Former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Mr Olisa Agbakoba, SAN, and four other prominent Nigerians have listed what they expect from ministers once they have been confirmed by the senate.
Agbakoba insisted that the ministers must be able to deliver on the campaign agenda of the All Progressives Congress.
He said “My expectation is that they should be people who should be able to first of all, deliver on the campaign agenda of the All Progressives Congress, APC. Second, the change agenda of the president and then the third and most importantly, the expectations of Nigerians.
“They should also be able to tackle the critical issues in the system. There are so many of them but I can mention some of the critical ones. Our economy has stopped producing jobs, our health sector and education.
“My expectation is that they will be the best quality who would help the president deliver on his campaign promises. It is like a football team, if I am going to a competition, I will go with the best players and I expect that these are the best.”
Afenifere’s spokesperson, Mr Yinka Odumakin said that the ministers are expected to bring fresh ideas to the table.
He said “Once they are confirmed, people expect them to settle down and get to work, look at the critical areas and how to bring about the change, which their party promised. There are many areas of our national life that need attention. Importantly, areas like infrastructure, power, education, the economy, agriculture and the diversification of our economy.
“One has not seen brilliant presentations so far, may be because of time or the way the thing is structured and of course, there are no challenging questions in terms of issues. We hope they will be able to bring ideas on the table that can make the people to feel the impact of governance. We have not seen rigorous deliberations in terms of looking at the issues that affect the country. So, they will need to do more of rigorous thinking and try to find solution to the problems.”
National Secretary of the Labour Party, LP, Dr Kayode Ajulo emphasised the need for youth inclusion in government, he said “Even though it appears that there is an infusion of new faces, the truth is that there is essentially no difference between six and a half-dozen; the issues we raised are still very relevant- the youth in Nigeria have been cast aside and abandoned in this new administration.”
President of South-East/South-South Professionals, Mr. Emeka Ugwu-Oju said Nigerians should have access to the portfolio of every ministerial nominee.
He also added that Dr Emmanuel Kachickwu should be allowed to continue what he has started at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
Ugwu-Oju said “We need to stop the practice of sending names without attaching portfolios to them. We should imitate America and other countries where the portfolios are made public the moment a person is appointed a minister.
“However, the only area where I am interested is the NNPC where a core professional was appointed as the head and was also nominated to be a minister. We expect that he is allowed to continue the job he started rather than bringing in another person, who will dismantle the structures he has on ground. The man has brought in people who will help realise his plans for the sector, any new person coming may change some of the structures he has put in place.”
Former Nigerian Minister of Health, Prince Julius Adelusi-Adeluyi also emphasised that the President has little time to deliver his campaign promises.
He said “Mr. President has a short time. He needs to quickly put together a good team to restructure the system and bring relief to Nigerians.
“There are some people who expect President Buhari to deliver changes similar to Le Kuan Yew proportion. However, the setting is different. Lee Kuan Yew ruled Singapore for more than 30 years. But Buhari has only four to eight years. Singapore has Just five million people. Nigeria has about 170 million. What we can do is to realise that no President or government can do it alone. All of us are stakeholders.”