Deeply worried by the poor state of the economy which has
brought unprecedented hardship and hunger on the masses of the Nigerian people,
a federal lawmaker, Senator Dino Melaye (APC Kogi West) has called on President
Muhammadu Buhari to take urgent and drastic measures, including the immediate
sack of three prominent members of his Economic Team as the solution-precedent
to reboot the ailing economy.
In a Statement in Abuja Sunday, Melaye said the President
must shake up his Cabinet, and accused most of the members of gross
incompetence, inexcusable ineptitude and a distressing lack of capacity to
deliver on the mandate of their ministries/Agencies.
Those to face the axe immediately if the economy must be
effectively rebooted to deliver on the Change Agenda of the present
administration, in the estimation of Melaye include the Minister of Finance,
Kemi Adeosun, Budget and National Planning Minister, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma
and the governor of the Central bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele.
" At the moment, it must be crystal clear to all
discerning minds that the President's widely-acclaimed magical body language
has lost its presumed aura and efficacy. His no-nonsense demeanor is equally
neither instilling fear nor commanding respect and loyalty from amongst his
cabinet members. It is therefore obvious that the time for barking is over, now
is the time to bite and boot out all those who have demonstrated, in the past
several months, a crass lack of capacity to effectively carry out the functions
of their office", Melaye declared, stressing:
" The Finance Minister has not only displayed gross
incompetence on the Job, she also lacks the basic and rudimentary grasp of
economic fundamentals necessary to run a critical sector of the Nigerian
economy like the Finance Ministry. It is time for her to go now and pave way
for a qualified and experienced person to steer the Nigerian economy away from
the dark woods it has sunk presently under her stewardship".
On Udoma Udo Udoma, he stated : "To be sure, Senator
Udoma Udo Udoma is a very charismatic man, an accomplished lawyer, and a
quintessential gentleman with a fairly untainted reputation. In everyday
parlance, he is a good man. But the critical job of Budget and National
Planning Minister for a huge country like Nigeria, with her prevailing economic
challenges requires much more than being a good man with a great personality.
"It is for someone with the relevant qualification,
professional knowledge and experience in public sector finance, development
economics, strategic thinking, budgetary planning and management. As a lawyer,
accomplished in this field as he is, Udoma's appointment to that position is
nepotism taken to very ridiculous heights; and a classic case of putting round
pegs in square holes-it will, and can never fit. It is akin to saddling a
carpenter with a tailor's responsibility. The outcome under the circumstances,
as has become evidently clear, is bound to be catastrophic for the economy.
President Buhari must therefore do the needful now by relieving Udoma of this
huge burden that is constituting a clog to the revival of the Nigerian
economy", the lawmaker declared.
On the CBN governor, Senator Melaye pointed to his
disastrous handling and release of the so-called Dasuki-gate funds which
amounts to about 15 per cent of the nation's foreign reserves, policy
flip-flops, summersaults and inconsistencies as clear evidence of gross
incompetence in the management of the nation's fiscal and monetary policies. The
net effect of this inconceivable ineptitude on the part of Emefiele, according
to Melaye is the free fall in the value of the naira and the total loss of
faith and confidence by the international community on the Nigerian economy.
To reverse this trend, Melaye says President Buhari must
muster the courage to wield the big stick and give Emefiele the boot, to be
replaced by a fiscal and monetary policy guru. "We have these qualified
Nigerians in abundance, and the President must beam his searchlight to find
them to help him, the Nigerian economy as well as the suffering Nigerian
masses".
He further called on the President to immediately
discountenance the Economic Team currently under the supervision of the Vice
President, Professor Yemi Osibanjo "as their decisions will not be; and
has never been respected by the economic managers and the bureaucracy in
Nigeria". In its stead, Melaye urged the President to constitute an
"Emergency Ad hoc Economic Team" made up of all former Ministers of
Finance, Budget and National Planning, CBN Governors as well as members drawn
from the academia with "deep knowledge of developmental economics to drive
the economic revival programme"!
"The President must immediately transit from mere
rhetoric to drastic but positive action to save the economy and Nigeria from
total collapse. The hunger in the land is real, pervasive, widespread and
debilitating for the poor masses. As I walk the streets of my constituency
these days, I constantly harbor a foreboding that I could be stoned by my angry
constituents for the failure of Mr President to fulfill his campaign promises
and expectations to Nigerians", Melaye said, warning:
"Nigeria is tottering on a dangerous precipice, sliding
perilously to a certain catastrophe if the current economic malaise is not
halted immediately", he declared, even as he said his criticism is borne
out of an altruistic fervour, and not a product of sour grapes akin to some
traditional critics of "Every Government in Power (EGIP)".
Nigerians and Mr President, he said should be able to recall
with little difficulty that "I was a permanent fixture at the All
Progressive Congress (APC's) Presidential campaign rallies and events,
functioning mostly as the Master of Ceremonies (MC). I am a proud APC Member, a
party bonafide with a great stake in the success or failure of this
administration, so no one can accuse me of sour grapes or meddlesomeness.
"I am a truly concerned stakeholder presently bothered
by the imminent, clear and present danger of a still-birth of a Change Agenda
that held so much hope and promise for Nigerians a little over a year ago.
While there is a lot of hunger, anger, anguish and despair currently in the
land, I have a firm belief that the situation is not beyond redemption for Mr
President, hence my call for urgent and drastic remedial action now",
Melaye concluded.
Dist. Senator Dino Melaye
Kogi West.
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