Gowon’s memoirs: Nigeria owes Awolowo an eternal debt, by Olu Fasan

Last week, I started a discussion of General Yakubu Gowon’s multi-themed memoirs, My Life of Duty & Allegiance. My focus was on the book’s general tone, which I find unduly self-justificatory. In his attempts to defend his legacy, General Gowon presents himself as a saintly figure who did no wrong as a leader, whereas some introspection and nuanced reflection would have helped. That said, the book is a treasure trove of insightful details that enrich our historical narrative. This week, I will focus on one of such insights, namely, the quality of governance and public service ethos under General Gowon’s regime, with Chief Obafemi Awolowo singled out as the arrowhead of a remarkable governance approach that, if replicated today, would transform how Nigeria is governed and, thus, this country’s fortunes.

As a political economist and policy practitioner who spent nearly 20 years advising the UK government on diverse policy areas, in addition to teaching public policy, I have professional and intellectual interests in how government is run. Thus, I was enthralled by General Gowon’s fascinating accounts of how the affairs of state were conducted under his administration, with the triumvirate of politicians (as ministers), civil servants (as technocrats), and universities and think-tanks (as sounding boards) driving policy formulation and implementation and setting standards of good and effective governance. Sitting atop the triumvirate was Chief Awolowo, an extraordinarily transformative leader!

Indeed, if General Gowon’s memoirs can be said to have a hero, that hero is Chief Obafemi Awolowo, appointed by Gowon as the Vice Chairman of the Federal Executive Council, FEC, and Commissioner of Finance in his administration. In every reference to Chief Awolowo in the memoirs, General Gowon writes glowingly and superlatively about him. Gowon also gives credit to his colleagues in the Supreme Military Council, SMC, and the first-class mandarins who ran the civil service for his administration’s successes, especially its ability to prosecute a 30-month civil war “without endangering the national economy”. But he reserves his most generous praise for Chief Awolowo. Hear Gowon: “Chief Awolowo’s business acumen, political sagacity, economic wizardry and thorough man-management ability would later prove quite useful and helpful in ensuring that we kept our finances intact during and immediately after the civil war that broke out a few weeks after his appointment to the FEC.” He adds: “Without any argument, he made invaluable contributions.”

Of course, Chief Awolowo’s reputation preceded him. As the premier of the Western Region, he performed so superbly that Harold Wilson, then British prime minister, described him as a “world-class leader”, who would make an outstanding President of America or Prime Minister of Britain. General Gowon himself referenced Chief Awolowo’s pedigree, saying that he appointed him as the Commissioner of Finance with concurrent responsibility as Vice-Chairman of the FEC “because of his experience in politics and management of the economy of the old Western Region.” Indeed, General Gowon was so enamoured of Chief Awolowo that he admits in his memoirs that one of his administration’s flagship policies, the Universal Primary Education, UPE, was based on a policy introduced by Chief Awolowo as premier. “In scope and content,” Gowon writes, “UPE was not radically different from the model that was initiated by Chief Awolowo in the defunct Western Region while he was the Premier.”

Two lessons emerge from this narrative. First, good leaders get the brightest and best in their teams; they form what a British prime minister described as GOATs (“Government of All the Talents”). Second, good leaders embrace good ideas and best practices worldwide. Indeed, one of the universally recognised approaches to sound policymaking is international comparison, which allows a government to consider what works elsewhere. Sadly, neither lesson is embedded in governance in Nigeria today. For instance, today, a Nigerian leader would fill his cabinet with cronies and political jobbers rather than seasoned technocrats and brilliant administrators. There’s also the phenomenon of policy discontinuities. Virtually every government won’t complete projects started by its predecessor, let alone copy sensible policies elsewhere, resulting in widespread abandoned projects and policy failures.

But there’s another unlearned lesson. Chief Awolowo was never a yes-man in General Gowon’s government. Gowon himself cites two instances to prove this. In both instances, General Gowon eventually had his way, but Awolowo laid down the marker. In one case, General Gowon procured the services of a Lebanese contractor for the government. But Chief Awolowo refused to approve payment to the contractor, arguing that “the process of getting help from the Lebanese was not properly followed and documented and, as such, was an extra-budgetary expenditure.” Tell me, how many extra-budgetary expenditures are waived through without due process today? Can a finance minister challenge a president’s frivolous spending today? In another case, Chief Awolowo refused to approve a request for additional money for Gowon’s upkeep after the original budget was exhausted. He argued that the possibility of overshoots should have been considered before the budget was prepared and approved. This is how Gowon puts it in his memoirs: “Everyone knew how difficult it was to get anything out of Chief Awolowo without well-reasoned arguments.” What an extraordinary testimonial! But where are such principled and painstakingly meticulous ministers and public officers in Nigeria today? Sadly, none!

To be sure, a tree does not make a forest, and Chief Awolowo did not act alone. As premier of the Western Region and later as Commissioner for Finance and Vice Chairman of the FEC, Chief Awolowo was surrounded by outstanding colleagues and civil servants. For instance, General Gowon mentions the sterling role of Professor Adebayo Adedeji, the world-renowned economist, who was the Commissioner for Economic Development. And talking about bureaucrats, who can forget the “Super Perm Secs” of the Gowon era? As the German sociologist and political economist Max Weber put it, “the state will not conduct its affairs without the bureaucracy.” Oxbridge-educated mandarins like Ahmed Joda, Allison Ayida and Philip Asiodu led what Gowon describes as “the deeply cerebral, committed and efficient technocrats in the civil service”, which he calls “the engine room” of his government. But where are today’s “super perm secs”? Where is today’s vibrant and technocratic civil service? Sadly, today, Nigeria has one of the worst civil services in the world, a subject I discuss in my book, In The National Interest, arguing that the collapse of the civil service and the public sector in general is at the heart of Nigeria’s acutely weak state capacity.

As a scholar-practitioner, I was also excited about General Gowon’s accounts of how his government worked closely with universities. He writes: “We made exceptionally effective use of the many eggheads that populated the various university campuses to shape the policy directions.” He adds: “Many of the dons at the university were our formal and informal sounding boards for policy formulations and analyses.” In the UK, the government works in tandem with universities and think-tanks to shape policies. Sadly, in Nigeria, the government is anti-intellectual, with academics and think-tanks ostracised and treated as pariahs, rarely engaged in policy development. General Gowon makes another profound point about the policy process, saying: “These policies were not unilateral decisions. We diligently thought through the policies, and we implemented them based on their overall benefits to the people.” Compare that with how President Tinubu impulsively removed the fuel subsidy after he was “possessed by courage”, with zero consideration of the impacts on the people!

Truth be told, General Gowon led an extremely effective government, with the prudent management of the economy during the civil war, without external borrowing, a genuine candidate for the Guinness Book of Records. Indeed, Nigeria managed its finances so well that the World Bank borrowed money from the country. Yet crude oil was selling for just $15 per barrel, while Nigeria was pumping just about 1.2m barrels per day. Today, in peacetime, with crude selling for nearly $100 per barrel and Nigeria pumping nearly 2mn barrels per day, the government is borrowing excessively. General Gowon hails Chief Awolowo’s “economic wizardry”. He’s right. But Awolowo didn’t just save Nigeria from economic collapse during and after the war; he also set world-class standards on how to run a country. Nigeria is eternally in his debt!

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