Person of the Year 2008

My nominees for person of the year have always been Nigerian individuals and institutions which in our view have made the most positive and enduring impact on the Nigerian nation in the year under review. Of course that choice inherently reflects my values and policy preferences. From the international point of view, there can be no doubting Time Magazine’s choice of Barack Obama as the man of 2008, a choice validated by Obama’s dominance of the world stage last year. The global economic and financial crisis was the most important global issue of 2008 and its impacts will remain with us in 2009 and probably beyond. In terms of global balance of power, China was the main issue, celebrating in emphatic fashion its ascendancy as a global powerhouse with a spectacular Olympics in August.

In 2003 and 2004, I selected the then president’s economic team as “team of the year”. In 2005, I chose an individual member of the same team, Dr Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as person of the year. That was the year in which her efforts and those of her colleagues and the then regime culminated in the historic Paris Club debt forgiveness deal. In 2006 I selected the Nigerian Judiciary as “institution of the year” and for 2007 the Supreme Court was the choice. The Supreme Court was recognised for being the last bulwark against dictatorship and unconstitutional actions that characterised the last days of the Obasanjo regime particularly after the Obasanjo-Atiku rift and the “third-term” debacle. The Supreme Court reversed the unconstitutional impeachments of Rasheed Ladoja, Joshua Dariye and Peter Obi and upheld the rights of Atiku and Ifeanyi Araurume to contest the 2007 elections. The Court also extended the rule of Peter Obi to preserve his four-year tenure and brought Rotimi Amaechi to office in Rivers State.

This time I have had problems finding Nigerian nominees for person of the year, perhaps reflecting the reality that not much progress was made in this nation in 2008. I usually start with a short list of ten nominees; this year my best efforts yielded only five names, not one of whom is a functionary of the federal government. While some federal ministers may have exerted themselves individually, the absence of a broad policy direction meant their efforts were by-and-large in vain. I hope with the end of the electoral petitions against President Yar’adua and the constitution of a new cabinet, the nation will experience more vibrant governance in 2009. At the end of the day, my nominees for person of the year 2008 (in no particular order) were Adams Oshiomole, Nuhu Ribadu, Rotimi Amaechi, Babatunde Raji Fashola and Chief Gani Fawehinmi.

Adams Oshiomole completed a rare transition from labour leader to elected political office holder in 2008. Along the way, he made some strategic and pragmatic trade-offs shunning his presumed ideological platform of the Labour Party for first the ANPP, and then the Action Congress in Edo State where he became bedfellows with characters like Tom Ikimi. He appeared to win a decisive victory at the polls, but the PDP rigging machine delayed him. And then he fought a determined legal battle and eventually regained his mandate through the Courts. Oshiomole now has a chance to write his name in history and prove that agitation can be transformed into successful governance. The jury is still out.

Nuhu Ribadu remained in the news throughout 2008. With Ribadu, the Yar’adua regime proved that it could be focused and swift in achieving its objectives no matter the odds. They first invented the subterfuge of sending Ribadu to NIPPS purportedly on course, then replaced him with Ibrahim Lamorde for a season before sending Lamorde himself off to Siberia. Then Ribadu was demoted, and recently dismissed from the Nigerian Police in a state-sponsored vendetta against a committed and brave officer. Ribadu made some mistakes no doubt-he allowed Obasanjo to use him in some discreditable agendas, but today he remains a symbol of courage and anti-corruption and in spite of the best efforts of his adversaries will bounce back sooner than later!

Rotimi Amaechi has been aggressively developing infrastructure in Rivers State-building hospitals and health centres, roads and bridges, primary and secondary schools and rebuilding Port-Harcourt into the garden city it once was. He has ambitious plans for a Port-Harcourt new city and is seeking to restore governance to the service of the people. Babatunde Fashola has simply been a revelation in Lagos State. The transformation he has recorded in Lagos in less than two years has been unprecedented, and he is turning out to be the ultimate vindication of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. The zeal, focus and simplicity that he has brought to the job is refreshing. The rate of on-going investments in transportation, education, and urban renewal raise a realistic prospect of Lagos becoming a viable global mega-city after eight years of Fashola.

My person of the year is Gani Fawehinmi. This selection honours Gani’s lifelong commitment to the Nigerian nation and particularly the under-privileged. For most of the year, Gani was on his sick bed inside or outside the country, but that did not stop him from continuing to raise his voice passionately against corruption and mis-governance in our dear country. He has used his legal training, media access and even founded a political party, National Conscience Party to realise his dreams for a better Nigeria. He has given of his best, and will go to his God with a clear conscience. He is my person of 2008.