As Prince Otu, the Cross River Governor-Elect, prepares to take over from the outgoing Governor Ben Ayade, in 43 days, it is noteworthy that there is a multitude of both those who are working in the outgoing administration and another embellished and excited horde of “it is our turn” incomers, who are pressuring Prince Otu, in the hope of getting a chance to work in his government.
For most of these people, this rush is not because they want such government appointments or access to the incoming governor, for the development of their communities. It is actually to give them the status and money to go back to their communities to tilt their shoulders up.
I asked one of the persons lobbying, what will getting into Prince Otu’s government do for his people, and he rather told me, “An appointment will give me POWER and make me a political leader in my Ward with Authority. It will also improve my CV. I have been oppressed for too long. It’s our turn.”
And he is not the only one thinking like that. There are hundreds of them who are in this hussle who know that their interest in getting into the next government isn’t to go and serve. It’s for preservation. The question arising therefrom is, why on God’s green earth, will people desire government positions when they know they cannot serve?
Part of the inability to measure the success of the outgoing governor favorably is his penchant for populating his government with people who have no offices, job descriptions, or even expected deliverables. Yours sincerely will continue to warn that we must not tow that infamous path again. It is heartwarming that Prince Otu himself has promised to make appointments unattractive to Cross Riverians. I think this statement is very important now considering what we are grappling with.
It’s a given that he will form a government and he will appoint Cross River people into offices as required by law. My intervention here is simply calling for the intentional recruitment of people with the requisite capacity and interest in hitting the ground with a process that will create growth, progress, positive change, a rise in the level and quality of life of our population, and the creation or expansion of local income and employment opportunities, with adequate consideration for environmental protection.
These basic ingredients of development have depreciated very rapidly in the last decade and consequently hooked our people to the banal practice of rent-seeking from the government. This can be phased out and it should.
Yours sincerely.
Citizen Agba Jalingo is the Publisher of CrossRiverWatch and a rights activist, a Cross Riverian, and writes from Lagos.
NB: Opinions expressed in this article are strictly attributable to the author, Agba Jalingo, and do not represent the opinion of CrossRiverWatch or any other organization the author works for/with.