HOW TO GET STARTED IN GOVERNMENT
Joshua J. Omojuwa canvasses the ‘Waziri Adio model’ – know your job
Last week, in reply to an X/Twitter user who posted about not seeing “any press briefing” by the Minister of Education, I said: “There is nothing to brief the press about in your first week. He should instead be getting briefed by different people involved with the ministry. Except we prefer ‘activity’ to doing real work.” The user insisted there was a lot to brief the press about and took a direct shot at me by telling me not to “normalize giving excuses for these people.” That accusation could not have held against me because only the day before, my THISDAY article was about the need for the newly appointed ministers to stop focusing on the aesthetics of portraits and other such distractions and get to work. This piece isn’t about the ease with which debates deviate from issues to direct and personal attacks though. Today is about what really happens when people are appointed to public office.
Even though I have never been appointed to public office, I have always been a believer in learning from other people’s experiences whilst maximising the lessons from mine. It is why I have a lifetime commitment to books and explains my willingness to listen to people who are involved with things I am interested in. I have read a good number of public service memoirs but my preferred model for what to do when you get appointed into public office is what I call the “Waziri Adio Model”. Waziri Adio served as the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) between 2016 and 2021 and wrote about his time in office in his book, The Arc of the Possible: A Memoir. I am therefore confident enough to imagine an aggregate scenario when a person gets appointed.
The aftermath of the announcement is likely to be chaotic. Your phones and social media platforms – especially if you are so unfortunate as to be on X – are buzzing and you quickly lose control over your personal messaging process. The calls are relentless, and you can’t take most of them because they are on ‘call waiting’ anyway. By the same token, there are people you must make time to respond to. Your home and previous office become a mecca of sorts for “well-wishers” and even your family members are not spared the invasion. Welcome to chaos!
The bedlam is only a foretaste of what is to come. When you discover that you have no job description or template, may undergo inadequate or no induction or orientation, and sometimes, might even have no office and other official paraphernalia, the euphoria of the appointment quickly dissipates and reality sets in. Depending on how you see it, the situation is an empty canvas awaiting the creating of something beautiful or an escalation of the madness. This is where the application of the Waziri Adio Model becomes useful.
The first lesson I took is the admonition not to get sucked into populism and grandstanding. Journalists will ask tough and tricky questions; it is their job. You may not be able to say much in the early days but a commitment to say more when you get better acquainted with work will be useful. It is important to note that Adio is a renowned journalist who had been Director of Communications of NEITI before being appointed ES. Whilst he was not unfamiliar with the workings of NEITI, he was also quite aware of what he did not know. Adio understood that being the CEO required him to know about the innermost workings of the organisation, intimately. He was not in a position to accommodate gaps in his knowledge of NEITI, so he took about two months simply receiving briefings and attending/hosting important meetings. I believe if one did this as a minister the tweets querying one’s competence would be swift and scathing. This is no one’s fault. Politics thrives in activity—not so much as getting anything done as it is about being seen to be doing something, or pretending to.
Knowing your job and being aware that you know your job is something that confers a great amount of confidence; the sort of confidence that bestows a realisation that you do not need to dance at the circus for praise. No matter how well you know your job though, you are always going to be better served by asking questions. That apart, you must identify your prospective allies early and then seek them out. As for the ‘activity’, do not shy away from showcasing your accomplishments when it is time to. Public service is not where you want to ‘just do my thing quietly’.
Get things done, and equally as important, show what you are getting done. Never assume that people will see what you are up to. People are generally distracted, and only pay attention to you by default when you do something bad or something bad happens to you. It is called negativity bias. This is not wickedness; it is just the nature of humans.
In the end, you must craft a SMART (Specific, Measurable Achievable, Relevant and Time-Bound) plan of action to inform your decisions and actions. To create an effective plan, you must know what the current situation is and how you can realistically and meaningfully push the needle in the time you have. With a plan of action, you know per time whether you are advancing or lagging. It is also a useful tool for determining whether you are more involved in the ceremonies of the office than the work itself. When time is up, you are less likely to feel like you missed a chance to make change happen. Like those who came, left and are only left with explanations after their time in office.
Abraham Lincoln said, “If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend the first sex sharpening my axe”. This speaks to planning and preparing for the task ahead. It also speaks to the effective allocation of an essential resource, time. Evolve your own model. However, whatever you do, don’t get swept in the wave of power.
Omojuwa is chief strategist Alpha Reach/ author, Digital Wealth Book
