A transformation cabinet?

Apparently, that section of the constitution didn’t contemplate the ongoing phantom transformation. However, even governments that didn’t set out to transform anything in this country had had to responsibly replace sacked ministers in good time, how much more of a government that promised to transform even the air we breathe. Ours is a country of […]

Apparently, that section of the constitution didn’t contemplate the ongoing phantom transformation. However, even governments that didn’t set out to transform anything in this country had had to responsibly replace sacked ministers in good time, how much more of a government that promised to transform even the air we breathe. Ours is a country of believers, we believe too much, even in lies. It has been several months since ministers representing Anambra, Delta, Ekiti, Yobe States, etc., were dismissed from the cabinet by President Goodluck Jonathan but as at today they are yet to be replaced. Why should you believe that someone will provide you fresh air when he cannot do something as simple as filling vacant cabinet posts required by the constitution? The President doesn’t even realise that he is presently flouting a constitutional provision that requires every state to have representation in the cabinet.
It is all a question of capacity and there is a serious lack of capacity on the part of President Jonathan. This incapacity may have directly flowed from lack of sound judgement. You look at the quality of his Ministers and aides and find out that most don’t add any significant value to his administration and they’re simply liabilities. Stella Oduah and Godson Orubebe, despite their unedifying roles, were dropped from the cabinet only after strident calls. Now the Ministry of Aviation is said to be reeling under a debt of N174 billion. Who incurred the debt and what was the money used for? As for the NDDC supervised by Orubebe, the president himself said it was full of untoward happenings.
Instead of going to the National Assembly to clear herself and the Ministry of Petroleum, the ever zany Diezani Alison-Madueke, ran to the court to stop the legislators from questioning her. Blimey! If you don’t want to be questioned on your public service record, why don’t you resign? And if you’re doing a great job of transforming the oil industry as you advertise, why wouldn’t you just go and share the secret with those Members? Why did you even have to lobby to be appointed to the ministry in the first place? Now Mrs Alison-Madueke wants the president’s permission to appear before the National Assembly; but, certainly, Nigerians wouldn’t have forgotten so soon that when another president directed her ministry to stop providing kerosene subsidy, this was disregarded.
Really, which foreign affairs is Aminu Wali conducting for Nigeria at this point in time? Is he engaging his Cameroonian and Chadian counterparts in the negotiations to hit Boko Haram and rout them from the borders? Has he sorted out the finances of the ministry and completed briefing formalities? Indeed, has he learnt the workings of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yet?
We now know that the devil is penetrating Jonathan’s government through the activities of Abba Moro, his Minister of Interior. Abba Moro, you remember, blamed the death of our unemployed youths on the devil rather than his own single handed Ministerial recruitment disorder, so what is he still doing in the cabinet? Or is he waiting for another devil’s alternative? If his godfather had any conscience, he would have replaced Abba Moro with another person not yet known by the devil. Moro is still keeping a cool amount of N700m. For as long as Abba Moro is in the cabinet, the devil will come into the interior.
Bala Mohammed, the FCT Minister, is merely warming the chair and will be remembered for doing nothing except kowtowing to the wishes of Patience Jonathan. The FCT Ministry has never been barren in terms of resources; it is only that Bala has no programme other than to rid Abuja of hapless Nigerians using the police. Nigerians should thank the Federal High Court that struck down FCTA’s illegal ATM in form of Abuja traffic agencies through which top ministry officials have milked the city’s residents for providing them with absolutely no services.
The Federal Ministry of Education is too big for Nyesom Wike and his continued stay there impedes the resolution of many problems. Lecturers of polytechnic and colleges of education have been on industrial strike for upward of six months now, but Wike has had no time for them to talk of resolution. He is rather busy launching Grassroots Democratic Initiative (GDI) so he could become the governor of Rivers State. According to the incumbent governor of Rivers, Wike cannot even speak sufficient English. How then could he communicate with the eggheads supervised by his Ministry and earn their respect? Any wonder the Ministry is too big for him to lead!
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is doing every other thing except coordinating the economy. Kabiru Mashi’s authority at FIRS is compromised by the fact that he has been its acting chairman for unusually long time. Ahonu-Amazu is unqualified to serve as DG of PenCom and Dikko Inde has, by many accounts, overstayed at the Nigerian Customs Service. The Director General Securities and Exchange has stayed put notwithstanding the crisis of confidence she has with NASS. All these institutions under the Ministry of Finance have not benefitted from the global best practices that Okonjo-Iweala flaunts. Not long ago, the minister had a spat with a national newspaper over how she carelessly granted some government cronies waivers with costs running into huge sums of money. Under her watch also, over $20 billion was said to have remained unremitted to government coffers. By the way, when are we getting the results of the forensic audit of the NNPC? What is happening to those who cornered the money for kerosene and petrol fuel subsidy? This second coming of Okonjo-Iweala has not delivered to the nation.