See Buhari's 3 most vital cabinet members

See Buhari’s 3 most vital cabinet members

Buhari’s 3 most vital cabinet members – EDITOR’S NOTE: As the transition from President Goodluck Jonathan of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to the president-elect Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) gets under way, intense lobbying has started over the key appointments that must be made as soon as the next government is formed on May 29.

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A Naij commentator on political issues, Chidi Okoye, has made some recommendations which he thinks Buhari might want to consider.

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There are understandable concerns that Buhari will be overwhelmed by the pressure coming from several influential individuals who helped power his campaign to unseat an incumbent president. These powerful individuals will all have candidates for strategic positions in the incoming government; and the nature of politics is that concessions will have to be made to accommodate these power brokers.

However, for Buhari and his party – the APC, to be able to hit the ground running so as to deliver on some of the many campaign promises made to Nigerians, there are three key ministerial appointments that must be subjected to the strictest test of competence. They are finance, education and agriculture.

Nigeria is facing a looming economic crunch. Dwindling oil sales and the impact on the Naira threatens the financing of the very many social welfare programmes the APC has pledged to implement. Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State seems to me the best man to be saddled with the responsibility of effectively diversifying Nigeria’s economy to enable income from diverse sources.

Though a lawyer by profession, Mr Fashola has run Lagos State like a very successful business corporation for eight years. Indeed, at several public functions, Mr Fashola had said he considers himself more like the CEO of Lagos and operates a profit-making corporation model where profit transcends cash to delivery of services to tax payers/shareholders. The governor has always seen opportunities in the challenges posed by a mega city such as Lagos. This trait will be invaluable in driving Nigeria to the prosperity it needs beyond oil.

In education, I would recommend a rejuvenated Oby Ezekwesili to return and implement the many reforms she started during her short stint between June 2006 and May 2007. Oby, as she’s fondly called, has been touted in several quarters as the most fitting person to head the nation’s anti-corruption agency; and she’s very well qualified for such a vital assignment. However, leading the charge to reverse the decay in the nation’s education sector is a more important assignment.

Oby’s passion and experience are needed in making difficult and wide scale reforms that are necessary to halt the cancer in our education sector. Nigeria, as a matter of urgent importance, needs to address its labour issues. Despite the millions of unemployed youths available, employers are finding it hard to recruit talents. Technical education is virtually non-existent. Oby would be needed to revive her ‘Innovation and Vocational Enterprise initiative and power it through a more effective implementation. A more efficient quality control mechanism, such as that which she drove through the revamped Federal Inspectorate Service, is even more necessary now with the proliferation of private schools.

Agriculture is perhaps the most important sector that will drive the change the incoming government seeks. This sector has the capacity to solve three key problems – revenue, jobs and food security. Akinwunmi Adesina, the present Minister for Agriculture, has performed well in growing this sector. Widely seen as the best performing member of the current cabinet, the minister has succeeded in transiting agriculture from a development programme to a business capable of surpassing oil in revenue for the nation.

Adesina should be retained and allowed to continue his reforms, while keying into the APC manifesto to explore ways of powering new reforms that will achieve accelerated growth in the sector. An increased private sector participation in the agricultural rebirth would be needed to drive this process. If the APC gets it right in this sector, and sooner than later, Nigerians will begin to feel the change it represents; while the party buys itself time to face the more problematic sectors such as power and petroleum that would understandably prove to be tougher nuts to crack.

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