PMB, Aisha and the ecology of public administration
This piece is a reaction to recent debate by one Mr. Tobias Chukwukerue Amara, a Public Administration and Management expert and senior lecturer, Abia State Polytechnic, Aba. Amara is of the opinion that the recent outburst between President Muhammadu Buhari and his wife, Aisha was blown out of proportion.
His said: I think we are blowing the Aisha/Buhari media statements out of proportion but it is not unusual when we consider that some of us feed from propagandas and controversies. However, if truth must be told, fact remains that public administration varies from one sovereignty to another and the common denominator is the concept of ecology.
“Ecology of public administration means the environment in which public administration is practiced”. It varies from Europe to America, from Asia to Africa. Nigeria’s is typified by the Igbo, Yoruba and Hausa/Fulani ecology and idiosyncrasies.
” I see the whole saga as unwarranted and diversionary. Let us stop the dissipation of company’s time on this triviality, especially considering that the German Chancellor reacted on the strength of her public administration ecology to a statement made by our president on the strength of his peculiar public administration environment. The duo may have been ignorant of Fred Wrigg’s contribution but if you ask I would say let us protect our own”.
Amara’s thread on the social media generated mixed reactions: Some commentators opposed his postulation while some commended it. One of the strong arguments was held by Chinenye Ehiodo, another seasoned lecturer and pubic administrator. She postulated thus:” Remember that we are in a global village with a benchmark of minimum standard of what is acceptable globally of a democratic president of a nation at the centre of world politics not President of Fulani herdsmen, the prism is not ecology but a shift in paradigm which the ineffectual president living in slumber is not in tune. When coming to international arena break through your ecology and become civilised to avoid global condemnation.
” Effective Public Administration is measured by global standard of practice while ecology remains constant, therefore the president acted wrongly and the discourse is at the front burner of our national question and cannot be over emphasised within the new world order”.
“Good governance which include non discrimination on the basis of sex and religion is the focal point”.
The credit of analysing public administration based on ecology is attributed to Fred Riggs. Riggs argument suggests that because of “the clear influence of the environment upon society and mode of living of the people, pubic administration and ecology have come to be related. The nutshell of this argument is that environment plays a key role in public administration and interactions between human beings in a given society.
There has been a concensus among administrators, ecologists, scientists, environmentalists and politicians— everyone admits that the interaction between society and environment or ecology cannot be denied and whenever a policy is going to be formulated, this type of interaction must properly be taken into account. The kernel of this argument is that “an administrator must formulate policies considering the most important idea that environment has clear influence on administration.
No matter where the argument swings, the divides may be right or wrong. The point is that we should not celebrate cultural barriers or inhibitions on the altar of effectual leadership. Arguably, though culture may be universal, the environment may influence its application. That is why it is always necessary to situate theories on the context of the local environment.
On the other hand, culture defines the way of life of a people-language, food, customs and traditions. Another truth is that culture is fluid than static. Culture is dynamic and complex because humans communicate and express their cultural systems in a variety of ways. Besides, globalisation has collapsed different cultures of the world. The implication of this is that human interactions are no longer viewed from a particular cultural context rather from a global scale. Every environment is now weighed on the global scale and not from a particular cultural environment.
Amara’s ecology of public administration is apt but could have been more apt if President Muhammadu Buhari was a symbol of Hausa/ Fulani culture. However, he is a symbol of the Nigerian culture with diversified ethnic cultures. Buhari is the symbol of the giant of the black continent and should carry himself as such. The earlier he realises this, the earlier we are spared of these uncalled- for embarrassment. The Aisha/ PMB outburst was unnecessary and indeed embarrassing.
Ukegbu, a communication strategist, writes from Umuahia, Abia State.
