Leadership Lessons From Trump That President Buhari Must Imbibe -By Jerry Uzezi Edo

Hate him or love him, you cannot deny the fact that Donald Trump has exhibited strong leadership qualities within the short period he assumed office as President of the United States. He may have played to the gallery during the campaigns and told gullible Americans what they wanted to hear in order to get their votes but the moment he assumed office, he left no one in doubt that he meant business. Whether his actions so far will bring progress to the American people at the end of the day is a matter of conjecture but no one can deny the fact that Trump came into office prepared and with a game plan to execute.

Donald Trump began the process of setting up his cabinet as soon as he won the election. He did not wait for handover notes and whatnots from his predecessor before moving into action. Even in the face of opposition and protests against his victory, he never lost sight of the fact that he had a job to do and he must get himself ready for it. Barely hours of being sworn in as President, he sent his first list of nominees to Congress for approval.

Buhari, on the other hand, was not only slow but lackadaisical towards setting up a cabinet when he assumed office. While his spin doctors made excuses for him that he was taking his time to select “saints” to form his cabinet, Buhari himself revealed his true state of mind in far away France when he told a bewildered world in an interview with France 24TV that ministers only make a lot of noise and technocrats and civil servants are the ones who carry out the day to day running of governance. Impliedly, he was not keen in appointing ministers and if he had his way, may do without them.

It is therefore not surprising that even until this moment, he is yet to make many key appointments and the Minister of State for Labour who lost his life almost a year ago is yet to be replaced.

Among the hallmarks of good leadership are precision and the ability to design and articulate roadmaps to get to desired destinations. You may not agree with his ways and means but you can tell what Donald Trump’s foreign and economic policies are even in the infancy of his administration. The same cannot be said of President Buhari even after almost two years in office. For a start, he has no economic team in the real sense of it and one cannot pinpoint those charged with the execution of his economic policies. Again, the flip-flops in policy direction that has characterised his administration apparently suggest the absence of an articulated plan for leadership before he assumed office.

During the campaigns, Trump’s promise to intervene to prevent jobs from leaving America was seen by many as a mere campaign promise. That particular promise was targeted at the air-conditioner manufacturer Carrier, whose move to other countries was making Americans to lose jobs.  But Trump quickly swung into action after the election and announced a high-profile deal with Carrier to keep jobs in Indiana! Since then, other companies have announced expansions of jobs in the U.S. owing to the action taken by Trump. That is the sense of urgency, and creativity in leadership that we have not seen Buhari exhibit, especially on the economic front since he came to power in 2015.

Donald Trump’s constant use of Twitter to talk about his plans and direction of his government is another commendable attitude that must be recommended to President Buhari. With this, the American people can literally follow their President and know what he is up to and what position he has taken on any issue. Whether they agree or disagree with him is a different issue entirely.

In contrast, Nigerians are often in the dark on Buhari’s views on topical issues. They are left to read his famous body language and indulge in debates on whether the many spokesmen who speak for him are speaking his mind or not.

It may not be via Twitter or any other social medium for that matter, but President Buhari must devise a means of reaching out to the people he leads. There cannot be effective leadership where the leaders and the led are not on the same page in terms of focus and direction.

By Jerry Uzezi Edo