A former Minister of Works, Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe on Sunday said President Muhammadu Buhari’s appointment of former governors into his cabinet as Ministers is partly responsible for the non-performance witnessed in critical sectors of the Nigerian economy.
Among former governors currently serving as Ministers are Rauf Aregbesola, Minister of Interior; Chris Ngige, Minister of Labour and Employment; Timipre Sylva, Minister of State for Petroleum; George Akume; Minister of Special Duties and Adeniyi Adebayo, Minister of Industry,Trade and Investment.
Other former governors like Rotimi Amaechi, Godswill Akpabio and Ogbonnaya Onu resigned from the cabinet to contest in the 2023 general elections.
Speaking in an interview with Daily Independent, Ogunlewe, a chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) said any politician that will succeed President Buhari in 2023 must ensure he goes for the best brains who have the capacity to doesn’t appoint former governors who have nothing more to prove into the cabinet.
While declaring support for Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the APC presidential candidate, Ogunlewe said Tinubu’s state of health is inconsequential as long as he has the right people in the cabinet to work for him.
He said “My appeal is for every candidate to brace up and tell Nigerians what you have to offer. Things are not too good for the country now. The level of unemployment, insecurity, poverty and lack of social amenities is alarming. So, my own advice is that Nigerians must make a wise choice in 2023 by electing the best for the country. Let the best candidate who can save this country win”.
“No matter the manifesto you prepare; no matter the knowledge that you have, if you don’t have cerebral and committed people in your cabinet, you are going to be a failure. That is what is happening to this current administration headed by President Muhammadu Buhari. No matter how good Buhari’s intentions are, the cabinet is not performing to his satisfaction. That is why we have these problems we have today”.
“So, Tinubu’s health will not matter much because what is important is the team he will assemble together. He must choose the best for the country because the people he appoints into his cabinet will be the ones that will drive these developments we are talking about. He must look for the best brains anywhere in the world and bring them home to salvage the country”.
“The team must be cerebral. Don’t bring in former governors as ministers. They are too rich to work. Why should you appoint a former governor who was in office for eight years as minister? That is the problem we are having in this current administration. They don’t want to stress themselves so that they don’t die in the process”.
“They have made so much money already. What does a former governor want again? We are talking of somebody that is controlling N500 million monthly as security vote not to talk of federal allocation and IGR and you are bringing him to a ministry whose total budget is N60billion. He will just look at it as chicken feed”.
“We need new faces who want to prove they have something to offer. A former governor has nothing to prove again. He has made so much money already and he will not go the extra mile in service to the country”.
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