Yar’Adua insists on Servant Leader Administration

No one has denied that President Yar'Adua was Obasanjo's anointed leader for the country through the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the April elections.

In his inaugural speech, 100 days ago, the president adored his predecessor with superlatives that showed that he was not starting from scratch. He praised him for having laid a very solid foundation for political and economic growth.

He said: "Over the past eight years, Nigerians have reached a national consensus in at least four areas: to deepen democracy and the rule of law; build an economy driven primarily by the private sector, not government; display zero tolerance for corruption in all its forms, and, finally, restructure and staff our government to ensure efficiency and good governance. I commit myself to these tasks.

"Our goal now is to build on the greatest accomplishments of the past few years. Relying on the seven-point agenda that formed the basis of our compact with voters during the recent campaigns, we will concentrate on rebuilding our physical infrastructure and human capital in order to take our country forward. We will focus on accelerating economic and other reforms in a way that makes a concrete and visible difference to ordinary people.

"Our economy already has been set on the path of growth. Now we must continue to do the necessary work to create more jobs, lower interest rates, reduce inflation, and maintain a stable exchange rate."
But since the first president of Nigeria who holds a Bachelors degree assumed office, he has proved skeptics wrong: that he is his own man. He did not preach that: he knew about the albatross on his neck and he simply removed it to instill confidence in his government. That was after a few weeks in office.

It is clear that he would no longer 'focus on accelerating economic and other reforms in a way that makes a concrete and visible difference to ordinary people' as he pledged on May 29.