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Ministerial Nominee: A panacea 4 development

posted on Tuesday, December 16, 2008 06:34 PM

Few weeks back, I was at the Victoria Island residence of one of my mentor, in actual fact, he is my political mentor (someone you may call – godfather). I have totally avoided using the word ‘godfather’ because of the way the word has been abused in Nigeria. Despite the fruitless efforts made by Dr. Momoh, to correct my impression of the word during our encounter at the Africa Leadership Forum (ALF) were I underwent democratic leadership training two years ago.

There and there, my mentor walked into the sitting room and invited me to the inner chamber because he had other people waiting in the sitting room. We sat talking about other things and I totally wanted to avoid raising any issue on politics because i was conscious of the lengthy effects the discussion may assume on the other guest who were waiting for him.

While we were talking, he gave me his itinery for the rest of the year and told me how we can schedule meetings before the year runs out. Carried away by the euphoria of our discussion I thought within myself to ask if it were normal for President Yaradua to nominate a minister for screening before the National Assembly without giving him a portfolio. Having asked this question, he took a deep breath and I knew there is a there there in the breath. Then the discussion started, he took on the press for the silence and the ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo for setting the precedence for Yaradua and I felt it was necessary to share my own opinion here.

Although, I have always watched the ministerial screening process on air (Thanks to AIT) with total disgust, as the senate throw blind questions at nominated ministers. Little wonder a nominee failed the screening process in the third republic because he was unable to recite the national anthem which a senator asked him to recite before the house. I am too certain that, if the senator knew the portfolio of the minister, he would have been engrossed with asking the nominated minister questions bothering on the ministry than asking him to recite the national anthem. So the question of reciting the national anthem arose probably because the senator ran out of questions (I stand to be corrected).

The question is how do we interview a candidate without knowing what job he is going to perform. The anticipated job is supposed to create room for questions and test on performance of the candidate should he get the job. What annoys me the most is the ‘take a bow’ leverage that is given to senators who are nominated ministers; I strongly oppose this act of favoritism or whatever it may be called. Little wonder, the senate president had to jokingly clear the air for the members of the public today that taking a bow does not in anyway relate to membership of the ogboni confraternity. I wonder why people would not misinterpret that gesture when it is extended only to members of the Assembly both upper and lower who were not asked questions just because they are members of they are legislators.

I watched Chief Ufot Ekaette answer question from the fumbling and unfocussed members of the senate who had no clue of whether the nominated minister would be the FCT minister, health minister, minister for Niger Delta or aviation. The reason is, if Yaradua had nominated his ministers and given them portfolios before the screening began, the senators would have researched the ministry and came up with a SWOT Analysis that would guide the senators in asking the screened ministers questions on how they intend to transform the ministry(ies) through their performance. This is the reason why Yaradua’s first ministers failed to re-engineer the economy and make it as vibrant as his predecessor. Although, the same system was used by the former president Olusegun Obasanjo but, his nominees were technocrats with high level of intellectualism and professionalism which was often displayed in their resume.

However, if Yaradua must move Nigeria forward with his 7 point agenda and his ministers, it is very imperative for him to give portfolios to the ministers before he sends them to the legislators for screening. If this is done, there would be a level of seriousness displayed by our ministers and their ministries because, front burner issues would be raised during the screening from there we would be able to know if the nominated minister has the know-how to drive the ministry, the nation and even the 7 point agenda of the government to its anticipated glory.

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