.Lists Oyetola, Mamman, Musawa, Kyari, Uzoka-Anite For Dismissal
Ahead of the planned nationwide protest tagged #EndbadgovernanceinNigeria, a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal has advised President Bola Tinubu to carry out an urgent cabinet reshuffle by sacking non-performing ministers in his cabinet.
Speaking in a no-holds-barred interview with TheScrutinyNG on Wednesday, Lawal said sacking some of the ministers who are not performing will send a signal to angry Nigerians that the president means well and is ready for business.
According to him, while it is on record that President Tinubu has the highest number of ministers in Nigeria’s history, many of the ministers have no reason to be in the cabinet due to their abysmal performance.
He listed former Osun state governor, Adegboyega Oyetola, who is the Minister Of Marine and Blue Economy; Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari; Doris Nkiruka Uzoka-Anite, Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment and Hannatu Musawa, Minister of Art, Culture and Creative Economy as some of the ministers that should be shown the way out of the cabinet.
“Let me tell you some of the things that can reduce tension in the country. Let Bola (Tinubu) do a cabinet reshuffle tomorrow and see if Nigerians will not be happy with him. Let him drop some of these ministers that nobody has heard anything about them since they were appointed. If he can do that, it will send a signal to Nigerians that he is ready for business and he is a listening president”.
“Many of the ministers are just useless. What is the minister of Agric doing since he was appointed? Nobody has heard anything about him or his plans to improve agriculture in Nigeria and make food available for hungry masses. The whole agriculture system has collapsed. What is he doing about fertiliser subsidy, tractors, irrigation and Agric inputs. What the northerners want is agriculture because that is their major source of livelihood”.
“Today, fertiliser is N47,000 in the market. During Buhari’s era, it was N7,000. That alone has discouraged a lot of farmers. What is the minister doing about that?”
“What is the Minister of Art and Culture, Hannatu Musawa doing in the cabinet?”
“The president’s brother, Gboyega Oyetola, what has he done in the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy? He is sitting on one of the massive fund generators of the government and he is not doing anything or telling Nigerians about what is happening in the ministry”.
“Why is he not talking to Nigerians about the achievements of the ministry? That is what governance is all about. I will fire him if I am the president. People should know what is going on in all these ministries. That is when Nigerians can be convinced that the government is working. Everybody is just sitting there and stealing. They don’t steal billions of naira again, it is trillions”.
“The minister of Education has nothing less than 100 parastatals under him. Why is he not talking about some of the achievements recorded in his ministry? The only time we are hear about him is when ASUU and NASU are threatening to go on strike”.
“What is the minister of industry doing? I don’t even know her name. Nobody knows her. The Minister of Health, Pate is from the United Nations. He is a very brilliant guy. Why is he quiet? What is he doing with the health sector at a time many of our doctors and nurses are fleeing abroad for greener pastures?”.
Lawal who said many of the ministers are not communicating to Nigerians what they are doing in their ministries, added that doing so would have eased a lot of pressures on President Tinubu.
“These ministers are supposed to talk and tell Nigerians about their achievements. That will relieve the president of the pressures from the people. I can’t even remember some of the ministries because they are too many. What is the essence of having the highest number of ministries in the history of Nigeria when a larger percentage of the ministers are non-performing?”
“If you can’t remove these ministers, shift them to ministries where they can just be taking tea and coffee. They just keep quiet and are busy eating”.
