How Buhari’s Low Bar is Elevating Atiku
Farooq A. Kperogi
Saturday, October 20, 2018
How Buhari’s Low Bar is Elevating Atiku
School of Communication & Media
Kennesaw State University
Cell: (+1) 404-573-9697
Personal website: www.farooqkperogi.com
"The nice thing about pessimism is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised." G. F. Will
Salimonu Kadiri
Since it took Buhari six months to name his ministers, Farooq Kperogi is excited by the promise of Atiku Abubakar to form his cabinet immediately after swearing oath of office, if he should win the 2019 Presidential election. Buhari's unexplained incompetence in taking a whole six months to name his ministers, according to Farooq Kperogi, is propelling Atiku to heights he is unworthy of. Each Federal Ministry in Nigeria is headed by a Permanent Secretary who is assisted by scores of Departmental Directors and a lot of Executive Officers. A minister comes and goes but, civil servants in the ministry containing the Perm. Sec. and his aids always remain. In practice, the Perm. Secs. and his aids control the affairs of the Ministries in the absence of Ministers. In view of the aforesaid, what I want Farooq Kperogi to tell readers is what exactly did Nigeria lose because Buhari did not name his ministers until six months? He should be able to furnish readers with information about the gains made by previous Presidents/Heads of Governments that named their ministers immediately after their swearing in ceremonies so that the loss incurred through Buhari's delay in naming his cabinet can be evaluated. Otherwise, Buhari's six months delay in naming his ministers saved a lot of money for Nigeria that would have been paid as salaries and fringe benefits to Ministers.
"While previous administration were guilty of miss-governance, Buhari is for the most part guilty of 'un-governance' which is worse," according to Kperogi's parody. As Napoleon Bonarpart once said, 'bad decision is better than indecision' but his bad decision led to his historical fate at Waterloo. Therefore, Buhari's un-governance, if proved, is better than miss-governance. The Yoruba adage says, Òrìsà b'óle gbèmi, sémi bi o sé bámi. Literally translated to : If god cannot support me, leave me as you met me. It must be better to be un-governed than to be miss-governed.
Ascertained that Atiku would win the 2019 Presidential elections, Farooq Kperogi counselled him in choosing his collaborators in government to 'Reflect token religious, regional, and national diversity in appointments.' People from the two dominating religions in Nigeria, Islam and Christianity, have always constituted government in the country and officials have always been recruited from all ethnic groups. Cases of people who have been arraigned and charged for treasury lootings by the EFCC and ICPC have shown that Muslims and Christians of all ethnic groups in Nigeria were affected. What Farooq Kperogi referred to as national diversity in appointments is actually ethnic diversity in appointments, the usual weapon of mass deception making ordinary Nigerians to believe that any appointee in government is representing his/her tribe. If that were so, every official in government should be obliged to submit all pecuniary and material rewards in office to his/her tribe for sharing. Moreover, goods and services expected to be produced in any department are not meant alone for the tribe of an official. Therefore, where the people from the same tribe as the minister of power are in constant darkness, because of lack of electricity, just like all ethnic groups in Nigeria, it must be a fraud to declare the minister of power as representing his/her tribe in office. When ordinary common-sense is applied, it will not matter if all appointees in Buhari's government are from Daura, provided they are efficient in providing all goods and services their offices are designed to produce for all Nigerians. Farooq Kperogi and his tribal and religious cohorts will not agree with me because to them, for instances, potable water, constant electricity and refined crude oil have tribal odours. Regardless of ethnicity or religion, most Nigerian officials are thieves. http://www.saharareporters.com/2017/08/03/nigerian-leaders-are-never-divided-by-ethnicity-religion-when-stealing-money-osinbajo/
While disparaging Buhari, Farooq Kperogi wrote, "He descended from the zenith of 'Sai Baba' to the slope of 'Baba go Slow' and finally to the nadir of Baba Stand-Still." When prejudice influences ones judgment, it is the truth that suffers as a result. Nigerians are yet to be told what kind of illness forced Buhari to spend almost 300 days of his 4 years tenure to seek medical treatments abroad. Whether the cause of his illness was man-made or natural, he survived it even though it slowed down his speed of actions in government. Unlike the noisy weaverbirds that only make temporary nests, Buhari is like the quiet white ants that build long lasting hills. Is the general saying not, slow and steady wins the race? On coming to power, looted treasury of16 years PDP rule was handed over to Buhari while at the same time the price of the mainstay of Nigeria's economy, crude oil export fell by 70%; Gwosa in Borno State had been the capital of Islamic Caliphate declared by Boko Haram since 24 August 2014 after capturing Bama, Gamboru Ngala, Goniri, Dikwa, and Buni Yadi towns in Borno State as well as Michika, Madagali, Mubi North and Mubi South in Adamawa State. Boko Haram had renamed Mubi : Madinatul Islam, meaning the City of Islam. The total area of Nigeria's territory under Boko Haram was 50 thousand square kilometres. The decimated Nigerian Armed Forces under Jonathan was quickly reorganised and equipped despite declining revenues from crude oil export. As of today, no Nigerian soil is under the control of Boko Haram. Buhari could perform that feat because the second and the third arms of the government, the Legislature and the Judiciary, had no chance to constitute stumbling blocks in his plans for effective actions. Sai Baba ascended from the nadir of Boko Haram's occupied Nigeria's territories to the zenith of Baba Stood-Still to fight and recapture those territories.
In the Nigerian governmental structure, it takes three to dance Tango. The Executive depends on the Legislature to make laws and on the Judiciary for quick adjudications of cases, especially the criminal ones involving stealing of public funds. It is a well-known fact that the election victory given to the APC in the National Assembly was stolen by the New-PDP and Old-PDP in June 2015. Since the God of PDP drinks from the stream of impunity and holds feast for corruption, their seizure of National Assembly implied that laws that could expunge or reduce stealing of public funds to the barest minimum would never be passed. When Buhari assumed power, not less than 300 cases of treasury lootings initiated during the PDP era from 1999 to 2007 were still pending in various courts in Nigeria. On taking over power by Buhari, the EFCC and ICPC investigations had revealed over one-hundred plunderers of public funds between 2007 and 2015. That motivated, Buhari to submit a Bill to the national assembly in February 2016 requesting for a law to set up special Tribunals to try corruption and money laundering cases. It turned out as if Buhari was asking lions to promulgate a law forbidding meat eating and the national assembly told him that corruption is like intestine, it is in the stomach of every human being. So there was no need for special tribunal, the lawmakers said.
Buhari, like most patriotic Nigerians, has asked why it should take any court over ten years to adjudicate on a treasury looting case? He also wondered why courts should be granting interlocutory and perpetual injunctions, prohibiting law enforcement agencies from arresting, detaining, interrogating and prosecuting suspected criminal treasury looters? The Judiciary responded that Buhari was trying to intimidate them and moreover was violating the independence of the Judiciary. Even when it was revealed, through bank transfers, how Judges received bribes from lawyers representing treasury looters on trial in their courts, nothing happened. If the National Assembly and the Judiciary have moved in the same direction with Buhari as far as corruption is concerned, Nigeria would have been the paradise we all want.
In his Saturday, 3 February 2018 piece, Farooq Kperogi wrote, "Although Obasanjo wasn't exactly the archetype of a great leader, his policies birthed Nigeria's robust middle class." It is an irony of history that the children of illiterate Nigerian peasants and Quran reciting Mallam, who were educated with tax-payers funds now constitute themselves, not only into middle class Nigerians, but assign to themselves the right to prey economically on the Nigerian masses. Awolowo foresaw this tendency in his 1947 book, Path to the Nigerian Freedom, where he expressed his opposition to Nigeria's self-government then. Hear him, "The existence of a microscopic literary class would lead to exploitation of the great majority of illiterates by the intelligentsia." All treasury looters in Nigeria, past and present, are the minority literate class exploiting the ignorance of the majority illiterates to become middle class. Farooq Kperogi's flirtation with a culture that venerates wealth without regard to the illicitness of its source should, somehow, be very embarrassing to many people. Atiku and Obasanjo traversed the entire Nigeria in 1999 with trailers loaded with promises of better life for all Nigerians but at the end of their tenure in 2007, they delivered mere trays of garbage, plus megawatts of darkness to Nigerians. At least, one should not expect a professor to judge a book by its cover but by its contents. And now Atiku wants to be President of Nigeria but the Nigerian doves can see in him an eagle camouflaged with beautiful multiple feathers of a peacock.
S. Kadiri
Skickat: den 20 oktober 2018 06:14
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Ogedi Ohajekwe
Salimonu Kadiri
If naming Ministers after six months of being sworn in as a President caused Buhari's administration to lose sense of direction and purpose, you are obliged to tell me of a single benefit (economically and financially) which the previous administrations achieved for Nigeria as a result of naming their ministers immediately after being sworn in as Presidents.
Your question is superfluous since Buhari appointed his ministers after six months which he could not have done if they were no longer needed.
I sympathize with present administration for loads of problems it inherited from the failures of 16 years rule of the PDP caused by massive looting. Considering the enormity of those problems, the current administration must be given kudos for what it has achieved. Transformers and generating plants are not produced in Nigeria, they have to be ordered from abroad where they are not available on street markets to buy. That is why the current administration cannot generate and distribute electricity within three years to all Nigerians. In the sixteen years of PDP rule, fifty million (US) dollars was spent on power generation without any light. We now know that the cause of darkness that envelopes Nigeria today is the cause of shining light in the bank accounts of PDP officials that ruled Nigeria from 1999 to 2015. Take note, I am not supporting the current administration without reservation, rather, I am only disassociating myself from the smorgasbord of lies and gallimaufry of deceptions being served by a well-paid Daily Trust columnist.
S. Kadiri
Cornelius Hamelberg
Dear Baba Kadiri,
Re- Your first paragraph.
As a faithful and true Buharist I should like to stay out of this; nor should I relish being accused of breaking ranks for just a little piece of rubbish or some sweet nothing, like this; but anticipating that his Royal Highness, His Lordship King Farooq Kperogi is unwilling to condescend to my plebeian level one or that unexpectedly he might do just that, either to punish you ( give you a spanking) or to spite you, let me steal some of his Ogun thunder: It was a big issue at the time, some say unprecedented, that six months after being sworn in as President, President Buhari had still not named a cabinet, when most of his fans were expecting him to hit the ground running...
You and especially he will no doubt give - or have given cogent reasons elsewhere- for the long delay, something unheard of - how does a President of Party X taking over from a much vilified President Y of Party Z run an administration along the lines of a new “change” policy for six good months without a cabinet? Your explanations about the bureaucracy is insufficient, in fact doesn't hold water – if there is a real and credible change via a change in policy, then these permanent secretaries need new directions. and directives; Baba Kadiri knows that. Just as each battalion in the military needs a commander.
You must admit that if “a week is a long time in politics”, then six months could stretch out like an eternity...
At the time, if I remember correctly, I explained President Buhari in terms of Pirkei Avot Chapter 1 :1 : that to be a good judge you have to be deliberate in judgment – that he was taking his time - and then after he had named his cabinet, to his credit there were 25 Igbos holding high positions in his administration. I counted.
They ( our Igbo Brthren) should know that four more years of Buhari is their best bet. Better Brother Buhari who we know than any loose cannon , some haughty, autocratic son of Adam or some unpredictable philistine. Who wants to jump from the frying pan into the fire ?
Food for thought : President Trump made history at the United Nations
Salimonu Kadiri
Dear Rabbi Hamelberg,
I do not think the speed at which an incoming President names his ministers will determine his/her competence in office. You may quickly draw a machete to behead a mosquito on your thigh but your action is likely to turn out to be inefficient and expose your incompetence. You hypothesized, "If there is a real and credible change via a change in policy, then these permanent secretaries need new directions and directives. …//… You must admit if 'a week is a long time in politics,' then six months could stretch out like eternity…" Are you sure that Buhari did not give directives to the permanent secretaries in the absence of the Ministers? As I have written elsewhere, anyone who feels that six months stretched like eternity for Buhari to name his cabinet must be able to point to a specific economic and financial loss suffered by Nigeria because of the delay, apart from sentiments.
However, there were cogent reasons for the six months' delay according to the following link. http://www.tori.ng/news/4673/19-33-out-of-36-ministeria-nominnees-fail-president-buharis-corruption-test
S. Kadiri
Skickat: den 22 oktober 2018 20:30
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Ogedi Ohajekwe
Salimonu Kadiri
It would appear that you did not klick to read the link I posted to explain why the naming of ministers by Buhari was delayed after being sworn in as the President, 29 May 2015. Essentially, Buhari submitted 36 names for forensic screening to the Department of State Security (DSS), Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Force Criminal Investigations Department (FCID), and Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA). Despite the fact that the screening institutions carried out their assignments independent of one another, only three ministerial nominees passed through the filters. The report said that Buhari was shocked by the amount of money quantified in several transactions cutting across several sectors of the economy, including oil and gas, finance, power, governance and infrastructural commitments where 33 ministerial nominees had failed the nation and contributed to the economic decay he, Buhari had inherited from the previous President.
You asserted that 'world over, it is the accepted standard of practice (for a President to compose a cabinet immediately after taking oath of Office) and it aids efficiency in governance.'
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Cornelius Hamelberg
Dear Baba Kadiri,
I thought you were going to explain to us how our Sweden, currently without a government, and Belgium another example of the post election situation which left them without a government for 541 days , despite which salaries were and are still being paid on time, the trains running on time, the kids going to school, the hospitals functioning as usual, electricity and fastest possible internet connections available 24hrs a day for people like you to do their research long after library hours.
I haven't spoken to you for a few days now, because, (of course) if we were to discuss this or other adjacent matters on the phone, as we often do and laugh too, then this forthcoming written response from me to you would be superfluous. As this is still very much a discussion in the public domain, once again, I crave your indulgence. Please bear with me. Let's put all the cards on the table. Since we are not going to be passing this way again, if we have anything to say, let's say it now for the sake of posterity - before we forget and before we forever hold our peace, or before the atheists and the unrepentant corrupt pass into oblivion , purgatory or the hell fire for all eternity...
Somebody, please say Amen.
Re – Corruption in Nigeria . By all accounts, talking about e.g. the incorrigible Obasanjo - Atiku duo - and Noble Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka is our witness . Obasanjo and his sidekick as narrated by Oga Ochonu, in his own words with which he writes about “the corruption that festered in his administration” and “the mind-boggling corruption that occurred during that administration”, not to mention the administration that Brother Buhari replaced, which is merely talking about the tip of the iceberg . (Iceberg, like Rabbi Hamelberg) and now sidekick Atiku , the crown prince of Professor Ochonu's aforementioned “mind-boggling” corrupt administration is now rearing his head on the campaign trail once again , beleaguered by a thousand accusations, all of which he denies adamantly, maybe even indignantly , trying to win the young people's confidence, ambitiously saying that he wants to take back the highest position and to be seated discretely at the tip , the very apex of the iceberg, as Nigeria's next uncorrupted president.
As Amir al Mu'minin, the leader of the caravan, Imam Ali ( a.s.) is reported to have said in the sermon of shaqshaqiya,“The flood water flows down from me and the bird cannot fly up to me.” (ThroughNahjul Balagha, which dear Rabbi Hamelberg has read many times, Imam Ali (a-s.) has influenced Rabbi Hamelberg's own sense of balanced reasoning , proportion, hyperbole, parallelism to an extraordinary extent - so that now, when we talk about the head of any human organisation in any given structure , we know who we are talking about. If it is the church for example , it is said to be Jesus - who is the head. But if we are talking about e.g. The Redeemed Christian Church of God, his hungry disciples may be pointing in the direction of the sky instead of at their own hearts, or in the direction of the visible head who is this day, Pastor Adeboye . And concerning his organisation the first thing you have to know outside of the spiritual realm is that there is The Financial Regulations Council which controls (shepherds) some of the more worldly affairs of the organisation. You get the drift.
Today, the head of the organisation known as Nigeria is the venerable President Muhammadu Buhari (As an enemy of corruption , May the Almighty strengthen his arm in vanquishing those who challenge him)
Your link about President Buhari's meticulous screening (33 out of 36 Ministerial Nominees Fail President Buhari's Corruption Test ) as the cause of his six months delay in finally making the necessary cabinet appointments for the smooth running of his administration and putting his agenda for “Change” into operation must have been painful reading for both you and those who knew about it among the uncorrupted party elite. So, in the name of transparency and to be blemish-free he had to painstakingly weed out the corrupt from the not corrupt and in the first batch of nominees only 3 out of thirty-six survived the litmus test?
Has the event been entered in the Guinness Book of Records? What about the second batch of nominees? Better luck next time ? Has it occurred to you that if dear President Buhari were to abide by the Golden Standard set by St. Paul,(“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God “ and “there is none righteous, no not one” ( even if Dr. Femi Aribisala disagrees – arguably when such a yardstick is applied to not just all of Christendom but Nigeria in particular )
by setting the bar so high, it's possible that up till today Wednesday, 24th October 2018 , dear President Buhari “ the honest general” would have been running the country without a cabinet, as a one-man government – assisted by dear vice President Yemi Osinbajo having no other choice than to be giving -as you – the give direct : “ give directives to the permanent secretaries in the absence of the Ministers” Even as you read on, please click on Yemi Osinbajo and you'll find him actively crusading against corruption. Indeed the last thing that Nigeria needs is a Mafioso head that will guarantee a trickle down effect. Snow gently galling down in Stockholm, crumbs eventually trickling down to the shuffering masses in Nigeria , the shuffering m-ass-hes still praying “God dae” praying “ give us this day our daily bread” - even bread crumbs, after all, as the rich people dem say, “ half a loaf is better than no bread”... Good lyrics, in Gates of Eden the bard complains about “ bread crumb sins”. Indeed, as Pastor Adeboye and Rabbi Hamelberg know, it's a recurrent theme in the gospel of song, , so Joni Mitchell also croons in Court and Spark
"All the guilty people" he said
They've all seen the stain
On their daily bread
On their Christian names
I cleared myself
I sacrificed my blues ...”
“There is none, righteous, no not one. “ So what do you mean by “corrupt” ? That was only a question.
Yesterday I read a not so funny ( but for some people a hilarious) piece on Dr. Aliyu U. Tilde's Facebook page in which he says, “The Dog and the Baboon are Dead. It is the Kettle and the Pot Now“ and now , maybe attack being the most glorious form of self-defence available to him, Alhaji Atiku playing the role of pot wants to taint his boss president Brother Buhari, wants to tar and feather him, BLACK. instead of his former accomplice and comrade-in-arms, Brother Jero alias Pastor Obasanjo , as “corrupt”
Baba Kadiri, it looks like you take the integrity of the permanent secretaries inherited from the former and even previous administrations ,as fore-granted, even though you know that even assuming that the Nigerian Civil Service / bureaucracy is a meritocracy , some of these civil servants are the vital cogs at the hub of the system that is greased - well lubricated to facilitate the systemic corruption that is said to pervade the system from tip to toe - the system that has been consistent been said is in drastic need of a complete overhaul. But how do you or does any one man achieve that? We have to transit from the ritual genuflecting with “ God Bless Nigeria” maybe , to “ God save Nigeria” so that Nigeria will be saved. Ditto, Congo Brazza, Congo Kinshasa, Sierra Leone, Kenya Uganda, South Africa. Amen.
Baba Kadiri when it comes to “ man must chop “ versus “ man does not live by bread alone” - as it was the wont of the late Rev. Preacher-man man Bob Marley to tell is, it's a question of SURVIVAL - and as he often sang, “down there in the Ghetto , we suffer “ - and, he/she who feels it knows! It's not a coincidence that Museveni & Co refer to Bobi Wine as “Ghetto President”...
I don't have time to read this over because I must now prepare some egusi i soup ( for my own survival)
Hope you like the beat : Chastisement
Talk to you later.
Cornelius Adebayo
Ogedi Ohajekwe
I did click on the link. I do not buy the excuses advanced to explain the delay.
It is difficult to believe that a 74 year old ex-leader who has been in the thick of things in Nigeria for the prior more than 40 years did not know a handful of fairly decent Nigerians to appoint as ministers.
Instead the excuse is that he relied on heads of government agencies that he had just campaigned against and called corrupt to appoint his ‘honest men’.
Ask Nigerians about those men he appointed.
Now- "When my cabinet ministers are appointed in September, it will be months after I took the oath of office. It is worth noting that Obama himself did not have his full cabinet in place for several months after first taking office; the United States did not cease to function in the interim."
This is simply disingenuous! The operative words being ‘full cabinet’.
What that was expected is to have as least the key cabinet members on day one and Obama did. (Obama actually did during transition- before day one) Additionally, it is common for administrations not to have ‘full cabinet’ -because not all are equally important and when a cabinet members resigns, prior to appointing the next person for the job, the cabinet will technically not be ‘full’. Not having a cabinet and not having a full cabinet is therefore like comparing apples and oranges. It does not work.
“At the risk of being blasphemous, I must say that even if Jesus and Mohammed were to head the affairs of Nigeria, their success would still be equivalent to that of Buhari”.!!—I agree with you only in the sense that your above statement is blasphemous to ‘Jesus, Mohammed and the Nigerian people’
Some Nigerians think that it is cute to disparage all Nigerians as irretrievably bad when issues of bad governance in Nigeria arise.
They site anecdotes, and knowingly or not, they send subliminal but clear message that could easily be interpreted as ‘Nigeria is done’.
Maybe that is what you mean.
In large group dynamics(like a country), there is a thinking that goes this way-
Everyone cannot be good at one time and everyone cannot be bad at the other time.
Leaders point to the right or the wrong way and most other people follow. Less than 1% of a large group are the movers (with the president at the apex). The majority follow and about 20% or so do not care or do not know what that is happening.
Most people therefore copy what WORKS.
If stealing works, very soon most people are going to be thieves- not because they are naturally inclined that way, but it is simply survival.
On the contrary if the less than 1%(leaders) do not steal and punish people that steal, majority will adjust to that also.
Dickson IGWE
Från: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> för Ogedi Ohajekwe <ged...@gmail.com>
Skickat: den 24 oktober 2018 05:54
Ämne: Re: SV: USA Africa Dialogue Series - How Buhari’s Low Bar is Elevating Atiku
Just to be clear, six months was from inauguration not from the date he won the election.For a General who had been commander in chief in the past and had run for President the previous 14 years before finally wining it, he deliberated for too long.Most if not all the failures of his government could have been easily predicted from the confusion during that first six months.
If one does not appreciate the value of section chiefs or ministers in a civilian group dynamics, it may be useful to liken the situation to a president who is waging a war with his well trained soldiers, but each sector without a commanding officer. Mr Hamelberg already explained this.It is a mistake to ask-“anyone who feels that six months stretched like eternity for Buhari to name his cabinet must be able to point to a specific economic and financial loss suffered by Nigeria because of the delay, apart from sentiments”The above stretched to one of its logical conclusions is the same as asking ‘anyone who feels that appointing cabinet members matter at all should be able to point to specific economic and financial benefits to Nigeria’Answer that, and you would have answered your question!World over, it is the accepted standard of practice and it aids in efficiency in governance.Of course except for some dictatorships where ‘Penny wise pound foolish’ may apply. Especially as the argument also claims that the salaries of the ministers were ‘saved’ during the delay/confusion.
I like this quote 👍‘You may quickly draw a machete to behead a mosquito on your thigh but your action is likely to turn out to be inefficient and expose your incompetence’, though I sincerely hope that we do not, someday, elect someone who will spend more than a split second to realize that he should not use a machete to behead a mosquito perched on ‘Nigerian thigh’
I am at loss and need some more insight as to how the quote below added to the discussion.“and then after he had named his cabinet, to his credit there were 25 Igbos holding high positions in his administration. I counted.”
Ogedi
Dear Rabbi Hamelberg,
I do not think the speed at which an incoming President names his ministers will determine his/her competence in office. You may quickly draw a machete to behead a mosquito on your thigh but your action is likely to turn out to be inefficient and expose your incompetence. You hypothesized, "If there is a real and credible change via a change in policy, then these permanent secretaries need new directions and directives. …//… You must admit if 'a week is a long time in politics,' then six months could stretch out like eternity…" Are you sure that Buhari did not give directives to the permanent secretaries in the absence of the Ministers? As I have written elsewhere, anyone who feels that six months stretched like eternity for Buhari to name his cabinet must be able to point to a specific economic and financial loss suffered by Nigeria because of the delay, apart from sentiments.
However, there were cogent reasons for the six months' delay according to the following link. http://www.tori.ng/news/4673/19-33-out-of-36-ministeria-nominnees-fail-president-buharis-corruption-test
S. Kadiri
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OLAYINKA AGBETUYI
This message is eligible for Automatic Cleanup! (I did click on the link. I do not buy the excuses advanced to explain the delay.
It is difficult to believe that a 74 year old ex-leader who has been in the thick of things in Nigeria for the prior more than 40 years did not know a handful of fairly decent Nigerians to appoint as ministers.
Instead the excuse is that he relied on heads of government agencies that he had just campaigned against and called corrupt to appoint his ‘honest men’.
Ask Nigerians about those men he appointed.
Now- "When my cabinet ministers are appointed in September, it will be months after I took the oath of office. It is worth noting that Obama himself did not have his full cabinet in place for several months after first taking office; the United States did not cease to function in the interim."
This is simply disingenuous! The operative words being ‘full cabinet’.
What that was expected is to have as least the key cabinet members on day one and Obama did. (Obama actually did during transition- before day one) Additionally, it is common for administrations not to have ‘full cabinet’ -because not all are equally important and when a cabinet members resigns, prior to appointing the next person for the job, the cabinet will technically not be ‘full’. Not having a cabinet and not having a full cabinet is therefore like comparing apples and oranges. It does not work.
“At the risk of being blasphemous, I must say that even if Jesus and Mohammed were to head the affairs of Nigeria, their success would still be equivalent to that of Buhari”.!!—I agree with you only in the sense that your above statement is blasphemous to ‘Jesus, Mohammed and the Nigerian people’
Some Nigerians think that it is cute to disparage all Nigerians as irretrievably bad when issues of bad governance in Nigeria arise.
They site anecdotes, and knowingly or not, they send subliminal but clear message that could easily be interpreted as ‘Nigeria is done’.
Maybe that is what you mean.
In large group dynamics(like a country), there is a thinking that goes this way-
Everyone cannot be good at one time and everyone cannot be bad at the other time.
Leaders point to the right or the wrong way and most other people follow. Less than 1% of a large group are the movers (with the president at the apex). The majority follow and about 20% or so do not care or do not know what that is happening.
Most people therefore copy what WORKS.
If stealing works, very soon most people are going to be thieves- not because they are naturally inclined that way, but it is simply survival.
On the contrary if the less than 1%(leaders) do not steal and punish people that steal, majority will adjust to that also.
OLAYINKA AGBETUYI
This message is eligible for Automatic Cleanup! (Ogedi Ohajekwe
OLAYINKA AGBETUYI
This message is eligible for Automatic Cleanup! (Salimonu Kadiri
The purpose of the link which I posted was not to sell excuses to you on why Buhari delayed naming his cabinet after his inauguration but to enlighten you on cogent reasons that were responsible for the delay in question. If you find the reasons unacceptable to you, let me know why. Despite the fact that searching for people that would pass through the security screenings for appointments in his cabinet took a long time, you could still remark sarcastically, 'Ask Nigerians about those men he appointed.' Your sarcastic remark should have awaken you to the level and degree of moral decay of Nigerians. I don't know if you are a professional mind reader but, Buhari is, certainly, not one which is why he could not read the mind of the people he entrusted with positions in his government. If you slice-open the stomach of any person, you can only see the internal organs, and not what the person, has been or, is thinking.
Not having a full cabinet, according to you, is better than no cabinet at all. This, you seem to support with the belief that certain cabinet positions are important than the others. Your key cabinet positions are referred to by most politicians in Nigeria as juicy positions. We cannot compare the US with Nigeria, even though we operate similar presidential system of government, and if your analogy of comparing apples with oranges is to have any meaning in this discourse. A partial cabinet might have worked for Obama because the two arms of the government, the judiciary and the legislature, although independent of the executive, were not working against the executive. In Nigeria, Buhari's situation is otherwise. Thus, while Obama's half-bread cabinet in the US might have been better for the Americans, an identical Buhari's half-bread cabinet in Nigeria as you suggested would have caused diarrhoea Nigerians.
When I stated that at the risk of being blasphemous, Jesus and Mohammed would not do better than Buhari if they are to govern Nigeria, I took into consideration that there is church and a mosque in every ten metres of all Nigerian streets but the behaviours of Nigerians in general and in government in particular are inversely proportional to Godliness. That is not to disparage all Nigerians as irretrievably bad. I am only concerned about people who pray to God for light when it is human beings that are foisting darkness on them by stealing money appropriated for procuring transformers and plants to generate and distribute electricity. Achieving quality governance in Nigeria is hinged on many variables but, most especially on the Judiciary. When the judiciary, as we have in Nigeria, turns to undertaker burying justice murdered by senior advocates representing national looters and thieves of our collective patrimony, Buhari under the present constitution cannot do anything.
Essentially, I am yet to read from you, which specific economic and financial advantages were gained by Nigeria when previous Nigerian Presidents named their cabinets immediately after being inaugurated but which were lost through the delay of Buhari in naming his cabinet.
S. Kadiri
Skickat: den 25 oktober 2018 02:40
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