IntelOpinion: How to Pick a Nigerian cabinet – Mark Amaza

Since the shock sacking of nine ministers by President Goodluck Jonathan, news and social media have been awash with comments expressing surprise, or those who felt the attempt at reshuffling the cabinet was not far-reaching enough, considering that some particular ministers are left in their positions.

This sacking brings the total number of vacant cabinet seats to 11 (former Minister of State for Health, Dr. Muhammad Ali Pate, had resigned a couple of months ago, while the Minister for Youth Development, Inuwa Abdulkadir had also been sacked a few weeks ago).

While it will take days, if not weeks, before the reasons behind the sacking of each of the nine ministers are fully known, we can only speculate whether it was based on non-performance, corruption, or political consolidation (some of the ministers might bear allegiance to the breakaway faction of the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP).

In other countries, the sacking of 11 cabinet members would have amounted to at least half or even two-thirds of the entire cabinet gone. However, in Nigeria, this is just about one-third of the number of ministers, not to add the motley crowd of Special Advisers (which are cabinet-level positions) and Senior Special Assistants to the President. All these offices come with their own retinue of aides, expenses and budgets. There is no better description of an over-bloated cabinet than what we have.

While this is not entirely President Jonathan’s fault, as the 1999 Constitution demands a minister per state, he has made it worse by creating offices of special advisers and senior special assistants with either very vague job descriptions (such as the Special Adviser on Ethics and Values) or duplicating those of others.

Take for instance, the fact that there is a Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, a Senior Special Assistant on Public Relations and another Senior Special Assistant on New Media (Facebook and Twitter). These three offices can be merged into one position, saving the country a lot of funds.

The President can start by trimming these redundant positions, while the National Assembly can do us all good by removing the clause of the constitution that stipulates that each state has a minister, a practice rooted in a disastrous scarcity mindset. After all, not every ministry needs to stand on its own (e.g. the Ministries of Information and Communication, Science and Technology, and Communications Technology have a lot of overlaps) and not every ministry needs a Minister of State (Works and Health are two ministries that readily come to mind).

It will also be recalled that after the appointment of his cabinet, President Jonathan had his ministers sign performance bonds, against which their stays in office will be evaluated. While that was a laudable move in order to tie the ministers down to performance contracts, it is sad that the contents of these performance bonds are not known to the public. As a result, the Nigerian people, who are the true employers of the ministers and the President himself, can only form conjectures in assessing their performances.

Having the performance bonds of the ministers publicly available also bolsters the President’s case when he lets cabinet members go for non-performance. For example, until this sacking, one would be forgiven for not remembering that we had a Minister for Environment, or Lands and Housing, as there has been nothing to show for their existences.

As President Jonathan beams his search radar across the country for persons to fill the eleven vacancies in his cabinet, he cannot be faulted for factoring political considerations into his nominations. However, the capacity to do the job should not be sacrificed for political expediency.

The practice where the state governor (if from the PDP) or the state chapter of the party is asked to nominate a minister must be done away with, as the President should select people whose pedigrees he is sure of, and whom he can work with.

There must be efforts made to turn the cabinet into a collection of all-round performers, not what it is at current where persons like Akin Adesina, the Minister of Agriculture earns plaudits nationally, while those like the now former Minister for Education, Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufai will not be missed.

It is now less than two years before the next general elections when President Jonathan is expected to seek another four years at the helm of affairs of Nigeria. His performance, by which many Nigerians will judge whether he is deserving of a second term, will depend on the performance of his cabinet members.

We hope that he keeps this in mind.

IntelOpinion

Aggrieved PDP govs dump Atiku, PDM

by OBIORA IFOH

… Prefer alliance with APC

Former Vice-President Atiku Abubarkar’s plot to lure the seven aggrieved governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) into the newly formed Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM) may have hit the rocks, as the governors appear to prefer alliance with their counterparts in the All Progressives Congress (APC). The alliance talk according to a reliable source made available to Sunday Mirror is billed to commence on Tuesday in Abuja.
It was gathered that the proposed meeting of a faction of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) led by the Rivers State governor, Rotimi Amaechi, fixed for Tuesday is a cover for the alliance talks which the leadership of the APC had three days ago, endorsed.
According to a competent source in the APC who confided in our correspondent, the need for the governors to meet on time was informed by the reports that the newlyregistered Peoples PDM led by the former V-P was also making overtures to the G-7 governors to join forces with it ahead of the election year.
“You know that it is impossible for the governors in the new PDP to work with Atiku; he merely came into the picture at the venue of the convention, so the best thing is for them to meet with the APC governors and agree on what to do to vote out the PDP in 2015.
“The options are many but they are trying to harmonise them so that when they come out finally, no one will fault the other.” The source gave two options as outright defection to the APC or staying within the PDP to undermine it in 2015.
He added; “The PDP and the Presidency are wasting their time in the so-called peace talks because the governors have all resolved not to work for Jonathan, so how do they fit?” APC’s interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed on Thursday gave indications that the party leadership had directed the APC governors to commence consultations with their PDP counterparts who are aggrieved and had gone ahead to form a parallel body known as the new PDP. Mohammed said: “It is not a matter we discussed at the executive committee.
But I know that what the party decided is that since our governors are also members of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) and they are also meeting regularly with these other governors, we have left that assignment in the hands of our governors so that when the about seven or eight aggrieved governors of PDP are desirous of making contact with the party, they should do so with our governors.”
Although the APC spokesperson denied that Tuesday’s meeting of the NGF was not used as a cover for the alliance talks between the G-7 governors and the APC governors, there was nothing wrong in colleagues interacting on national issues.
“I see nothing wrong in if colleagues are interacting in the interest of the nation and exchanging ideas about how the country will move forward from the current doldrums; I am not saying the meeting of the NGF called for Tuesday is actually meant to commence the talks you are referring to, but I see nothing wrong in the exchange of ideas that will move us forward”, he said.

 

NationalMirror

Jonathan is the world’s new Nero – Asobie, ex-ASUU President

 

Ayo Okulaja

 

Mr. Asobie calls for the convocation of a Sovereign National Conference (SNC), which according to him “must be workers driven rather than ethnicity.
A former President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, Assisi Asobie has described President Goodluck Jonathan as the “new Nero” of the 21st Century because of the president’s alleged lackadaisical attitude in addressing the nation’s multifarious crises.
Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, who ruled Roman Empire from 58 – 64 BC, is renowned for the catch phrase “the Emperor who fiddled while Rome burned.”
Mr Asobie, who was the Chairman of the Board of the Nigerian Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative, NEITI, and a professor of Political Science at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, faulted Mr Jonathan’s stance on the ravaging Boko Haram insurgency in the northern part of Nigeria and the increasing kidnapping in the South East and other parts of the country.
“We are witnessing a Nero in our country,” Mr Assobie thundered on Friday in Lagos at the inaugural Tunji Braithwaite Birthday Symposium in commemoration of the legal luminary’s 80th birthday.
Mr Asobie, who was the guest lecturer at the event, warned that “Nigeria is already on the track of another civil because the Boko Haram insurgency is a fight against the Nigerian state.
“Yet the President has continuously denied this………claiming that nothing is happening and we are winning in his statements yet increasing number of lives are lost daily.
“What the President is only concerned about is hosting dinners after dinner.”
Last Sunday, Mr Jonathan hosted a PDP dinner after the controversial national convention of the party, a midterm dinner in June to celebrate the second year of being elected and another one to revel the female members of his cabinet, amongst many others.
Despite the use of equal force (state of emergency) to fight the Boko Haram insurgency, Mr Asobie blamed the failure of the Nigerian state to address the insurgency on the greed of “leaders who do not want to lose power and are ignorant” even as he hinted at the president’s desire to contest the 2015 presidential election.
Quoting series of statements by the President on the robust state of Nigeria’s democracy and stability of its economy, the guest lecturer noted that such statements were not backed with data such as the Global Instability Index which ranked Nigeria as in ‘high-risk category’ of failed states.
Jonathanian Solution
Further decrying Mr Jonathan’s polices, the academic condemned the setting up of multiple committees to address disturbing national issues without achieving any result. This, he described as ‘Jonathanian Solution’.
Mr Asobie recalled the president’s claim in a speech in 2011 after the post-election violence that a number of lives had been lost and that he was going to set up a committee, whose modalities would include the setting up of an Electoral Violence Tribunal to try anyone found guilty of electoral violence.
“Two years after, we have not heard anything about the tribunal which is supposed to serve as a deterrent to offenders in future elections” he lamented.
The political scientist urged Nigerians to unite and fight the ‘class war’ which according to him, “is being fought by politicians”, admitting that the nation’s economy is growing amidst massive income inequality.
Workers Sovereign National Conference
Mr Asobie called for the formation of a new liberation movement by Nigerians ahead of the next general elections in 2015, just as he enjoined Nigerians to get involved in the selection of political parties candidates.
He also called for the convocation of a Sovereign National Conference (SNC), which according to him “must be workers driven rather than ethnicity.”
He, however, warned on the modality of the conference, saying “if the SNC is ethnic-based, we might lose our country.”

PremiumTimes

Jonathan is the world’s new Nero – Asobie, ex-ASUU President

 

Ayo Okulaja

 

President Goodluck Jonathan

 

Mr. Asobie calls for the convocation of a Sovereign National Conference (SNC), which according to him “must be workers driven rather than ethnicity.
A former President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, Assisi Asobie has described President Goodluck Jonathan as the “new Nero” of the 21st Century because of the president’s alleged lackadaisical attitude in addressing the nation’s multifarious crises.
Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, who ruled Roman Empire from 58 – 64 BC, is renowned for the catch phrase “the Emperor who fiddled while Rome burned.”
Mr Asobie, who was the Chairman of the Board of the Nigerian Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative, NEITI, and a professor of Political Science at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, faulted Mr Jonathan’s stance on the ravaging Boko Haram insurgency in the northern part of Nigeria and the increasing kidnapping in the South East and other parts of the country.
“We are witnessing a Nero in our country,” Mr Assobie thundered on Friday in Lagos at the inaugural Tunji Braithwaite Birthday Symposium in commemoration of the legal luminary’s 80th birthday.
Mr Asobie, who was the guest lecturer at the event, warned that “Nigeria is already on the track of another civil because the Boko Haram insurgency is a fight against the Nigerian state.
“Yet the President has continuously denied this………claiming that nothing is happening and we are winning in his statements yet increasing number of lives are lost daily.
“What the President is only concerned about is hosting dinners after dinner.”
Last Sunday, Mr Jonathan hosted a PDP dinner after the controversial national convention of the party, a midterm dinner in June to celebrate the second year of being elected and another one to revel the female members of his cabinet, amongst many others.
Despite the use of equal force (state of emergency) to fight the Boko Haram insurgency, Mr Asobie blamed the failure of the Nigerian state to address the insurgency on the greed of “leaders who do not want to lose power and are ignorant” even as he hinted at the president’s desire to contest the 2015 presidential election.
Quoting series of statements by the President on the robust state of Nigeria’s democracy and stability of its economy, the guest lecturer noted that such statements were not backed with data such as the Global Instability Index which ranked Nigeria as in ‘high-risk category’ of failed states.
Jonathanian Solution
Further decrying Mr Jonathan’s polices, the academic condemned the setting up of multiple committees to address disturbing national issues without achieving any result. This, he described as ‘Jonathanian Solution’.
Mr Asobie recalled the president’s claim in a speech in 2011 after the post-election violence that a number of lives had been lost and that he was going to set up a committee, whose modalities would include the setting up of an Electoral Violence Tribunal to try anyone found guilty of electoral violence.
“Two years after, we have not heard anything about the tribunal which is supposed to serve as a deterrent to offenders in future elections” he lamented.
The political scientist urged Nigerians to unite and fight the ‘class war’ which according to him, “is being fought by politicians”, admitting that the nation’s economy is growing amidst massive income inequality.
Workers Sovereign National Conference
Mr Asobie called for the formation of a new liberation movement by Nigerians ahead of the next general elections in 2015, just as he enjoined Nigerians to get involved in the selection of political parties candidates.
He also called for the convocation of a Sovereign National Conference (SNC), which according to him “must be workers driven rather than ethnicity.”
He, however, warned on the modality of the conference, saying “if the SNC is ethnic-based, we might lose our country.”

PremiumTimes

23 PDP govs endorse Tukur’s sack •Jonathan meets new PDP group tomorrow •Court turns down Tukur’s prayer •Factions trade words over Rivers crisis

by  Tayo Babarinde                                                     

•                        

All the 23 governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have agreed that the embattled National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, has to step aside for peace to reign in the party.
Saturday Tribune gathered through authoritative sources in both factions of the PDP that the decision on having Tukur leave the reins of the party had been mutually agreed on by governors on both sides.
Two governors from both factions confirmed the decision to Saturday Tribune on Friday but asked not to be named.
Tukur’s fate may be sealed at tomorrow’s meeting between President Goodluck Jonathan and governors of the Abubakar Baraje led faction at the presidential villa, Abuja.
According to the sources, President Jonathan’s inner caucus of friends had also impressed it on him “to let go” of Tukur in view of the “needless tension his actions and inactions were causing him and the polity
“He was told the plain truth that he needed a break from the tension in the polity generated by the crisis in his party. In particular, it was impressed on him that Tukur’s leadership of the party was doing more harm to the administration than good and he should hands off the issue of keeping Tukur at the helms of the PDP.
“From the body language of the president, he appeared to have agreed with the governors. Sunday’s meeting with the rebel governors is likely to advance that course of action. The question now is just when Tukur would go,” the source added.
It was also gathered that some of the governors loyal to the president have told him to “look beyond the fact that Tukur’s wife is an Ijaw from Bayelsa State” and consider the larger interest of the nation, the party and his own 2015 re-election plans.
“Indeed, I can tell you that members of the president’s kitchen cabinet have commenced shopping for a replacement for Tukur with a number of accomplished politicians from the North-Eastern part of the country being considered. Some other stakeholders are also involved in the search for the new chairman that would be acceptable to all sides in the crisis,” the source said.

NtgerianTribune

A season of dinners!

 by Kabir Mato                                                       

Since assumption of office last year, the old PDP Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, has introduced a new twist in covering obvious failures of both the state and the party in power through stage management of dinner.

I thought General Obasanjo was cereberal in partying until this chairman came our way. Thank God! The military stroke in 1983, Gongola State (now Adamawa and Taraba states) would have had it really bad. At every turn in the corner one dinner party is organized or the other. These dinner parties often hold when the party or government notices they had a poor outing in one way or the other.
In May this year, celeberating what the government called the succeses of the transformation agenda, President Goodluck Jonathan organised a huge party where series of lies were told shamelessly to Nigerians. I remember on that day, my elder brother and a very sound economic technocrat, Dr Shamsudeen Usman oratorically entertained his listeners with lies as accomplishments of this government.
He told us how many jobs have been created, how much money came into the country as foreign investment, how much electricity supply had improved across the country to about twenty hours a day, among several other fairy tales. Despite that he was sacked from the cabinet few days ago. Soon after my humble friend, Inuwa Abdulkadir a few days ago, I knew many more were on the way except of course my strategic radar never sighted Shamsu. I knew my sister Zainab would go, so also was Ruqayyatu, a fantastic professor who remained humble throughout her sojourn in that difficult ministry and assignment under a government that is obviously clueless. Their sins were simple. Their sponsors are disagreeing with a president who is finding it difficult to live by simple agreement he had with them at a time he was desperate.
Soon after that another circus dinner was organized by the so called PDP family mainly carried of women in government under the leadership of the charming Diezani Alison-Madueke, popularly known as the queen of the cabinet. In that dinner a publication on the Jonathan adminsitarion was presented to the public and shamefully, Professor George Obiozor, a political scientist of repute was at hand to uncoodinately tell another bunch of lies on the achievements of this government. I am worried that when dirty job is being done, the brightest in the society are hired to execute it. Sometimes I ask the question: are we really living in the same country with these characters?
The recent dinner was the one organized by the Bamanga Tukur faction of the PDP after that failed convention which shamelessly marked the end of the traditional strangulation in the ruling PDP.
THE DINNER AS USUSAL WAS ATTENDED by all the loyal forces and as has been, it provided the opportunity needed to again embarrass those in power by brutally and provocatively throwing conscience to the dogs and spitting on our faces with saliva of falsehood and indecency.
I don’t belong to the category of Nigerians who believe that the way out of the political log-jam in the PDP is when the president promises he will not to run for the second time. No! I believe and pray he runs. My argument is that there must be free and fair elections in Nigeria in 2015.
If the nation feels that president Jonathan is right to continue, so be it. I believe he will be roundly defeated on the basis of one man one vote and the obvious failures of his government and any attempt to rig the polls may thus lead the country into the unfortunate. God forbid.
At the post-convention dinner, people as usual told irritating lies. I no longer worry when I see or hear people like Ahmed Gulak speak on this government. I see very clearly one of the products of Nigerian law school system and perhaps that is why ASUU is on strike so that the universities may be made to work otherwise the nation even after us would be infested by more Gulaks.
Zainab Maina, a woman I used to celebrate, has become an embarrassment. It’s unfortunate. She was reported to have said that hundred percent of Nigerian women are only waiting for President Jonathan to decide he will run in 2015. Some jokes on Facebook were quick to respond to that by saying yes! He must run but to Otuoke, I guess the village where the president hails from.
I am not aware of where Mrs Maina got her facts from. Certainly it is a bunch of lies because I know even in my household I have several women who vote and their votes are most likely not going to Goodluck Jonathan in view of how ‘well’ he has performed in the four years that he has run the affairs of Nigeria except if there are fundamental changes in the less than two years ahead. And this does not seem likely given the manner in which the administration is enveloped in increasing confusion and reprisals with opponents that it is to court.
My take is that the Chairman of the old PDP Bamanga Tukur loves partying and in his octogenarian thoughts the only way to show the world that all is well is by organizing singing and dancing in parties. What a rally! It was Frantz Fanon who while describing the character of African leaders and the OAU argued that the forum served few purposes among which was the assemblage of half breed fifteen year old African girls for …. 
This dinner series reminds me of a piece I wrote in 2006 titled ‘Obasanjo’s desperate meals’ as the ambition to amend the 1999 constitution and adjust the two term limits of the executives thickened, General Obasanjo began breakfast meetings with mainly members of the National Assembly especially those who were seen as recalcitrant. The ambition was defeated and Nigeria kept moving but unfortunately backward.
Like those desperate meals, so shall these desperate dinner parties also go. This is Nigeria. If anybody is thinking that it will be business as usual in 2015, then, he or she has not started. Breakfast, lunch or dinner where lies are told are only provocative and indication of the failures of the state and its political party.

 

WeeklyTrust

Ribadu: Why I Was Not Afraid To Arrest Tafa Balogun For Fraud •More Smarter Crooks Than Ibori Walking Free

Former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Malam Nuhu Ribadu, has explained why he (as an Assistant Commissioner of Police) arrested a former Inspector General of Police, Tafa Balogun.

He said since justice is blind and Mr. Balogun crossed the line, he had to face the music.
He also stated that former Delta State governor, James Ibori, who is currently serving jail term in the United Kingdom did not embezzle funds as much as other “crooks” in the country that are walking free today but that his greatest undoing was not being “smart”.
The EFCC under Ribadu in one of its most celebrated cases, had arrested and put the former IGP on trial for about N5.7billion official corruption.
But Ribadu, who bared his mind in an interview with “Zero Tolerance” magazine published by EFCC, attributed the feat and others to the fear of God.
He said: “Well, the point is that whoever crosses the line will be dealt with. Whether a constable or an IGP; it’s the same thing. The solution is not to cross the line.
“When you execute your mandate honestly, you become blind to the position of individuals. Justice is blind.
“So, Tafa Balogun was my boss as the Inspector-General of Police, but he crossed the line. He did things that were wrong and was brought to our attention, and the law took its course.
“To be honest, I thank God for having only one fear; that is the fear of God. It is not arrogance or anything, no it’s just that I feel what is right is right and in doing what is right, I don’t fear any mortal.
“I have never looked for anything in terms of benefit in any position I have occupied; even in the police, an IGP could not give me anything.

“A President could not give me anything. Obasanjo never gave me an office pin up till this very moment! Never!
“A lot of people feel EFCC broke several laws or Obasanjo gave me everything. What did he give me? The entire budget of EFCC from beginning up to the time I left was not up to N11billion for five years! We never got anything extra, never!
“The people we brought to justice were the closest people to him (Obasanjo), they were PDP men; but others will turn it upside down and lie. It’s really sad, and a lot of them got away with it.”
On Ibori, Ribadu fumed, “There are worse people than James Ibori in Nigeria. I think probably James was not the smartest one among them. There are some crooks worse than James; and I still see them.
“Some of them are even being celebrated right now in our country. Some of them are trying to re-write history. James didn’t handle his own criminal affairs smartly, and he ended up paying dearly for it.
“There are smarter crooks than James, who did more damage to the EFCC; but God will judge them. James is serving a jail term in the United Kingdom.
“So it was not only James and if we narrow it down to James alone then we are actually underestimating the way corruption fought back.”
Responding to a question, the police officer turned politician said the investigation of Ibori for fraud was not personal.

InformationNigeria