I do not know how much of football Seyi Makinde, the new governor of Oyo State, watches. But if he is a fan of the game, he will know that a football coach is as good or as bad as the team he picks. If the team is good, the coach is praised. If the team is bad, the coach is criticized and sacked. Governance is like that, too: a president or a governor is as good or as bad as the team he picks. So, picking a team requires great care, lest the wrong people are selected.

However, given the varied interests that politicians must accommodate, picking a team is more difficult for them than for football coaches. For Makinde, the task is made much more difficult by the coalition of forces that brought him to power. As the adopted candidate of the main opposition parties in the state, his victory has a hundred fathers. He is obligated to these parties and is expected to find them a place in his team. And these parties, I heard, do not want ancillary positions. They want to be active in the team, just as his party, the Peoples Democratic Party, wants the starting shirts for its members. How he shares the spoils of victory among the many hands jostling for a piece may make or ruin his administration.

But, in the midst of this political tussle, he must never lose sight of his original aim: to serve the people of Oyo State to the best of his ability. He therefore needs a team of dedicated and committed men and women who will complement him in this undertaking; those who can conjure the fresh water he promised the people out of hard rocks. Unfortunately, many of these people are apolitical and belong to no party. Some are young. Others are old. Many of them live in obscurity, a few are well known. As a good coach, he must scout them out and blend them together into a team.

His team must be more than just a collection of disparate people who worked together to win an election. It must have a strong sense of mutual commitment to the campaign promises made to the people. This will create synergy, which will generate performance greater than the ability of each individual member. The team must include men and women of high mental magnitude, moral rectitude and sensitivity to the welfare of the people. It must comprise men and women who won’t be obsequious, who won’t blunt the painful edge of truth; people who can look him in the eye and speak their mind.

It is difficult finding these men and women among the politicians milling around him. Many of them have got into the habit of being in every government and are hoping to keep their noses in the trough. These former-this, ex-that are old bottles that can’t hold fresh water. Making them Commissioners, Special Advisers, Special Assistants, and so on is just a valourization of political jobbery. This, however, does not mean they do not deserve a piece of the victory cake. Of course, they do. Some of them sacrificed their ambitions for his success at the polls; one even died. He can request them to nominate competent people into his cabinet.

Sadly, for most first-term governors, the quest for a second term is never out of sight. This may constrain him to accommodate some political jobbers in his team. But this will hurt him in the long run. Nobody will blame a Commissioner who failed his commission, or a Special Adviser who could not give special advice, or a Special Assistant who offered no special assistance. The governor, like a coach, takes the blame for his team’s poor performance.

He must, therefore, develop the courage to brave the disapproval of many politicians if he hopes to change Oyo State. He was elected by the people and is ultimately accountable to them. Those who claim credit—and there are many of them—for his victory and want a seat at the dining table are to be treated cautiously. They are like salt: too much of it can spoil the soup. He need not worry about a second term. If he keeps his campaign promises, the people will reward him with another term, as they did his predecessor. But if he allows position occupants and enemies of service into his team, he will be axed like a failed coach.


Written by bejeiodus



lalasticlala

mynd44

Oyo state under Makinde will be like the Argentine team.



Like if you understand

darocha1:
Oyo state under Makinde will be like the Argentine team.



Like if you understand

My brother, nobody prays for that. We all want him to do well.