Two senior lawyers and activists Chief Mike Ozekhome and Olisa Agbakoba retain different views regarding the inability of President Bola Tinubu to have inaugurated his cabinet almost one month into his administration.
According to the new law, the President has two months within which he must name his ministers but Ozekhome said speed is needed if the President is interested in making an impact, saying Tinu bu should have named his cabinet even before his inauguration.
“Tinubu was elected in February and declared the winner on March 1. He should have hit the ground running, forming his cabinet ahead of his inauguration. This is how it is done in America from which we borrowed our presidentialism. If he hopes to make any impact at all, he should do it as fast as yesterday; not like Buhari, who even laughed at his ‘baba go-slow’ approach to the non-constitution of a cabinet for about 6 months after his inauguration.
“The President is taking too long to constitute his cabinet. Nigeria is in shambles, more divided now than ever before, with citizens dying of hunger, disease, and squalor, and some committing suicide, homicide, and infanticide out of frustration and deep-seated anger,: he said.
However, Agbakoba, former Nigerian Bar Association, said the President is still within the timeframe permissible by law and consider g so many variables involved in the exercise of such magnitude, the President must be meticulous in his selection.
”Yes, the President needs to put up his team as quickly as possible, but I don’t think that it has taken him too long to do so because, in politics, there are so many variables. He will be looking at those who will bring competence to the cabinet, as well as satisfying political considerations. So I would expect that all those have been resolved and at some point this week, his cabinet will be ready. It will be in his interest to put in place a competent team as soon as possible”, Agbakoba stated.
Meanwhile, the two Senior Advocates of Nigeria agreed that the President must advance competence and capacity above partisanship in selecting his ministers.
Ozhehome said, “The President should appoint technocrats who know the job and the weighty issues at stake in Nigeria today. Surely not spent, recycled, and tired old horses of politicians and political harlots. These were the type Buhari latched on to and failed disastrously and abysmally.”
Agbakoba corroborated his colleague saying the President must consider technocrats for key positions in his cabinet.
“The most important quality the President should consider while appointing his ministers is competence. He should appoint top professionals from various fields. I think the time has come when we begin to use competency to drive our government policies. The appointees should be competent to do what they have been appointed to do,” he said.
