Okonjo Iweala – A chieftain of the Northern Elders Forum and former Vice-Chancellor, Ahmadu Bello University, Professor Ango Abdullahi, has advised President Muhammadu Buhari to reshuffle his cabinet and flush out those cabinet members not measuring up.
Abdullahi said it was clear that Buhari’s cabinet consists of people that have nothing to offer, stressing that “there are many ways to compensate them, not necessarily through ministerial appointments.”
“Though President Muhammadu Buhari is facing challenges from all sectors, the issue of militancy in the Niger Delta is seriously affecting the country from meeting our OPEC quarter in oil production, huge sums of money is also going into fighting Boko Haram.
“The President should quickly send a Bill to the National Assembly so that they can empower him to use money that government so far recovered from corrupt Nigerians,” Abdullahi said.
He added: “The country is in a situation that the President should take extra measures even if he will go out of the constitution, let’s call it doctrine of necessity, so that the Executive Arm of Government which the President has direct control, can embark on measures that will revamp the economy, including taking soft foreign loans if necessary.
“Even developed countries take loans when they are facing recession so that they can put back their economy on track.”
While calling on Nigerians to support the Buhari administration, the retired varsity administrator said the call for prayers became imperative because the country was already deep into recession before he came on board, recalling that even the Jonathan administration was borrowing to pay salaries as far as 2014.
Abdullahi, who is a strong advocate of power shift, insisted that whether Buhari succeeded or not, in 2023, the Presidency of the country must shift to the South West in view of the role the region played in Buhari’s emergence.
He said Buhari “should quickly send a Bill to the National Assembly so that they can empower him to use money that government, so far, recovered from corrupt Nigerians.”
The former ABU helmsman commended the government for closing borders against illegal importation of goods, stating that this would encourage Nigerians to go back to farm en mass. He, however, advised that government should release grains in its strategic reserve through cooperative societies to farmer so that it will cushion the suffering the ordinary people now face.
