In our clime it does not always happen that political chief executives challenge their appointees to work hard. One reason is that some don’t want their appointees to ‘outshine’ them. There are also political chief executives whose priority is to take care of their own pockets, not the public. Appointees who show they want to work are, therefore, a threat to the chief executive who doesn’t want to work. So, when one sees a chief executive who tells his political appointees he expects them to work but they don’t, it’s worth pointing out. This is what the Governor of Bayelsa State, Duoye Diri, did lately at a meeting with his appointees.
The governor’s action reminds me of one political appointee who says he’s careful so as not to be seen by his boss and fellow aides as wanting ‘something’. Diri is showing he’s not in the mould of chief executives who watch every step taken by their appointees to ensure they neither outshine them nor be a barrier to their ulterior motives. Diri wants to see his appointees work. He said that much when he addressed his Commissioner of Agriculture, who happens to be a professor of agriculture. During the meeting shown on TV, Diri said he expected the state to produce enough food. Obviously, he wasn’t pleased that the state wasn’t doing that on a large scale. He felt his appointee in charge of agriculture should have made Bayelsa the food basket of the nation, but it didn’t happen. He said to the professor that if he didn’t make Bayelsa produce enough food, he would consider the professor to be a classroom theoretical teacher.
Diri further explained that he travelled to one of the Asian countries with the professor, and they visited entities that were into agriculture. Those entities made promises to assist Bayelsa in its drive to produce food. Nonetheless, since the governor and the agriculture professor returned, no action had been taken to indicate that the agriculture ministry wanted to leverage the promises made during the visit. For this reason, the governor asked rhetorically why he had not seen changes thus far. He added that he expected technology to have been deployed for large-scale agriculture in the state, but thus far, nothing had happened.
In one of the responses made at that same meeting, one of the attendees commented that practising agriculture by using a machine for large-scale production in Bayelsa was impossible because farmlands had trees on them. That attendee said help was needed in that regard. As for the observation Diri made publicly at that meeting, it indicates a few things. It indicates a governor who wants to work for the state and people. It’s obvious Diri purposely selected persons he assumed would come up with initiatives to assist him in different departments. From his agenda, any appointee could take a cue and come up with measures that would bring the governor’s plan into reality for the Bayelsa people. It’s what dedicated appointees do, and a political chief executive who wants to work for the people would appreciate them both now and in the future.
My example is the manner President Bola Tinubu operated his government both now and at the time he was the Lagos State governor. He had a plan for Lagos. He brought on board appointees who helped him achieve them. After Tinubu left office as governor, many of the appointees who had proved themselves were recommended for appointment in the administration of the late former President Muhammadu Buhari. Many others from the 1999-2007 era in Lagos are currently working in Tinubu’s administration. They proved themselves in the past; now they’re elevated. Some current appointees say they ask Tinubu what he wants them to do, but he says they’re the professionals in their fields, so he expects them to do what they deem best for the nation.
However, it’s not all the time political appointees have a boss like Tinubu or Diri. Many chief executives are petty, insecure, jealous of brilliant persons around them, and it’s not always that their ulterior motives in office rhyme with the zeal of appointees who want to “work”. Many political appointees have been bruised in their efforts to make a difference. As such, most of them take a cue and adopt a “sit-down-look” approach. This situation calls attention to a few other issues in our political space. Too often, political chief executives don’t state clearly what they expect from their appointees from the outset. They don’t explicitly say they want to see “workings”. This lack of clarity has its effects on governance, as most appointees are cautious, playing it safe. Many state governors render their appointees ineffective this way, including cabinet commissioners.
They allow commissioners no room to take initiatives and make contributions. There was a state where commissioners weren’t even permitted to sign off on a N2m initiative. Every single kobo was controlled by the governor. This situation makes political appointees become indifferent. Nonetheless, I believe this shouldn’t make appointees stop trying to contribute as best as they can, and I made this point here in the recent past. Sometimes, one initiative brought to the chief executive is approved. At other times, another initiative is not. But it shouldn’t be said that an appointee makes no moves, that they come up with nothing for their superiors to look at. Reason? The appointee has a reputation to build, a political future to look forward to.
Furthermore, I observe that most people think chief executives know everything. It’s not true. Now, I’ve always enjoyed thinking up things, putting ideas together and embarking on new initiatives.
I had made some ideas available to superiors in the organisations where I once worked. There were occasions they received such with so much appreciation. Some commended me for taking the necessary steps to see a project to its successful completion before I reported later the obstacles I confronted. One superior once commented, “If it were another person, he would have left it undone, waiting for me to arrive.” Regarding another initiative from me, one former boss said, “I didn’t even think of that before.”
No appointees should fold their hands and do nothing; what if their new boss turns out to be a Tinubu or Diri? Effective leaders value new initiatives from subordinates. Successful leaders tend to be those who encourage new ideas and offer support. In Bayelsa, Diri appointed a professor of agriculture as commissioner of agriculture, believing the professor would come up with initiatives that would change the face of agriculture in the state. He didn’t see what he expected, so he spoke out. I imagine that Diri didn’t have only the professor in mind when he made his comment. I suspect he was commenting on a general trend among all his appointees.
For instance, if there were other appointees in his entourage during his visit to the Asian country he referred to, and they attended to other matters, Diri would have been expecting proposals from them too. Yet performance or lack of it that the governor commented on couldn’t have been about the visit only. It’s what he’s noticed generally about the performance of most of his appointees. Therefore, since Diri is one state governor who wants to work and achieve, he needs to make this expressly clear to his appointees. There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind where their superior stands about new ideas and initiatives. I urge Diri to, henceforth, expressly make his lieutenants know what he expects on each issue, as well as promise them that good initiatives from them would get his unreserved support.
Meanwhile, on the aspect of taking initiatives, the professor of agriculture should have worked to find a way around the identified obstacles to large-scale farming in Bayelsa. Now that he knows his governor welcomes new ideas, he should come up with workable proposals such that Diri would ask why he didn’t bring such to his attention before. Since trees constitute a hindrance on farmlands, could small-sized machines be designed to do the work without felling trees needlessly? These are issues the professor should look at, and there are research outcomes on them gathering dust on shelves in tertiary institutions, which he can recommend for adoption.
