Regional Editor (News), Olawale Rasheed, attempts an answer to the question of whether the Jonathan presidency has started turning the corner in his Transformation Agenda even before his 2013 promise date.AFTER months of stagnation and seeming governance failure, observers are beginning to ask if the results of President Goodluck Jonathan's Transformation Agenda are beginning to manifest, as being mouthed by some organs of the state. The president has personally ruled out 2012 as a year of praise and urged the nation to expect positive results only from 2013. But issues are popping up, pre-empting the 2013 date.Analysts and opinion writers have documented many woes of the nation. At a point, the anger of the citizenry was turning into disillusionment. In fact, the children of anger, according to the presidentials spokesman, Dr Reuben Abati, took the matter to the virtual level, painting a picture of a nation in coma. Political opposition were having a field day, writing off the administration as a failure. A major point noted by critics was the state of power supply in the country. The logic was that if the sector improves, small businesses will thrive and the grinding poverty and widening level of unemployment will reduce. Both the opposition and the government agree on this point even though there were divergent views on the issue of transparency in the funding of power revival projects. Analysts also raised eyebrows when, after the resignation of the power minister, both opposition and ruling party chieftains were fingered as involved in the scrambling for the privatized power entities.But the issue most analysts are confounded about is that power supply has improved greatly across the country. Even with the resignation of Professor Barth Nnaji, the improvement in the power sector is in leaps and bounds. While some writers attributed the improvement to heavy rainfall, others described it as the outcome of improved capacity to evacuate from generation to distribution points.Whatever may be the reason, observers see the development as positive and a sign that the power sector reform is working even though they see the privatisation of the power entities as the most critical of the revival process. Now that most reports described the privatisation process as multi-partisan in term of bidders, the perception is that the sale may also be concluded without a hitch.If improved power supply is newsworthy even by opposition standards, other changes slowly catching the attention of analysts is the revival of the railway system. Just recently, the Osun state government bankrolled movement of the state indigenes to travel by rail from Lagos to Osogbo during the last Sallah celebrations. In fact, the opposition media had trumpeted the soundness of the government`s action. The commissioner in charge of the programme even explained that the revival of the railway was improving the local economy, as buying and selling on local stations was gradually picking up.While the government action was applauded by many observers, others also underscored the significance of the rail road revival by the Federal Government as it has multiplier effects on local economies, as canvassed by the Osun commissioner. The rail transportation system is also percived as a catalyst for saving the nation`s multi-billion naira investment in road construction and rehabilitation. Reports from the north and the east also confirmed that the railway system is coming to life again.While analysts have not given the Federal Government direct credit due to high expectations and a climate of cynicism, a recent report from an unexpected corner surprised even the worst critics of government. The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) said last week that 240 new factories opened shops in the country within a year, thereby propping up investment in the manufacturing sector. President of MAN, Chief Kola Jamodu, said in Abuja at a stakeholders' conference on the review of common tariff for 2008 to 2012 that the projected turnover of these factories was N140 billion. He said that some of its members had expanded their production base by as much as N100 billion, adding that close to 200,000 new employment was generated by December last year alone.He said there was increased utilisation from 47.50 per cent in December 2010 to 48.93 per cent in December last year, and that in some sectors, capacity utilisation grew to 70 per cent. He attributed the growth in the manufacturing sector to the cancellation of the Cargo Tracking Note, reduction in the number of agencies at the ports and adoption of sector-specific incentives/waivers, policy and promotion of buying made-in-Nigeria products. Other factors, which he said were responsible for the growth, include rehabilitation of the railway system, adoption of backward integration policy, zero per cent import duty on agricultural machinery, equipment and enzymes.The highlights of Jamodu`s submission is that the economy, especially the manufacturing sector, witnessed changes in the area of installed capacity utilisation and expansion of production base, which led to job creation. The reasons for the good result, according to him, include rationalisation of agencies at the ports, positive waiver policy, emphasis on made in Nigeria good, improved power supply, revival of railway system and backward integration policy of the government.MAN is a private club of entrepreneurs and its encouraging report on the performance of the nation's economy attracted the attention of many keen observers of government`s economic policy and implementation . A couple of editorials have been published and the Federal Government itself has been very modest in not claiming the glory as clearly spelt out by MAN. If MAN`s report is true, the implication is that the economy is already witnessing a turnaround despite the choking criticism of the administration.A couple of analysts have described the MAN report as a vote of confidence in the management of the economy, an indication that some things are being done rightly to reinvigorate the economic sector. Others, however, see it as a challenge to the administration to keep pushing the hard reforms which are being resisted, even by chieftains of the ruling party. Managing the economy professionally without political interference is seen by local and international observers as the surest way to consolidate on recent gains.If the president is comforted by reports of bright signs on the economy, he may be more worried about one major issue many Nigerians are still very angry about, which is the destructive effect of corruption in public governance. Some of the president`s allies will commend him for his firm stance on the marketers' recent attempt to blackmail the government. Critics will ask him to do more in curbing the excesses of close allies and associates as a way of re-assuring Nigerians that the gains so far noticed will not be frittered away.Experts have for long argued that one way of doing this may be to place the commanding heights of the economy under professional handlers. In this way, key sectors will be brought under the command of managers of the nation`s overall economy who also report directly to the president. This is to remove national economic management from political factors and forces.But is the president turning the corner' There are signs of transformation manifesting. However, Nigerians won't agree yet until the evidence transforms into reduced unemployment, alleviation of grinding poverty through revival of the local economy and overall enforcement of anti-corruption rule in public life.
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