Opinion: #The List To Rule Them All

Editor’s note: Following the reading of the long-awaited President Muhammadu Buhari’s ministerial list by the Senate president, Bukola Saraki, on the floor of the House on Tuesday October 6, 2015, Naij.com’s contributor, Solomon Osadolo, notes that the president’s nominees have always “been around,” and exasperates that Nigerians ought not to have waited that long for the contents of #TheList.

The president’s media team must be quite pleased with themselves right now. I bet the team is out there slapping themselves on the back as everyone else – after being hooked on the buzz – slowly recoils into apathy about the most trending topic this week: #TheList.

For one brief spell, it’s like no one even remembered that Ms Madueke is currently undergoing trial in London for money laundering charges of mind-bending proportions.

Why Nigerians care about the list

It was Senator Bukola Saraki’s famous tweet from last week, when he announced that he had received #TheList, which probably helped the buzz around the purported cabinet on its way to being the number one trending topic as at now.

The Senate at the plenary session on October 6, 2015

Never before had so many people cared so much about a ministerial list from the president like they do now. But then, never before has anyone ever had to wait this long on a president to release #TheList.

As the Senate president reeled out the names on #TheList before the House on Tuesday October 6, 2015 and a barrage of reactions ensued.

For many, the names on #TheList left them feeling the same way an over-hyped movie would leave you – grossly underwhelmed. It seemed like we were only going to get a paint job, sort of, after all the talk about change from the presidency. It’s the same old people being reshuffled into these positions as #TheList would reveal.

Even though I can sympathise with the notion shared by many that the reshuffle mechanism used in generating the nominees is kind of a reach by the presidency, I am compelled to ask people who it was they’d expected to make the cut that wasn’t already in public service.

Old wine in new bottle?

Then one could ask the follow up question: why then did the presidency take this long to come up with #TheList when it was apparently going to be made up of the usual suspects?

Making people wait this long only to confirm their fears could have an anti-climactic effect on how this government is perceived.

Since all that time (four months) wasn’t spent selecting and vetting “technocrats” as promised, you have to wonder what all the stalling and the fuss was about.

While it makes for a robust engagement for everyone interested in national politics, this process of turning what should be routine tasks of government to dramatic encores that stoke public attention will get overplayed soon enough – if it’s not already.

This government has found a way to join the conversation on social media with the increasing participation of its officials on twitter and facebook.

The potential or demand for transparency as a result of this increased convergence is something it will have to learn to handle carefully. Many more youths are breaking out of apathy towards the government as their interest is getting kindled by the notion of a transparent government.

What this government must work-on

The inherent danger with this set-up is when there arises a scenario where people come off feeling that the entire campaign seems contrived and that it will be business as usual anyway.

The president’s advisers and media team will have to take that into consideration, as trending for the wrong reasons can do a lot of damage to approval ratings.

#TheList has now been released and the charade to vet and appoint them will be done over with soon enough. It might be too soon to answer the was it worth the wait question many are asking.

Maybe some of these appointments will turn out to be more than just a compensation for allies of the president. It could also be that some of the names on that list will rise to their office and carve a new and better reputation for themselves this time around. We will just have to wait – not for long this time, hopefully.

Solomon Osadolo

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