Following Examples -By Sesugh Akume

I used to take Femi Gbajabiamila serious as a House of Reps member until one year I saw that he bought buses for his Surulere (Lagos) constituency as part of his ‘constituency projects’, I gave up! I think he’s not serious. He used to appear as one of the shining lights in the House. A one-eyed man among the blind. That blindness must be great indeed!

As House speaker, dude has at least 6 aides on his media team, another (sorry I’ve lost count) tens of aides as on virtually every subject matter, including the most mundane of them. It’s almost as if he’s running the executive office of the president. Watch out, more appointments are coming.

I can see that most people see nothing wrong with this over bloating of government thereby increasing the cost of governance. All of a sudden this is no issue, as now we have more people we know, we are close to in the system. We’re congratulating them. Would we be celebrating this over bloating and duplication of roles we are now if none of ‘our’ were among? It’s called double standards. 

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In Nigeria, one only needs to start one act of bad behaviorur, for it to be copied and set as a precedent to be relied on for further and more misbehavior. Usually, it’s bad behaviour we get. In 1999, Remi Oyo was simply SA Media to the President (that is, special assistant on media), serving as Olusegun Obasanjo’s official mouthpiece; a thoroughbred professional she was. So had it always been.

The president’s, even military rulers’ spokespersons we’re mid-level officials, but rather effective. She wasn’t a cabinet member but due to her role had clearance to attend. 
Then came in Umaru Musa Yar’Adua in 2007, who made Olusegun Adeniyi his special adviser on media and publicity. To be sure, an adviser to the president is a cabinet-rank position, at the same rank and level as a minister. A special assistant to the president is equivalent to a deputy director. So here was Yar’Adua creating a spokesman who was three layers above a special assistant, and in another league altogether. Imagine the cost variation in pay and monuments between a special adviser and a special assistant! What was the essence, if not simply to waste our money? The practice stands to this day. Note also, that the State House has an entire press directorate, headed by the director, press; a bureaucrat. 

Buhari took this ridiculousness to the ‘Next Level’. He has personal assistants, special assistants, a senior special assistant, and special adviser on media and publicity all mostly doing the same thing. I know two aides who are both PAs (personal assistants) on social media. In the heat of the controversy, one of them argued the other day that his colleague, that elderly woman who lacks control and doesn’t respect herself, is responsible for Facebook, he is for Twitter! Just to create a dichotomy. Well, I see both dancing naked on Twitter.

So Buhari has separate media and publicity aides for radio, television, newspaper, Twitter, Facebook, photography, new media, and so on. This makes Gbaja very happy because he has a precedent rely on. He has done the very same for his media team. When Buhari first did it, it was absurd, as should. We all laughed, as we were amused and bemused. Today it’s been normalised. We are happy because people we know, our friends and associates, are now the aides. Not that they’re the staff, and therefore have careers at the National Assembly, and deployed to the office of the speaker, they’re aides and will be most likely gone in when the speaker goes, only for the next speaker to bring in his own.

Why am I being melodramatic? Ben Ayade, the Cross River governor, appointed 8,000 aides and was happy about it. He said he was providing employment and wanted the appointments to go round. I guess Gbaja has another precedent to rely on.