Are There Technocrats in Tinubu Govt like Obasanjo, Yar’Adua, and Jonathan’s?

Without sounding disparaging or chipping away at their expertise and illustrious professional backgrounds, many a Nigerian never knew there were technocrats in the government of President Bola Tinubu. At least, not until the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, called out and read the riot act to appointees who use that posturing to avoid campaigning for the ruling party.

Some of the said political appointees may be technocrats in their own right, but arguably not of the caliber of experts who bestrode the corridors of power in the recent past. Without having to dial as far back as the democratic dispensation of Olusegun Obasanjo, whose Federal Executive Council was like a constellation of shining stars, his successor, the late Umaru Yar’Adua had Dr Rilwanu Lukman, Shamsudeen Usman, Prof. Babatunde Osotimehin and Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.

During the Goodluck Jonathan era, there were Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Olusegun Aganga, Akinwunmi Adesina, Omobolaji Johnson, Architect Mike Onolememen, Dieziani Alison-Madueke (who, for all her purported failings, holds an MBA from Cambridge University and rose to a top position at Shell). Even President Muhammadu Buhari, in the early years of his administration, had the now United Nations top shot, Amina Mohammed, as minister. There was the late Abba Kyari, and his successor, the intellectual Prof. Ibrahim Gambari.

Given their provenance and positions, these critically acclaimed eggheads clinched before and after Abuja; the jury is out on whether there are functionaries in the Tinubu government who can measure up to them. But from Yilwatda’s disclosure a few days ago, it has emerged that there are serving political appointees who rightly or wrongly believe they are on the same pedestal. Technocrats have no hiding place because they are assigned key ministries and are always in the news.

Speaking while receiving members of the Progressive Local Government Chairmen’s Forum, the APC national chairman said, “We call them political appointees. There is a word ‘political’ there. They are not just technocrats. They are political appointees. You can’t be holding a political position and then say you are not a politician.

“I have been hearing some people saying that, ‘I am not a politician,’ but they are holding political appointments. It is like somebody who has Yoruba or Kanuri tribal marks telling you that he is not a Yoruba or Kanuri man. It cannot happen,” Yilwatda asserted.

It does sound as if the said officials are hiding under the technocrat toga to avoid the heavy lifting that comes with politics. This is because the technocrats Nigerians witnessed in previous governments never needed to announce themselves. The impact of their work and engagement was eloquent enough. For some of them, patriotism was the trump card in making them give up their plum jobs abroad to serve the fatherland.

Indeed, no ruling party national chairman could have dared drag these Nigerian exports to the world into local politics. Their plates were so full courtesy of the enormous authority and responsibilities bestowed on them by the President that politicking would be the least of their concerns. Because of what they bring to the table, they were kitchen-cabinet members (cabal, if you will) of the presidents they served under. Is it someone as busy as the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy you would expect to be mobilising voters in Delta/Abia States or be distracted by the rofo rofo that defines Nigerian politics?

From the look of things, the supposed technocrats in the Tinubu government may not have been pulling their weight, necessitating Yilwatda (a technocrat in his own right as a professor) to give them an extra-curricular role! A quick test would be to ask random Nigerians how many ministers in the current government they can readily identify or name.

A definition of the term would help you better answer the question posed by the caption. According to the Concise Oxford Dictionary, a technocrat is someone who advocates and practices technocracy. The dictionary then defines technocracy as the “organisation and management of a country’s industrial resources by technical experts for the good of the whole community.” The current adaptation of the dictionary definition of the term is that the technocrat is a government official who uses their expertise to manage state resources in a way that furthers the common good.

In this Fourth Republic, President Tinubu is reputed to have nominated the most ministers. He submitted 47 names to the Senate in early August 2023 for confirmation as ministers, beating his predecessor Buhari’s record of 42 ministers. It should therefore be easier to identify technocrats among his cabinet. If not technocrats, then technopols (technocrats who are politicians) at the very least.

Yilwatda’s demand may inadvertently be the elixir needed to sanitise how politics is played in Nigeria. Technocrats are believed to be decent individuals who would bring some level of sanity to the murky waters of Nigerian politics. What electioneering and politicking in the country look like was highlighted earlier this month by the pioneer chairman and CEO of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Dr. Sam Amadi, while declaring his gubernatorial ambition.

He wrote on his Facebook wall, “In 2014, Senator Hope Uzodinma, now Governor Hope Uzodimma told me, ‘Sam, you know you ought to be Governor of Imo State, but you cannot do the things we do’. In 2026, Mr. Peter Obi, reacting to a wide call for me to run for Senate, told me, ‘Sam, do not run. It will be very violent. You are a good man. You cannot do the evil they do. I know how evil they are.’ But I will run for Governor, evil or no evil. The violent shall end by violence.” That’s the spirit! Someone would say!

If people of faith are waking to the imperative of partisan politics, self-respecting government officials have no excuse for not getting involved. The worst of us must not be allowed to rule the best of us. As the Founder of Living Faith Church Worldwide, Bishop David Oyedepo, said a fortnight ago, “We are not passers-by in our nations. We are bona fide citizens of the nation, and we have a right to participate in who governs us.”

Ugochukwu is a storyteller and branding specialist who tweets @sylvesugwuanyi