The Good and the Right. The necessary and sufficient condition for good governance.

“When the righteous(good) are in authority, the people rejoice” is a popular biblical passage that is often quoted during election time. But experience has taught us that the ‘good’ is a necessary condition for good governance but not a sufficient one.

In my professional experience, a good boss is always liked but a right boss is always respected. The combination of the two is what makes management tick. Across the piece, I’ve seen board of a few organisations getting the balance between both wrong and paying dearly for it. If you are to err, err on the side of the right.

In 2008, I watched the US election campaign with much interest. When ‘Obamamania’ was sweeping across the country, it was a joy to watch. Who can forget the spectacle in Berlin, when the ‘rockstar’ soon to be ‘most powerful person in the world’ addressed hundreds of thousands his ‘fans'. ‘Twas a joy to behold. I loved every minute of it. I can recite the last two minutes of Obama’s speech in Canton, Ohio (his last stump speech before elections).

On November 5, 2008, I was with a couple of friends watching everyone bask in his victory. I was suddenly hit with a dose of realism as to whether he was the right person for the job. A few people thought I did not like him. Far from it, I loved him – he was cool. I can even recite the last two minutes of Obama’s speech in Canton, Ohio (his last stump speech before elections).

But I was unsure whether he could make that leap from being a junior senator to US president in under 4 years.

Eight years after, the jury is out on whether he was(is) the right president for America. Looking beyond the cool factor, he has presided over one the most divisive period in Washington politics. Something he promised to address during his election campaign. His foreign policy is at best lacklustre and he has failed to restore America’s global competitiveness.

Questions will also be asked whether he surrounded himself with the right people especially at Treasury, Defence and State departments.

Nigeria is going through this phase. Majority of the people agree that President Buhari is a good president but he needs to show more action to prove he can be the right president at this time. He his tackling the scourge of corruption but concrete steps are needed beyond this. The main action he can do is promote the right people into his government. And I do not mean a few people here and there. We need to flood ‘government’ with the right people.

We don’t need to go to far to see the result of a government of the good and the right. United Kingdom in the last five years is a good example among others.

Without the right people, Buhari’s good would be a waste. A bad waste.