It is indeed baffling that President Buhari
has failed to recognize the urgency of
articulating a blueprint and setting the
machinery in motion to put the country on
the path of recovery. Rather, the President
has been on the road, globe-trotting, even as
Nigeria totters on the brink of economic
collapse. In six months or so, PMB has
visited more countries than he has visited
states or even cities in Nigeria. From the Gas
summit in Iran to the Commonwealth
summit in Malta, then the Climate summit in
France and then Vienna for OPEC meeting;
and to South Africa again for the Forum on
China/Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). On the
global stage, Buhari exhibits a very annoying
loquacity with his endless lamentations. He
has done nothing but talk and lament how
Nigeria is broke and ravaged by terrorism
and corruption.
Contrast Buhari with the new Tanzanian
President, John Magufuli, who has only been
president for three weeks but he is already
stamping his authority on the country. A few
days after taking office, he banned all
foreign trips by government officials. Any
external work requiring Tanzania’s presence
would be done by the country’s diplomats
abroad. One could be allowed to travel after
getting permission from the president or the
chief Secretary. Instead, civil servants are
urged to spend more time traveling to rural
areas and fix the country’s problems there.
Magufuli aka "The Bulldozer" became an
instant sensation after he canceled the 54 th
independence anniversary celebrations,
saying money allocated for the pomp event
should be spent on sanitation, new hospital
equipment and tackling cholera. He has
promised to take Tanzania back to the days
of high quality education and healthcare and
it seems from his body language that the
golden days of Tanzania are here.
On the other hand, the APC government was
expected by the electorate that put it in
power to do things differently. And this
includes, it bears repeating for the
umpteenth time, that it hit the ground
running. To say Nigerians are disappointed
with the new administration, will be an
understatement. They saw Buhari as a very
serious minded retired general, who
understood that actions spoke louder than
words. And because he spoke less, the
mystic around his persona created a
dignified taciturnity that helped project him
to the presidency. But it appears change has
come and Buhari too has changed. From
nowhere, the president has developed a
loose tongue and seems to suffer from
verbal diarrhea. The man just cannot stop
talking; even when no one seems to be
listening. And when there is news to break
about Nigeria, Buhari never does so in Abuja
or elsewhere in the country. He waits until
he gets to a foreign country before speaking.
Unlike Buhari, the morning after taking
office, Magufuli walk from his office to the
Finance Ministry, and employees who were
not on seat were queried. He ordered the
revenue authority to scrap all tax
exemptions, giving tax evaders one week to
pay up what they owe or face prosecution.
Six tax officials including the head of the
revenue authority were suspended pending
investigations into claims of graft and tax
evasion. Magufuli also visited the Muhimbili
National Hospital in the capital city
unannounced and was shocked by the rot
and squalor that are usually hidden from
important visitors. He fired the director and
the hospital board and ordered that all
machines that were broken (forcing patients
to patronize private clinics owned by some
doctors) be repaired within two weeks;
otherwise the new director should consider
himself sacked. The machines were repaired
in three days.
While change is happening in Tanzania,
Buhari’s refrain has been that Nigeria is
bankrupt due to years of bankrupt
leadership. He has repeated this mantra until
it has now become a personal motto. He
said the same thing in America, Germany,
France, South Africa, Benin, Ghana, and the
neighboring countries of Chad, Niger and
Cameroon, where he had gone to forge a
regional alliance to defeat Boko Haram. This
offshore sermonizing is meant to gain
international understanding to the effect
that, notwithstanding the loud promise by
Buhari and the APC for change, it would
require more than four years to wake up the
giant of Africa from its deep slumber.
Again, juxtapose Buhari’s endless
lamentations with Magufuli’s resolve to
combat squandermania. He ruffled feathers
after he reduced the budget of the state
dinner organized for legislators and guests
as the new parliament opened. The budget
was $150,000 but Magufuli reduced it to
$12,000 and ordered that the balance be
used to buy hospital beds. Some 300 beds
and mattresses and 600 bed sheets were
procured with the balance. Last November
21, Magufuli reduced a 50-man delegation
scheduled to tour some Commonwealth
countries to only four, saving the Tanzanian
government an estimated $300,000 in
tickets, hotel expenses and out-of-station
allowances.
President Magufuli has also ordered against
official gatherings outside the office when
such meetings can be conducted through
conference calls. No more seminars in
expensive hotels when there are idle Ministry
board rooms. No more sitting allowances for
public officials, including for MPs who earn
monthly salaries. He has ordered SUVs given
to engineers to be withdrawn, saying pick-
ups are more suitable for their jobs. Also
banned are public officials buying and
sending Christmas cards with state funds.
On top of all of that, Magufuli has promised
a small, lean cabinet, to be announced next
month. As far as can be determined,
Magufuli has literally hit the reset button;
returning Tanzania to its default settings by
its founding President Julius Nyerere.
Contrast this with Nigeria and its high cost
of governance. All 36 screened ministerial
nominees were assigned ministries and they
will be paid salaries and allowances, which
one estimate put at about half a billion naira
per annum for all 36 ministers. Add the 36
governors and state legislatures and bloated
civil service and there is little to cheer about
Nigeria. As the dejecting indices show in
such areas as the security of life and
property, food production, industrial output,
quality of education and healthcare,
diversification as well as productivity of the
economy, there is indeed cause for worry.
Buhari is just lamenting like a helpless victim
and hoping to extract some remediation
from his western sympathizers.
But Western leaders understand the
elections are over, and want to see clear
plans at addressing the issues raised in the
campaigns. To continue the campaigns,
which have since degenerated into needless
lamentations, only further casts Buhari as an
international embarrassment and public
nuisance. If after six months, all Buhari has
to offer after the hype of a change mantra,
are lamentations, it were better he remained
silent, because de-marketing the Jonathan
administration as a strategy for marketing
the Buhari presidency has failed woefully.
The Buhari-led government of a change-
promising APC party understood the
expectations of Nigerians, knew the rules of
engagement, and accepted it. 2019 is not too
far away so, PMB should return home; take
a lesson or two from his Tanzanian
counterpart and start delivering on his
campaign promises. It is a truism that a
nation rises and thrives, or falls on the
quality of its leadership. As a matter of
collective honor, the APC must effect the
changes that should redirect, regenerate,
and reposition Nigeria for its deserving place
in the comity of nations. To the extent that
Nigeria remains a great country waiting to
happen, President Buhari, presumably a
good student of history and a dramatis
personae angry enough at the nation’s
steady decline, has a golden opportunity to
change the narrative. History beckons!

http://huhuonline.com/hunew/index.php/opinions/6444-editorial-tanzania-s-new-president-and-lessons-for-buhari

Quite apt.