Governance Reimagined: Mapping The Future-Alex Otti

Being the Text of the Lead Paper Presented by Governor Alex C. Otti, OFR, at the 54th Annual Accountants Conference Organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) on October 8, 2024 at Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja

Protocols

1. Nigeria has changed dramatically in the last few decades. Unfortunately, it is not for the better. Strange events and ugly developments that were hitherto unimaginable in this part of the world a few years ago have become our daily reality. Going through regular national news reports and commentaries, one finds it difficult to accept that this is still the same country we grew up in — with so much hope and expectations.

2. A little while ago, many would have laughed off the idea of openly raising money through social media channels to pay ransom to kidnappers. When in the past we read reports of suicide bomb attacks and similar acts of terror in places like the Middle East and Afghanistan, did we not convince ourselves that such occurrences were impossible here? Today we know better.

3. On the economic front, things have changed even more dramatically. Neighbours whose compatriots once flooded the streets of our urban centres in search of jobs and means of survival now mock us openly, deride our currency and make jest of us on social media platforms. Who could have thought this possible in the 1970s or even 2000s?

4. Shall we talk about the alarming poverty and unemployment rates, the unmitigated collapse of public education, loss of faith in public institutions and all the other socio-economic problems that have forced many bright minds to pack their bags and move elsewhere (the ‘japa’ syndrome) because for them, there is just no other way to make it.

5. How about millions of families for whom the bare necessities of life have become articles of luxury? It gets more alarming when one realises that majority of the families and individuals who would now think twice before buying a regular loaf of bread were until a few years ago, comfortable middle-income earners.

6. We were once a nation of optimists who held very strong hopes that we were on the ascent on the development ladder. It would have been very difficult to believe that we will still be struggling with electricity problem in 2024. The assurance was that by the dawn of the new millennium, the problem of perennial power failure would be a thing of the past.

7. We have gathered this afternoon to talk sincerely to ourselves and ask a few soul searching questions. Sharing the same auditorium with some of the most accomplished experts in the field of accounting, I am convinced that the intellect, reach and influence to begin the process of changing our worrisome reality can be found in this large pool of people. Although some opinions insist that our problem is not lack of ideas but failure to execute!

8. On this note distinguished ladies and gentlemen, let me join the Registrar and Chief Executive, Dr Musibau Olasunkanmi, and other management officials of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) to formally welcome all of us to the 54th Annual ICAN Conference. I have to admit that I am very impressed with the extensive roll call of senior industry professionals who have made great sacrifices to be part of this year’s event. Your presence attests to the great regard you have for the profession. More fundamentally, forgoing all other commitments to be in Abuja for this Conference speaks to your keen desire to be part of the community of change agents who must now take the bull by the horn to drive a holistic turnaround in the fortunes of our nation.

9. Words cannot fully capture how honoured I am by the opportunity to interact with this esteemed body of professionals because growth comes from learning and this Conference provides a special platform to learn from peers, to challenge each other and look beyond the narrow confines of our daily engagements in pursuit of more enduring outcomes.

10. We have a preponderance of accountants in the room but I am glad that also in our midst are public servants, bureaucrats, titans of industry, entrepreneurs, lawyers, economists, and professionals from several other walks of life. What the audience mix tells me is that ideas and insights from this Conference can draw us to a new direction as a country. The truth, and we must never be ashamed to admit it, is that we have failed to live up to the expectations of millions of people around the world who had imagined in the 1950s and early 1960s that this land will attain superpower status, or something very close, by the dawn of the new millennium.

11. A lot has gone wrong in the last 64 years of our political independence but the least profitable way to use our time at this auspicious gathering is to devote any part of it to blame trading. We know of course that for many politicians and many public commentators, our worst setback was the incursion of the military in national politics. The military on their part had often cited “patriotic zeal” and failure of the “political class” for their unsolicited interventions. For the masses however, there is no distinction between the military rulers and the political elites, both are simply lumped together as “leaders” and blamed for the seemingly unending woes of the country.

12. These “leaders” include bureaucrats in the civil service, university administrators, judicial officers, community leaders and everyone else who exercises some form of authority in different jurisdictions. In a continuing cycle of blames, the “leaders” often point to the “system,” for its failure and this is always supported by claims of coming to power with “very good intentions.” Unfortunately, there is no clarity on the “system” construct and how to interrogate its involvement in our national woes.

13. The truth is that the people are tired of hearing the regurgitation of excuses by those with access to public microphones. They just want things to work — their children going to schools where they are taught in a conducive environment by properly trained and motivated teachers. They want access to basic amenities including electricity, pipe-borne water and good roads.

14. Our people want a community where the institutions of state are effective and responsive; they want the emergency services to respond as soon as they are contacted, without hindrances or excuses, they want to go to the courts and get justice in good time, they want to go to bed each night with both eyes closed, certain that they will not be jolted awake by masked gunmen, or find themselves in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by kidnappers for whom the sacredness of human life is an abstract idea that can only be scorned.

15. For our young ones, all that they ask is an opportunity to make a living and pursue their dreams without structural limitations. It is unfortunate that many of us are yet to fully appreciate the haemorrhage of human talent from our country fuelled by the ‘japa’ phenomenon. Our best brains in health sciences, software engineering, and finance could have stayed back to serve their fatherland if we had put our acts together. Permit me to use this opportunity to appreciate the brave and courageous ones who have resisted the temptation to leave. Thank you for your patriotic services, that is if you are not waiting for an opportunity to leave.

16. At any rate, it is depressing to observe that the opportunities we took for granted at the conclusion of our tertiary education in the 1970s and 1980s have disappeared for the majority, however brilliant they may be. So, we have clearly regressed. Unfortunately, all of us, in one way or the other, have contributed to this sorry situation.
17. For many of us who had the advantage of quality education in public schools, the idea of training our own children in private schools, or perhaps overseas for those who can afford the cost, tells a pathetic story of failure. We must now become very desperate to undo whatever it was that dimmed the hopes and dreams of an entire generation.

18. The theme of this Conference, Governance Reimagined: Mapping the Future, is very apt for a time like this because it invites us to reflect on where we are and then imagine where we could be if we made a few foundational changes. As I had said on several platforms, getting out of the present quagmire requires a new paradigm because as Albert Einstein was once quoted as saying, “solving a problem calls for a different level of thinking from the one that created the challenge in the first place.”

19. The assignment before us is to evolve new ways of tackling the existential problems that confront us because we shall be doomed if we remain aloof and imagine that we shall be spared when the ship ultimately wrecks. The unfortunate truth is that there may be no life boats to jump into.

20. We are often not as powerless as we imagine especially in a democracy where the king has the same voting right as a commoner. The reality of the times invites us to gird our loins and get to work. The first step to progress is to believe that Nigeria is not beyond redemption and that we have within us, all that is required to fix it. It is also important to appreciate that there is very little we can do about the past but if we start doing the right thing today, we can remap the future.

21. The natural question to follow is: what is the right thing? How can a young accounting professional be the champion of the new paradigm? What new paradigm are we even talking about? Why is clarity of essence in this conversation? Simple. The days of empty jargons are long gone because we can no longer mask our failures with words that have no meaning to the ordinary person. It will therefore serve us well to understand what we seek to achieve, and what is expected of us.

22. One, the right thing speaks to our obligations and duties as citizens. Thankfully, we learnt so much about citizenship even as pupils in primary school. The time to make the most of that knowledge might just be now. As accountants, I am certain that almost everyone in this room pays their taxes and other statutory fees to the government regularly so we may not have much of a problem in that area.

23. How about being effective in our responsibilities as leaders, discharging our duties faithfully and to everyone, without ill-will or affection? How often and quickly do we contact the law enforcement agents when we are confronted with inordinate requests or presented with evidence of fraudulent transactions in the course of our duties? Do we see the wrong things and then choose the convenience of inaction? Do we seek to be part of the wrong thing for financial or other benefits?

24. Do we still keep faith with our civic obligation of joining the process of electing leaders who will serve the best interest of the people or are we often too busy that we concede our rights to participate in the electoral process to persons who are easily manipulated — individuals who are only motivated by chants and lures of ethnicity and religious posturing? How many of us are active in the political circuit or do we consider ourselves core professionals who have no business being in politics? Well, the evidence of the last 25 years of democratic practice has shown that politics should be everyone’s business because its outcome impacts everyone. Like Charles de Gaulle once said “politics is too serious a matter to be left to the politicians”

25. Yes, I am aware that many of us have lost confidence in the system because of past encounters and the ugly experiences we had. I know the pain myself but if there is one testimony I can quickly share with this audience, it is the fact that no power on earth is strong enough to stop a people who are determined to change their story. As almost everyone in this auditorium may know, our journey to change the political dynamics of Abia State started in 2014. Long before the April 11 guber election in 2015, it had become clear to all and sundry that we were coasting home to victory. And we did. But through strange electoral manipulations and falsification of figures in one local government, the victory was stolen in broad day light.

26. The vigorous attempts to undo the harm through established judicial mechanisms were unsuccessful and our opponents continued to celebrate and gloat. We tried again in 2019 but the process was a lot messier. We could have given up at this time but we simply became more determined.

27. Four years later, we returned to the arena, this time with an even greater resolve to confront the system that had held our state down for decades. Again, we began to mobilise. Many, I must admit, became weary after nearly ten years of failed expectations. But amongst throngs of supporters, the hunger for change had become more fervent.

28. The election took place on March 18, 2023 and because of the collective resolve of our people and the good judgement of electoral officials who resisted all forms of pressure to circumvent the process, Abians eventually had their long-awaited victory four days after on March 22, 2023.

29. As I look back on our encounters and experiences in the years leading to 2023, I cannot but wonder what could have been the fate of the thousands of pensioners whose entitlements were withheld for years or the civil servants who could no longer feed their families because the government at the time had literally bankrupted to state and could not pay. What could have happened to them if we had given up in the middle of the road when it seemed like we were destined to fail again, and again?

30. On account of the resilience of our people, things are different today because not only do we pay our pensioners and civil servants by the 28th of every month without fail, we have also taken steps to defray what was owed them by previous governments.

31. In March this year, we paid N10 billion as pension arrears to our retirees and just recently, workers in various tertiary institutions and parastatals in the State began to share message of excitement to their families and friends after we paid them part of their N17.6b accumulated salary arrears.

32. You do not need to be a supporter of our government to admit that these workers were genuinely excited. The question I kept asking as I was looking at the videos which flooded social media platforms was: what could have happened if our people had lost faith in the project and surrendered to the forces that made life miserable for these hardworking men and women?

33. In the last 16 months, more than two hundred billion naira has been committed to road construction and rehabilitation projects in different parts of the State. A good number of the roads we are currently fixing had been abandoned since the mid-1990s leading to business closures and economic discomfort for individuals and families.

34. Beyond what we are doing on the surface of the roads, what is happening beneath is equally as important. Presently, several kilometres of underground drainage channels have been cleared of debris to make for easy flow of rainwater. The interesting thing is that for a very long time, no attempt was made to clear these canals. This failure led to serious flooding problems and losses particularly in Aba. Today, the story is different!.

35. Within Aba and Umuahia, the emergency taskforce team which I announced minutes after we took our oath of office evacuated about 5,000 truckloads of solid wastes in the first few weeks. It may interest this distinguished audience to know that some of the heaps evacuated had accumulated for several years prior to our inauguration.

36. Not too long ago, a video emerged of a large pile of refuse in a part of Aba and I quickly summoned my team to find out why we still have such sight anywhere in the city. I was told that the entire place had been inaccessible to human and vehicular traffic for years. People were only able to have access after we began working around the Obohia and Ohanku Roads. On account of our massive infrastructure restoration projects across these forgotten communities, people are beginning to see new rays of hope as families are quickly returning to their old homes and as expected, new businesses are rapidly springing up.

37. Before May 2023, large parts of Umunneochi and Isuikwuato Local Government Areas had fallen to various violent gangs who kidnapped, robbed, raped, maimed and killed our people at will. Thousands of residents fled their communities and all social events in the areas became very risky undertakings as guests were bound to be attacked. Restoring order to these towns and villages was amongst our earliest commitments. Resources and men were mobilised with one single objective: to flush out the criminals and retake territorial control.

38. The interesting thing is that the greatest applause for our modest achievements in the last 16 months has come, not entirely from known supporters of the Labour Party but mostly from those who openly opposed our push for a new order. Our efforts to repossess government lands and other public property that were illegally appropriated by previous government functionaries and their cronies have also been commended by non-partisan individuals and even opponents who are glad that we have the political will to do the right thing.

39. The roads we are fixing, the public buildings and transport infrastructure development projects are for public use. When we pay salaries and pensions, we do not ask for the identities of those who supported us and those who did not. Everyone is paid what is due them irrespective of their political or religious views, or where they came from.

40. The fruits of good governance is therefore for everyone, just as everyone becomes a victim of bad governance because no matter your political or religious affiliation, we all go to the same market, pay the same prices for goods and services, and when armed robbers or kidnappers block the road, no distinction is made between those who voted for, or supported candidate A or B in an election. The logic is that all of us must get involved because the fate of this country is in our hands.

41. To restore law and order to the places that were previously overrun by criminal gangs, we did not recruit new security operatives from the moon. No. We simply motivated the existing team, gave them the necessary support and asked them to move in and make the communities safe for all of us.

42. The same can be said of the sanitation team that evacuated tonnes of refuse heaps from the streets of Aba and Umuahia in the early days of the administration. It was the same staff who had been dormant at the various offices of the State’s Environmental Protection Agency (ASEPA). We only motivated and gave them the tools they needed to achieve a different outcome.

43. Through direct labour initiatives, hundreds of kilometres of road have been rehabilitated and fixed in different parts of the State. It is interesting to note that much of these projects are executed by the engineers and technical staff at the State Ministry of Works. Before now, these officers were merely restricted to unsatisfactory job routines in their offices and others simply had nothing to do. The story is similar at the State Ministry of Lands and Housing where we are also using direct labour and internal human resources within the Ministry to fix and restore our public buildings. This approach has expanded the capacity of our local professionals and also helped us to cut costs tremendously.

44. I can say wholeheartedly that I agree with the theme of this Conference which points us to the need to establish a new governance paradigm across the federating units. We have wasted so much time doing the same thing over and over again. The expectation is that the outcome will be different with continuous repetition of the same old practices. Unfortunately, like Albert Einstein said “insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”.

45. Nothing will change in our governance outcomes unless there is a fundamental shift in the way we appreciate democracy, interact with elected representatives and mobilise ourselves to achieve certain specific and general outcomes. One takeaway from my message today is that we can no longer afford to be docile. We must be interested because according to Plato, “one of the penalties of refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors”

46. Every month when I sit down with journalists, bloggers and ordinary citizens for a no-holds-barred interview session, I am often confronted with very difficult questions about everything. I go home at the end of each engagement more determined to deliver on the promises that brought us to power because the average person in the State is actively following everything we are doing.

47. Questions are drawn from our written campaign manifesto and promises made verbally at the campaign stops. Evidently, the people appreciate what we are doing but they want more. We understand their hunger for an overnight turnaround but in the midst of competing needs and very limited resources, things will have to progress in phases.

48. As I said recently at the University of Buckingham, development is about the sequence of steady progress. The most important thing is that we are constantly communicating our position, highlighting achievements and challenges, and defining measures put in place to overcome them and achieve more for the people.

49. Within the broader national context, what the Abia story teaches us is that the destiny of every community is in the hands of the so-called common people. In a democracy, however, everyone is as important as the other. As patriots, the ball now is in our courts to rededicate ourselves to the cause of building a new Nigeria. It is still not late and I am optimistic that despite present setbacks and betrayals, we shall just get it right in time. Remember, the only time this cause will fail is when we surrender.

50. We have to quickly get involved in the politics of our local communities because ultimately, the best way to develop a new template for governance is to create a new culture of community participation in public affairs, starting from where we live, where we work and all the places where we want to see things change for the better.

51. Let me assure us that we shall get it right if we step out of our comfort zones and begin to mobilise ourselves to work for a better future. This is a race for the future and only the willing and determined will win. Let us come together and write a more fitting narrative of our dear nation over the next few decades.

52. Thank you for listening and may God bless you all.

Dr Alex C. Otti, OFR,
08/10/2024