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From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) as well as the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) have faulted the quality of the ministers and portfolios assigned to them by President Bola Tinubu. In their words, majority of the ministers are neither square pegs in square holes nor round pegs in round holes.
In a chat with Saturday Sun, the Publicity Secretary of ACF, Prof Tukur Muhammad Baba specifically argued that there was no existing hole of any kind for most of the ministers to fit in.
On his part, Spokesman of NEF, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed advised President Tinubu to keep an eagle’s eyes on the ministers, adding that the President should put them on probation for certain period of time to ensure that they don’t fiddle their fingers with corruptions.
The ACF Publicity Secretary, a Professor of Sociology said: “I think the fundamental question to ask is about the whole administration itself. Since the inauguration of President Bola Tinubu on May 29, it has been very disappointing; things have been unravelling in bewildering numbers of days. All the hypes about Tinubu will do this or that, he will hire the best brains, friends, Tinubu is prepared, Tinubu will take the bull by the horns, Tinubu will hit the ground running from the word go, and so on. All this has come to pass, not true. Therefore it gives me a sense of deja vu.
“Anything this government does remind me that we have been there before. In 2015, all these hypes were made about Buhari. It is the very same thing with the Tinubu’s administration. The quality of the ministers is highly disappointing. That some of them were considered for appointment does not make sense.”
He wondered why former Governor of Zamfara State, who he said performed abysmally in terms of security as governor, was made Minister of State, Defence.
“It is the same with many others. Look at the appointment of former governors, more than 80 per cent of them have one case outstanding in one court or the other about corruption. It is very disappointing. I think we are getting the short end of the stick and so on,” he said.
“Look at the way the screening of ministers was conducted, I mean it was so disappointing, it is scandalous, people with questionable qualifications, people with record of not having served in the NYSC, people with no direction and so were not even screened but were told to take a bow and go. What can you say to that?
“We look at the totality of the Tinubu administration, and they say it is laid down procedure. Northerners were disappointed at the ministerial list. It is to say you reap what you sowed. It is like a computer language; garbage in, garbage out. Whether the ministers are round pegs in round hole, square pegs in a square hole, there is no hole at all. It is like playing basketball in golf field. Let’s just leave it at this. We pray that God will one day save the situation through divine intervention,” he said.
According to NEF Spokesman, Baba-Ahmed, “The cabinet is a mixture of merit and patronage. The quality which the President provides will ultimately determine how effective ministers are.
The President should place all of them on probation fora period, and give them clear achievable targets to meet. No minister should be tolerated if he did not perform. Values of integrity and accountability should be personified by the President and demanded of all the ministers.”
