In truth, we hung precipitously on a cliff of moral collapse. Political jobbers, known gangsters with criminal records, and other nouveaux riches of dubious sources of wealth were honoured in official circles and celebrated by many in the society.  It became a norm to exercise power and influence without principles or purpose, and be rich without creativity, innovation or invention except in criminal pursuits. Some of these rentier class became so giddy with their self- touted success that they began to imagine themselves as the new economic theorists of our time! Our landscape was littered with previously hard working, decent, and honourable people who were pauperised and consequently forced to jettison our core values, accepting fraudsters as philanthropists, promoting dubious individuals as their new champions, and falling prey to those who feigned piety and religiosity. These new elites brazenly instigated or capitalized on the genuine cries of marginalisation and neglect of their regions to corner personal privileges. Unimaginable economic atrocities committed were legitimatised as entrepreneurship or on the basis of “it is our turn to chop”.

Nigeria was thus ripe for change. But change meant different things to different people.  For some, change takes the form of a fantasy in which a new government would right all the wrongs of the past on its first day in office. If the expected magic does not happen, the leader ends up being accused of ‘going slow’. For others, change means throwing out a set of Government Ministers and enthroning new ones, preferably themselves or others affiliated to them. There are those who are satisfied with a change of personnel in strategic public service positions even if the failed policies and failing politics, the patronage-driven and corruption-ridden governance practices of the past were retained. Yet, there are those for whom change meant reversing the old policies and immediately introducing new ones, even before an exhaustive assessment is undertaken to determine what was working and what was not.

Irrespective of our individual constructions and expectations of the change we want to see in Nigeria, at the minimum, our starting point should surely be a commitment “to tame the power of the state and direct its activities towards ends regarded as legitimate by the people it serves, and to regularize the exercise of power under the rule of law.” That includes an end to impunity in official and personal conduct. It will require a new rule- of- law based paradigm in governance and new attitudes in the entire society, all the time knowing fully well that there will be resistance.

As I have earlier noted, even at this early stage of the drive to institute irreducible minimum demands of modern statehood, we can discern the forces of reaction already at work. They come in many forms. There are those who oppose change based on misinformation or inadequate information. Others are wedded to an old thinking, to their engrained political loyalties or outdated dogmas.  Yet others oppose change because they cannot wean themselves from the comfort and vain-glories of the past.  They would rather remain eminent persons in an under-performing nation than be outside the vortex of events in a new and successful Nigeria.  The most invidious resistance to change, however, will come from strong vested interests who fear that in a new Nigeria where no one is left behind, they stand to lose all. The challenge before us all, but especially before those charged with the task of managing this change, is how we overcome these sources of resistance.

Socrates observed that “The secret of change is to focus your energy not on fighting the old but on building the new.”  Yet, past misdeeds hang on the nation like an incubus. So deal with the past we must, but we should do so fairly, firmly, and consistent with the rule of law.  Government has a duty to let the Nigerian people know what happened in recent times and who did what. People accused or suspected of abusing the public trust must have their rendezvous with the law.  Not the media or even public opinion, but the courts of law, should have the final say.  As long as there is fairness and transparency in the process, people will see that justice is done, examples made, and lessons learnt.  The media must focus not on hearsay and often libellous reportage, but on exposing the facts so that a well-informed public can discern what is fair, and in due course, form a bulwark against the corrosion of national values and those who resist change.

Looking ahead, to sustain change and overcome  resistance, Government must communicate very clearly – to Nigerians and the world at large – their core principles, strategies, policies, plans and programmes for change. We live today in a world of the 24 hour news cycle, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and all the other real time communication tools of the Internet Age. No leader or Government can afford to lag behind their detractors in the competition for public support. The task is the more urgent because there is only but a limited time before impatience on the part of the public, blends with resistance from vested interests and dilutes the national consensus for change. Fortunately, goodwill for the person of President Buhari is considerable and people are willing to give him time to reset the country.  There is general willingness so far to allow the new administration to undertake meticulous assessment and reach evidence-based conclusions on how to proceed.  However, this patience will not be extended to any public official who comes into office with whatever baggage from the past, but who falls below the high standards of personal integrity and probity which candidate Buhari promised the electorate, and on the basis of which he was elected President.

The President and his team of change agents will do well to profit from the warning of Nicolo Machiavelli that “there is nothing more difficult to plan, more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to manage than a new system.  For, the initiator has the enmity of all who would profit by the preservation of the old institution, and merely lukewarm defenders in those who gain by the new ones.” To retain the current public confidence and trust,   Government’s core principles and strategies for change, if I may suggest, should prioritise consolidating national unity, the rule of law, and  the renewal of public service institutions.