Governance is all about human resources management. In governance, you juggle all the available human resources potentials and unleash them on the issues within a given space to produce results. The process of identifying and deploying capable people to deal with the myriad governance issues within a given entity is at the soul of governance and leadership. Correct identification and deployment of human resources translate to good and effective governance delivery, while the wrong deployment of these factors accounts for failed government.
So, at the center of governance and at the soul of the art of government is the people, the human factor that oils the wheel of power. Success or otherwise in governance rest on how well this resource is directed and deployed to tackle issues and problems in a given entity.
Among all the candidates at the display today for the enormous task of the Nigerian presidency, Bola Ahmed Tinubu (BAT) stands out as a quintessential leader who towers far and above others in identifying and deploying the right and competent human resources to a given issue and getting desired results. He is unrivaled in the history of governance in Nigeria on the issue of knowledge of the complexities in governance as well as the requisite hands to deal with these complexities. He has a canny knowledge of the issues of governance and administration as well as the fit and competent hands to deal with these issues and churn out results. This outstanding characteristic is what stands him out among the motley crowd of hopefuls to steer the tricky and tempestuous Nigerian ship from 2023.
Asiwaju’s record in Lagos is a feat so reputable that it won’t matter repeating here. Still, it powerfully speaks of the triumph of proper, knowledgeable, and efficient identification and deployment of human resources to governance tasks. Asiwaju has cut a reputation as the nation’s foremost talent hunter. This speaks of his exemplary capacity to know the right people to deploy to tackle specific issues and how best to deploy them to the given tasks. It is this critical faculty that separates Asiwaju from all others that have been in government and returned awful results. But Asiwaju knows how to poach the best brains and marshall them to governance issues to get a rich harvest. This he did in the eight years he governed Lagos and from which Lagos became such a fantastic success story that it today provides a necessary prop to the economic survival and prospects of Nigeria and Africa in general. That Lagos has today become an impregnable economic fortress even in the face of global economic woes speaks of the huge success Asiwaju made in governance through proper identification and deployment of competent human resources potentials in the governance of Lagos. It speaks of vision, foresight, competence, and tact, which Asiwaju deployed to governance to produce wonderful results.
So, the fundamental problems of governance revolve around the right and proper management of the human resources potentials of a given entity. Nigeria is reputed to be awash with incredible human resources, but governance has always produced arid results since the country became an independent nation. The misapplication of the country’s excellent human resources potential unarguably accounts for the barren results trailing governance in Nigeria. Because successive leaders had hardly identified the problems and the available competent resources and had therefore not deployed the appropriate people to handle specific issues, the country has been riddled with consistent streaks of arid harvest that have gone to wither the growth and potential of the country.
But Asiwaju showed an exception in Lagos, where he correctly identified the problems, identified the talented and precisely competent human resources, and deftly deployed these human resources to the issues. The exponential growth cast on solid stone, which Lagos continues to experience and which is overflowing to Ogun State today, only demonstrates the aptness of Asiwaju’s capacity as a redoubtable foremost manager of human resources. Asiwaju’s expertise is second to none in Nigeria today, rightly positioning every pillar of human resource governance and cutting edge to create competitive and comparable advantages using these governance tools – this is the leading edge he has over all other potentates for the Nigerian presidency today.
Nigeria’s developmental problem has revolved around lacking skills to identify and deploy our human resources to produce results tightly. This is the critical variable Asiwaju will bring to governance and which none of his rivals in the presidential contest has. As he did in Lagos, the BAT’s presidency will, without doubt, leverage the country’s extensive human resources to produce a result that will be rivalled only by the Lagos template for the good of the generality of Nigerians.
In Asiwaju, Nigeria would have a veteran human resources manager who stands as perhaps the most resourceful administrator that has trod the Nigerian sand. With Asiwaju as the next president of Nigeria, the country won’t be endowed with a trial-and-error leader unsurely fidgeting his way through power. We would have a tested and proven administrator who knows his way through Nigeria’s many problems and who knows the right people to deploy to specific issues and problems.
With the vast and massive infrastructural investment the Buhari government has made, an Asiwaju government will undoubtedly hit the ground running to prosecute the gigantic pursuit of direct benefits to Nigerians. With the feat he recorded in Lagos, there is every assurance that Asiwaju will make an incredible president. He has a proven track record to point to this optimism. No other candidate has such a form of narrative. The structure of Asiwaju’s democratic credentials outputs the Renewed Hope Manifesto, having succeeded in Lagos with numerous tangible achievements during his two-term tenures as Governor of the State. Asiwaju produced multiple political mentees from his days as governor, and most are still with him today. Also, he is multiplying exponentially progressively sound mentees across the country using his exemplary expertise in human resources governance tools.
Nigeria today needs no other one but an exemplary leader who has all the human resources expertise to make the country remarkable. Asiwaju is what Nigeria needs now to deliver the dividends of democracy exponentially to all Nigerians precisely. With Asiwaju as the next president, no Nigerian will be left alone or left behind in benefiting from governance deliverables. Asiwaju is a visionary and exceptional manager of human resources with impeccable results; he will always trump those with no record or history of success in governance.
Prof. Ojo Emmanuel Ademola.
