PenCom: Policy, management expert in the saddle

If you call Opeyemi Olukayode Agbaje a guru or policy maestro, especially on policies that touch on the socio-economy of not just Nigeria but the world at large, you won’t be wrong. That is what he is. He’s remarkably cerebral and pretty much a masterstroke. You can rightly say his professional life in the last two and a half decades or so has been defined by policy and political economy.

In the aftermath of an appointment that is merited for more reasons than one: profound and extensive track record in Corporate Nigeria, staunch and uncompromising commitment over the course of his four decades sound career records and core values like very high level of professionalism, sound ethical standards, strict adherence to the principles of corporate governance, impeccable integrity, fairness, transparency, etc, the reactions from Nigerians were unmistakable.

His appointment drew loud applause from a wide spectrum of Nigerians, particularly from many of those in Corporate Nigeria who welcomed and applauded this monumentally consequential appointment by President Bola Tinubu. Quite an overwhelming public opinion support accompanied Mr. President’s choice.

Many that I have spoken with believe PenCom got what it rightly deserves at this auspicious time: someone poised to work around the clock to provide leadership at the top with a little more class and flair to revamp and make definite structural realignments to cure the shades of limitations that have bedevilled it for far too long and unleash the inherently massive potential of this organisation, thereby enhancing its capability to play more strategic roles in the socio-economic terrain of the country.

The appointment of Agbaje, a man whose dream was way bigger than Sagamu – his town of nativity, and a vastly respected public commentator on the economy, policy and national development as the chairman of the National Pension Commission (PenCom) by this administration is just about as outstanding of an appointment as you can get – can better be described as “smoking hot” for a lack of a better term.

While a section saw it as an effort by the government to draw a firm line and dig in to ensure that a round peg is where it is required – a round hole. This is a big statement in the market that is necessary to catalyse and boost the confidence of the investing public, and maintain a handful hold of sorts.

A somewhat different view: that President Tinubu himself, who is radically changing the socio-economic landscape of this country through what experts believe is the driving force of this administration – policy rebirth, had headhunted an exceptionally stunning professional whose core competency is in policy and management. His appointment comes amid the corporate governance accusations at the organisation he has been tapped to lead – the widely reported fractured corporate governance in some of the Pension Fund Administrators, which received a lot of media attention a few weeks ago, is particularly disturbing.

This will perhaps be the first test of his leadership, of which some pundits opine will reshape this organisation far into the foreseeable future, blurring whatever connection there currently is between its operations and bureaucracy. And he already has his work cut out: set a clear path for real problem-solving as he leads the organisation that has been accused of creating multiple layers of problems while trying to solve perceived problems.

Needless to say, the Opeyemi Agbaje that I know over the course of about three decades – dates back to GTB where he was one of our well-loved ogas, where competence and extraordinary performance on the job made him rise to an assistant general manager position in about eight years, and at Metropolitan Bank (now UBA Plc), where, as executive director, he recruited me and championed the remarkable and strategic transformation of the bank, is not about bureaucratic bottlenecks, drab and sloppy service delivery or institutional weaknesses – never was and never would be. In providing empathetic leadership, he regularly chooses authenticity over economic platitudes and clichés and sees every organisation through the prism of policy details. One thing is clear, we have a chairman of PenCom who has the necessary spine to implement policy changes he believes will reposition the organisation for greater efficiency.

In the coming months, we should expect the stakes in this organisation to be dramatically raised with a perfect storm likely underway by way of a flurry of blockbuster policy statements to usher in far-reaching changes in the corporate strategic direction of this public institution. Nigerians should therefore be poised to see in PenCom, a kind of leadership that’s always wanting to feel the pains of the people rather than make them feel pains and one that will completely revolutionise and set a historic record by a lot as far as performance is concerned, ensuring the agency is on full pedal to the metal to accelerate the dramatic overhaul of its service delivery.

Although the level and scope of rot in PenCom is unclear, yet being an agency of government and like many other agencies, the cold hard fact is that it is in all likelihood seared with debilitating scars of years of red tapes, wastes and abuse – the scourge that’s killing the effectiveness of so many MDAs and that have defined and made them burning hellholes – it runs deep, oftentimes, too deep – sadly! This isn’t a new one on many well-meaning Nigerians – not at all – not even for PenCom, which possibly has a lot of garbage.

Things are really much more complicated than they appear, and you can’t rule out potential sticking points. What perhaps may be news is that, if with the appointment of this truly tested policy-centric professional, we do not see transformative changes in a formulated fashion to stem whatever slide there is in the system, reinforce transparency and strengthen corporate governance. I very much doubt this will be the case anyway, as I genuinely believe he will build a coalition around his policy-driven strategic leadership.

To plainly set the table for a bunch of people, Agbaje’s appointment, which sets the stage for possible sweeping changes in this government agency, may seem simplistic, but a lot would be required to make appreciable gains in a strategy shift. Nonetheless, it is an inevitability that he would show an extremely strong personality, bring on his very strong policy-based leadership style and entertain no fear to make bold, big decisions in the system, particularly about work ethics and culture. There are, however, strong possibilities that his decisions may have real consequences for those profiting from the red tape – cause a full-blown panic, resulting in a likely mischaracterisation of his actions, where he may soon be labelled the problem of the very same system he’s primed to positively influence – akin to performance activism.

This is pretty much the typical playbook for corruption perpetrators in Nigeria: they have a meltdown, spin a tale that would accuse the potential rescuer of the very same thing they are doing and then rush to the media to amplify and grab headlines to gain traction amongst Nigerians. While this is a possibility, I am hopeful nevertheless that his brilliant performance and brave leadership will diminish all shades and forms of whiners in the system.

As I conclude, the timing of his appointment is right to set a fresh direction and create decent momentum for PenCom. It’s therefore heart-warming that there’s a new ‘fishing boat’ in PenCom under the new leadership headed by Agbaje. As it ploughs through the rough sea of economic turbulence and reforms embarked upon by the current administration, he and his team are expected to face not only the ‘treacherous sea of global economic uncertainties but the bitter and brutal international and domestic economic weathers’.

However, whilst he has a tall task, there are soaring hopes that he’ll be fired up, with resilience and unflinching determination, to plan each step successfully with military precision and execute same with phenomenal corporate efficiency as he tirelessly provides pivotal leadership with unyielding spirit and indomitable valour even in the face of likely stiff opposition from individuals possibly profiting from certain process dysfunctionality.

To be clear, I am both excited and optimistic about the benefits his leadership will accrue, firstly to PenCom as it continues its task of safeguarding contributors’ funds, unleashing its full regulatory capability and creating safe investment possibilities to stimulate market capitalisation growth in the country and, secondly, its lofty contributions to strengthening the socio-economic development of our nation. Hence, I ask that you pull the chair and grab the popcorn as we behold a truly surgical transformation unfold that’ll perhaps go down as a historic moment over this agency’s lifetime.

Ande, a financial and political economy analyst, writes from Lagos and can be reached via [email protected]