…. Otu throws another challenge to his colleagues
…… populates cabinet with young people
By Aniekan Udofia
It was the famous night at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium on 4 May 2022 in the semi-finals of the Uefa Champions League clash between Spanish giants Real Madrid and English giants Manchester City. With 40 seconds to the end of regulation time , Madrid needed two goals to qualify for the finals. Madrid’s midfield was packed with the experienced trio of Casemiro, Kroos, and Modric, yet Madrid was trailing 4 – 5 on aggregate. Manager Carlo Ancelotti turned to his bench. Seated were inexperienced 19 & 21 year old Camavinga and Rodrygo. Ancelotti took the gamble to sacrifice the experience of Kroos, Modric, and Casemiro for the young lads. Camavinga ran riots in the middle of the pack and provided the crucial pass. Rodrygo got the vital goal for Madrid. At the end of the match, Madrid had booked their place in the final on a 6-5 aggregate score.
Cross River State Governors have continued to adopt the Ancelotti model in governance. The recent inauguration of Cross River State Executive Council dominated by young people by Governor Prince Bassey Otu is yet another milestone in the political history of the state. From Effiom Ekagha, Bassey Mansah, Erasmus Ekpang, Mike Odere, Oden Ewah, Ededem Ani, Ijom Ukam, Pius Edet, Johnson Ebekpo and the rest the images speak volume of a cabinet that has received the injection of freshness , enthusiasm, zeal and passion to drive the vehicle of development. The images of young men and women with the hunger to prove a point and the energy to go resonates hope.
It is not the first time that a governor in Cross River State has demonstrated trust in young people as a against the myth of experience which has been responsible for the recycling of old guards who may have lost the zeal to break new grounds. It is obvious that it is a culture in Cross River State for their leaders to show confidence in young people believing that what they lack in experience, they have in the needed energy and innovation to break new grounds.
The tale of former governor Prof Ben Ayade appointing young Asuquo Ekpenyong at the age of 31 in 2015 as Commissioner for Finance and 33 year old Betta Edu as Commissioner for Health in 2019 is still reverberating as the pair have moved on to the national level as a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria at the age of 39 and a Minister of the Federal Republic at the age of 36.
Ayade trusted them with responsibility as high as that, and they compensated for their inexperience with vigour and passion to achieve result. In the end, they garnered the experience that many seem to make it look like an exclusive preserve of the old.
Today, Governor Prince Bassey Otu has continued the tradition that has come to be associated with the state. His cabinet will be driven by these young men and women who will learn on the job, make their mistakes in case of any, and see their passion strong enough to drive them to succeed. Governor Otu, like his predecessor, is raising another set of young army of leaders that will take over at the sub national and national levels.
Sadly, in the same South South geopolitical zone where Cross River State is setting this standard, the other states have fallen short with the horror of recycled politicians and perpetual political office holders. In the most part of the South South region under the cloak of continuity in governance, governors after governors have continued to recycle the same political office holders inherited from their predecessors and sometimes even the ones inherited by their predecessors.
In some states in the South South, some Commissioners and political office holders have been in their positions for over a decade. Some have moved from one ministry to another in the name of cabinet reshuffle with no significant impact or achievements in the various capacities they have occupied. The only understanding of the phrase, CONTINUITY IN GOVERNMENT by most of these leaders are; returning former political office holders to their positions.
One is left to wonder if this experience that these people claim to have were bought in a store, only them can shop from or they just woke up from nowhere to have experience. The fact that these recycled politicians and political office holders started young, where people gave them an opportunity to be part of governance and today they see themselves as the only cock to crow in the land is baffling.
If former world best Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Karim Benzema and the rest can acknowledge that their age will no longer allow them to perform optimally and they chose to move to lower leagues to play their football, if Casemiro could leave Real Madrid for a young Camavinga whose time has come to take his place, then there can be no justification for the perpetual recycling of political office holders in the name of experience.
It is only a natural event for the law of diminishing returns to take place in the life of any individual. What can be expected of a person who has been commissioner in a ministry for 8 years, if not redundancy? What new energy can be injected into a ministry run by an individual who has become an ancient of days and knows all the conduit pipes to siphon money? What creativity is expected on an individual whose only claim to the political office he or she occupies is compensation for leading young people to deliver his or her unit during election?
The lack of honour and shame demonstrated by many political office holders in accepting appointments over appointments in the same position that they have by all standard failed to deliver has been the bane of our society. With all the experiences that these people claim to possess, what has been the state of education, tourism, health, environment, etc, in the region?
While the place of experience can not be wished away, there must be a deliberate attempt to throw up young people in leadership like it is done in Cross River State by other states in the south south and Nigeria. Alfred Papapreye Diete-Spiff was the military governor of Rivers State at 24 , General Yakubu Gowon was Head of State at 32. People discovered them at their early age and gave them opportunity. That is the true essence of leadership. A leader should identify talent and project them for the benefit of the future. A leader must show the way.
If most of our leaders in the South South, continue with the current trend of recycling old politicians, they will mortgage the future of the next generation. The average age of some cabinets in the South South is a shameful picture and total ridicule to the campaign promises of youth inclusion and youth development. Governor Prince Bassey Otu stand in your honour for in the midst of shame, like the great poet Robert Frost in his classic poem THE ROAD NOT TAKEN, wrote in the last two lines, you took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.
