Olanrewaju Lawal, Birnin-Kebbi
President Muhammad Buhari has been urged to consider merit and integrity as prerequisites in appointing new Ministers into his cabinet.
A senior lecturer at the Sokoto State Polytechnic, Bello Mohammed Nasarawa, who stated this yesterday in an open memo to President Buhari he personally issued in Birnin-Kebbi, and made available to newsmen, noted that based on his party’s campaign promises, the President must consider his new cabinet based on competence.
“In view of your recent campaign promises, policy for change and the fight against corruption, impunity, economic sabotage and other crimes against our people, I am compelled to suggest appointment of your key officers should be based on integrity, merit, competence, experience and appropriate qualifications.
“All the key officers to be employed by your administration should be trained on financial and the civil service regulations. And as I am a product/international Alumni of a USA University, we can invite some Nigeria academicians residing in USA to come forward and give their own contributions.”
Nasarawa, who also called for the reorganisation of the federal civil service, noted that emphasis should placed on training of civil servants for new research and development.
“There is need to cut down the cost of running government so that all the loopholes that enable corruption to thrive were blocked. The money saved should be used to empower our people through training and job creation. This will drastically reduce the level of poverty, begging and idleness in the country.
“As the president of the country, you would face a lot of challenges, the biggest, in my view, is corruption. The rule books have been thrown away and everybody is doing what is like,” he said.