The screening of the ministerial nominees to serve in the Cabinet of the President Buhari has been one interesting saga. The social media (especially twitter), the electronic media and the press is buzzing with news and subjective views of the proceedings.
Some nominees have wowed us with their spot-on answers while some have just been a huge disappointment and such will make one wonder the essence of the screening if they are appointed as ministers of the Federal Republic
I am also particularly excited at the crop and calibre of some of the nominees. My excitement is borne from the fact that they can effect changes if given the opportunity.
The screening has been a topic of interest and I can only hope that the screening is a genuine process and not one where foxes gather to elect foxes.
I have had many highlights during this screening process especially from the answers of the former Ekiti state governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi. Diagnosing the problem of the Nigerian economic divide, he said:
“The major problem in Nigeria is that the gap between the mindlessly rich and the hopelessly poor is too wide and it must be bridged.” – Dr. Kayode Fayemi
Speaking about the justice and legal situation of the country, he made a very profound comment stating the disparity in the dispensation of justice to the Nigerian populace.
Our criminal justice system
has to be revisited. People don’t get
punished for committing crimes in
Nigeria. Our prisons have been saturated by those who are denied Justice.” Dr. Kayode Fayemi
Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), the immediate past governor of Lagos State, who left indelible marks in the minds of Lagosians and on the Lagos geo-polity, in response to the question of using #78million to ugrade his website, said something really interesting:
“The unfortunate thing about money is that it raises suspicion even among brothers” Babatunde Fashola(SAN)
Speaking of money, it is my candid opinion that the salary of the incoming ministers should not be too mouth-watering. We need leaders who are there for the work and not for the money.
the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), should implement salary scales that though are worthy of the job, are not overly ostentatious.
Though the process has been a commendable one thus far, I have an issue with the officer presiding over the screening, the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, especially because of the recent corruption charges recently levelled against him by the Code of Conduct Bureau. Though the authenticity of these claims are yet to be proven beyond reasonable doubt, presiding over the screening subtly faults the entire process.
Bayo Oluwasanmi of Sahara Reporters also shares this view with me. Reporting on the ongoing screening exercise, he said:
“The screening of nominees by Saraki presents a
theater of the absurd characterized by an open
abandonment of rationale, ethics, and morals.
Saraki has not passed the basic test of
character and competence, why should he
evaluate the nominees on the same basis?”
At the end of it all, I hope the Nigerian populace will have best hands on deck.
