Martins Oloja
‘When political leaders begin to see the citizen as a customer, whose patronage is necessary to survive, they will begin to treat the people as potential electorate they will depend on to win elections next time’
By Valentine Amanze
The Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief, Guardian Newspapers, Martins Oloja, has appealed to Nigeria’s incoming government to adopt the private sector approach to revive the nation’s ailing economy.
He said that the adoption of business approach to governance would provide regular food on the tables of the electorate.
Oloja, who spoke at the investiture of new executive of the Commerce and Industry Correspondents Association of Nigeria (CICAN) tagged, “Setting for the incoming federal government,” in Lagos at the weekend, lamented that the nation had been hit by ethnic and selfish interests, urging the incoming government to reverse the trend by dwelling more on national unity.
His words: “Let me quickly clarify this: It is important to adopt the private sector approach and see citizens as customers to be satisfied. Marketers are always told in a customer-centric business that the customer is king.
Also read: What Nigeria’s incoming govt must do to revive the real sector, by CICAN, OPS
“In this contest, the citizen should be seen by political leaders as a customer, whose rebellion or boycott could destroy a business enterprise.
“When political leaders begin to see the citizen as a customer, whose patronage is necessary to survive, they will begin to treat the people as potential electorate they will depend on to win elections next time.
“Prioritisation can be a device for policy-makers to realise political ambitions, or to signal policy shifts.
“However, prioritisation is also typically embedded in policy processes, either in a routinised fashion or as response to triggering events. Key challenges in this regard can be how to translate broad priorities into programmes and projects, how to govern the knowledge base, and how to handle organisational tensions during implementation. Many of these challenges must be addressed by ‘street-level’ administrators and agency experts during implementation,”.
He said that another challenge before the incoming government was the petrol price, which rose from N95 per litre eight years ago to over N190 per litre, calling on it to slash the price and make the commodity available to drive the economy.
“Our new leaders should develop their own tactics to put across the sense of urgency and prove that they are materially attentive to the needs of their citizens,” he said.
valoa2000@yahoo.com
