May 29: Managing Transition To Power

As Nigeria prepares for another handover of g o v e r n a n c e structure at the state level come May 29, it is necessary to discuss how the governors, outgoing and incoming, should manage the process devoid of glitches. The law is clear: incumbents are the only legal governing authority in the states until their terms run out.

While governance is a continuum and succeeding administrations are expected to sustain inherited projects along with their own initiatives, incoherent decisions in the past have sometimes presented successors with avoidable conundrum. As the D-Day approaches, some governors-elect are already issuing “orders” to banks and public officers, while some incumbents are making new appointments, taking on new debts and contracts that could saddle their successors with difficult situations. This ought not to be the case. We think that there should be orderliness and decorum in public affairs even as we transit from administration to another.

Governors-in-waiting, in the opinion of this newspaper, should rein in their haste to take charge as there will be ample time for that. They owe themselves an obligation to hold on until they are inaugurated. Having said this, we are compelled by circumstances prevalent in some states, to observe that there are truly grounds for worry by incoming helmsmen that their predecessors could present them with booby traps such as unsustainable debts, contractual obligations, appointments and uncompleted projects amid lack of funds. It is trite, in our view, to point out that governors’ tenures are fixed.

However, it is a constitutional matter that they are required to continue to serve the people until they hand over to their successors. The business of government should not grind to a halt simply because an election has produced a successor-in-waiting. The new helmsman has no authority until he is sworn into office. We insist that Governors-elect should not interfere in administration until they are inaugurated. As the situation is, there are media reports claiming that some states are having issues with the process of preparing grounds for the exit of the outgoing governor and the smooth takeoff for the newly elected.

While we consider this unfortunate, we appeal that there should be a better and more civilized way to manage transitions in the overall interest of the people. If the dramatis personae believe in democracy, this should not be an issue. One of the fallouts of such incoherencies in the transition process is that apart from tying up new administrations in debt and controversial contractual obligations, reversal of policies and reluctance to pay contractors entrench Nigeria’s ill-repute for policy inconsistency and lack of fidelity to agreements. This partly explains why domestic and foreign investment have been declining over the years.

The global best practice is to set up transition committees featuring representatives of both sides to share briefings and ensure seamless transfer to power. In Abuja, President Muhammadu Buhari, has authorized a transition team that includes nominees of the President-elect, Bola Tinubu. Some state governors have followed this sensible path. This is the appropriate thing to do. Incumbents, in our opinion, should have a free hand to run the government until their terms expire. However, they should avoid last minute policy initiations and programmes that are deliberately intended to tie the hands of the incoming administration. We frown at belated mass new hirings for an outgoing governor who served for eight years and did not hire anyone only for him to remember that he needs to employ on the eve of his departure. Similarly, non-essential debt acquisition and emptying of the treasury, common in some states, corrupt and condemnable as they are, are done in bad faith.

Smoother transitions from one administration to another can be achieved through better negotiating skills on both sides and could be handled in such a manner that helps both sides navigate around issues. Outgoing governors should follow only already prepared spending plans approved by state legislatures, and projects deemed crucial to the welfare of the citizens and development. With only weeks left in office, they should refrain from new projects and fresh debt. While this anxiety associated with leaving a comfort zone on the part of the incumbent lingers and the trepidation inherent in the zeal on the part of the incoming to take over control surges, it is pertinent to remind all that democracy and the interest of the people will be better serve if transparency, good conscience, equity and social justice form the bed rock of all that happens within the period. If only the politicians will bear it in mind that the ultimate goal is general good of all, then the present push and shove will prove to be needless.