When one hears some of these cock and bull stories, many questions just begin to whirl up in one’s head, a fraction of which are:
- What happened to the NGN490 Million appropriated for NIDCOM?
- What was the justification for engaging all the multitudes of staff for NIDCOM when you are unsure of a working space for them?
- Does NIDCOM have any basic one year lean operating plans with targets / benchmarks? How has the Commission envisaged the scenario now playing out and what remedial mechanisms were anticipated?
- Can people now begin to appreciate the enormous sacrifices the leadership of NIDO is making, keeping the organisation afloat out of their personal back offices with no kobo budget from nowhere? Yet the organisation is expected to perform magic?
- How wise is NIDCOM in her decision to spoil for a fight with the official body, NIDO, with whom it should have been forming a strategic partnership for the good of Nigeria?
It is getting clearer by every pertinent question posed and incidental revelations that the greatest ill of NIDCOM is cluelessness and incompetence. In an environment of that nature, every penetrating, yet well intentioned question is perceived as hostile. But we CAN’T sit down and watch this Commission go down the way of other agencies, unchallenged! The odds are starched against us but we must be on records for having asked all the right questions every step of the path to its self-destruction.
It’s perhaps fairly obvious to those who are either sitting on the fence or have clearly taken sides with Abike Dabiri-Erewa that you are on a mission of self abuse. She can’t help you but you can step up now to help her back on the right path, thereby helping yourself. That is the win-win that some of us envisage.
Finally, let me say this very boldly, the moment she was confirmed Chairman of NIDCOM, we all became duty bound to make her success, Nigeria’s success. We all had the collective obligation to make her succeed. The only condition is that she too has got to want to succeed. I believe that this is still possible despite the odds. NIDCOM could still be the force for good that we all have continued to work hard for.
The article is written by Collins Nweke.