These New Ministers Cannot Perform Under Buhari – Yakassai

By Augustine Adah

A founding member of the Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF,  Tanko Yakassai, has expressed doubt on the newly sworn ministers to  do things differently.

Yakassai’s doubt stemmed from the fact that President Muhammadu Buhari may not give them the free hand to operate.  

The elder statesman made the observation during a media interview in Abuja.

He said, “The trouble is this: it is not the personalities, it is the power; whether he will allow them to do what they have to do”.

He stated that the ministers would not be able to do much if the president did not give them the latitude to perform in office.

“For instance, everybody knows in Nigeria that when Buhari was sick and the Vice-President was running this country for a limited period of time, we saw improvements and changes that we could count.

“So, it depends on the latitude the President gives his ministers. If you are given the latitude to do whatever that you think is right in the ministry assigned to you, and if you have the capacity and capability, you will be able to make a big change.

“Where you are restricted and you cannot do anything until you clear with the President, and the President will take a long time before he attends to it, nothing will change”.

 Yakassai stressed that his expectation  is much with the president and not the ministers because the  final decision  making and action lies with the president.  

“Let me tell you the truth: I don’t know the distribution of the portfolios, so I will not be able to assess the capability of the ministers to perform. Let us wait for the President. But my expectation is not from the cabinet, it is from the whole government.

“From 2015 when Buhari was elected to date, the solution I expected to happen to our problems – lack of power, unemployment, poverty, insecurity; they are even more, they are worse than they were in 2015.

“Buhari came into power without preparation. With a four-and-a-half-year experience, I hope he will get his priorities right and we will see a different situation by the time he completes his second term. I don’t know if he is prepared for that. I don’t want people to think that I am biased but I am not that optimistic.

“We have seen the mega ministries (of Power, Works and Housing) of Babatunde Fashola and Rotimi Amaechi (Transport). What can you say both Fashola and Amaechi achieved in the last four and a half years? Fashola handled Power; power came down instead of going up”.

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