economic team is.

And we are not talking of just one minister, we are talking of a number of ministers and a number of Ministries, Departments and Agencies that have to work together. Compelling ministers and MDAs to work together in the presidential system of the Nigerian hue is a big deal.

And I’ve seen instances where people just do their own thing and operate in silos. Now, if that is allowed to happen, it will make a mess of the President’s vision. So, one of the things that the President has to pay attention to almost on a daily basis is the question of, how do you achieve an effective coordination, especially of the ministries and the MDAs, whose activities have a direct and almost immediate impact on the welfare of the majority of Nigerians, this is the true test.

The President must really continue to ensure and put structures in place that will deliver coordination, effective coordination.

Recently, you raised concerns on the need for the President to avoid duplication of roles in ministries. Can you provide us with more insight on what you meant and how can this be properly resolved by the President?

So, innovation is a cross-cutting agenda and everybody should be involved in some innovation at different levels, at different parastatals, at different ministries, but I think there is a confusion.

Right now, you have the Minister of Science and Technology and Innovation. Now innovation was added to science and technology under the Buhari administration, and now you also have in the Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy, innovation which is also added, I think that’s confusing.

There are going to be turf battles. While innovation, like I said, is a cross-cutting issue, I don’t think it is helpful to now name two ministers of innovation.

So hopefully that should have been sorted out but then, my view is that it’s important to just let that, the oversight of it, the coordination of it, the leading of it, be domicile in one ministry.

What ministry should it be domicile in and why?

So, under the past administration, I think it was chief Ogbonaya Onu and he was the one that brought President Buhari to put innovation in science and technology ministry. But a lot of people, will also argue that innovation ought to be in communications and especially digital, because a lot of the innovations are digital. So, the President just has to make up his mind because this idea of putting it in two ministries can create a distortion.

The economy is currently undergoing some challenging times. As someone who has been there before, what are some of the immediate steps the government can take to reflate the economy in view of the current revenue underperformance.

I think they are already on to it, some of the experts would say that, and I heard these too under the past administration, that the real problem is more of a revenue. The President has already initiated through the Oyedele tax reform committee, a very ambitious tax reform. I think that is quite useful and then in terms of trying to be very bold around the issue of subsidy, trying to harmonize what was then the dual foreign exchange, the President was very bold to do that.

But Nigeria needs some liquidity in the foreign exchange market. So, in order to stabilize the naira, you need some reserve that you will use to defend that, but of course we do not have the reserves to do that.

I’m sure that, Dr. Cardoso and Dr. Wale Edun will work together better than the last administration. I imagine that we will see a lot more cooperation regarding the alignment between fiscal and the monetary policies to sort out the major issues around the economy.

What was your experience from the recent United Nations General Assembly and how will you assess the presentation by Nigeria’s President?

First of all, on the personal, it was quite an opportunity for me to go back to what has been my experience. It has been my, routines from 1994, I’ve covered the UNGA all the way to 2014. So, at a personal level, it was good to get back there.

And, you know, talking about the President’s speaking, I think the President spoke very boldly. A lot of courage to be able to look at the high ups and say we are partners, Africa is a partner and that Nigeria, we speak for the black race, we are not a problem, we are a solution. He spoke very, very boldly and I was very delighted.

Now, there is homework for him to do, having said all those very wonderful things. You need to articulate a foreign policy that takes that forward and turns it into a work plan and we do have eminent people in diplomacy and many other fantastic people in that area that the President can work together, to articulate a strong foreign policy that takes forward his very beautiful speech.

In terms of the articulation of the foreign policy, how soon can that be done and how long will it take for us to start seeing the benefit of the UNGA?

Well, it’s as soon as the President is able to articulate the policy so that what he says becomes practicalized.
I believe that the foreign affairs minister, a very outstanding diplomat, he’s up to the task.

So finally, having served your country in public capacity, what is next for you?

So, I’m a journalist, and I’m back to reporting. For me, reporting is life. And life is reporting. I’m a reporter. But I refer to myself more as a reporter, because I love people. I will be doing a lot of reporting.

My news agency that I invested in in 2015 is being resuscitated. And then you’re going to be seeing me doing quite a bit of public analysis trying to interpret governmental politics, you are going to see a bit more of that. And very soon, you know, I’m going to be writing the story, my experience working with Buhari and Osinbajo.

My main focus will also be doing public analysis with Channels TV and special interview series on Future of Nigeria.

So, we should be expecting a book from you?

By the grace of God.