By Che Oyinatumba
 Published
November 9th, 2008
After waiting for 5 months during which the anxiety was
watered down, President Umar Yar’Adua expelled 20 ministers
from attendance to the weekly Federal Executive Council
Meeting. Apart from three heavy weights, the others are
featherweights whose absence does nothing to convey that the
presidency is serious about igniting people oriented
fireworks among his ministers.
Modibbo was not removed solely because he lost against Goje
his state governor, but how will you explain the religious
zeal with which the ex-minister undertook the building of 60
Billion Naira Boulevard , planting 1 million trees valued at
1 billion naira when there are visible collapses of
infrastructure in FCT? Traffic jams are building up in all
the 3 entry points into Abuja with expansion works going on
to alleviate the waste of time and productivity. Before el-Ruffai
left the most popular means of transportation Okada was
faced out and introduction of more buses and taxis
introduced. Up to the time Modibbo was removed, these buses
never arrived and the el-Ruffai taxis are near extinct in
the FCT. Commuters are left at the mercy of Kabukabu, who
often times turn out to be one chance. He could not even
sustain the beauty of FCT el-Rufai achieved with sweat and
blood of poor Nigerians who died while trying to perfect
their C of O. Under Modibbo, Abuja was fast becoming a
ghetto with illegal structures resurfacing. Furthermore he
displayed an unforgivable act of loyalty by blaming the
federal government of which he is a member for low pace of
development.
Charles Ugwu has been a colossal failure. As President of
Manufactures Association of Nigeria (MAN) he actively
endorsed Obasanjo’s third term bid for which he was rewarded
with PDP guber ticket in Imo state against Supreme Court
ruling in favour of Senator Ifeanyi Ararume. It is now
obvious that he was made minister to recoup the money he
invested in the quest to steal Senator Ararume’s PDP mandate
in Imo State . Under Ugwu , Nigeria was further infested by
inferior goods from Far East while the local manufacturing
sector went finally dead. A good number of industries dried
up and elected to import finished goods. In deed the ugwu
has been levelled, he should relocate to Imo State to see
that Jodan toothbrush revives its quality.
Igwe Aja Nwachukwu had to leave because he exhibited high
level of ignorance during the recently concluded NUT strike.
It became obvious that he has no vision or sympathy for the
decaying education sector when NUT refused to negotiate with
Federal Government if Nwachukwu was part of the team.
Who needs minister of aviation when hunters can find a
missing aeroplane? Felix Hyatt, Min. of State Aviation,
wasn’t discrete about his incompetence when he went to war
of words with the National Emergence Management Agency.
Beyond this point, I query the survival of Mrs. Diezani
Alison-Madueke Minister of transport who wept in National TV
that the job of tackling Nigerian roads is too much for her.
She further compounded her incompetency when she revealed
that there is no financial backing to carry out her duties.
John Odey has been keeping Nigerians in the dark with
regards to information about Nigeria . One is at sea with
regards to who is the minister of information between him
and Segun Adeniyi SA to the President on Media and
Communication. Under Odey’s role as minister of mis-information
Nigerian journalists have had roughest days in the recent
history of our post military dictatorship.
If the essence of the reshuffle is to give the battered go
slow image of the administration a face lift, the retention
of Micheal Aondoakaa, as Attorney General and Minister of
Justice has driven the final nail in the lid of the comatose
coffin of administrative style of this government. Since
Micheal Aondoakaa, took over, the corruption in the
judiciary especially election petition has increased and the
war against corruption is now a puppet show. The AG’s office
deliberately allowed the court to strike out the fraud case
against Jimoh Ibrahim of NICON Group. The trials of
ex-governors have entered voice mail according to popular
parlance. Under him, technicalities have been used to
frustrate the noble concept of rule of law, which this
administration chants.
Minister of Petroleum has been no other person but Mr.
President. The rot in NNPC and other auxiliary sectors under
this ministry without a far reaching solution, shows that
Mr. President is unfit to be a minister how much more a
president. That he survived, is the final stroke that his
reshuffling is irrationally done with no intention of
injecting fireworks into the lack lustre Federal Executive
Council.
I hope Nigerians will not have to wait for another 5 months
before the replacement list goes to Senate. And at the floor
of the senate, we want the would be ministers to first
recite the National Anthem, followed by specific questions
as to their proposed solution(s) to the problems confronting
Nigeria in the face of overwhelming globalisation; the
realistic or otherwise of vision 2020 and their political
ambition after ministerial service.
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