– Senator Dino Melaye, has called on
President Muhammadu Buhari to take
drastic measures on the ailing economic – The Chairman, Senate Committee on the
Federal Capital Territory said the president
must shake up his cabinet with the
immediate removal of the minister of
finance, Kemi Adeosun, minister of budget
and national planning, Senator Udo Udoma and the Governor of the Central Bank of
Nigeria (CBN) Godwin Emefiele – Melaye accused most of the members of
the cabinet of gross incompetence and lack
of capacity to deliver on the mandate of
their ministries/agencies The governor of the Central bank of Nigeria
(CBN), Godwin Emefiele, budget and national
planning minister, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma
and minister of finance, Kemi Adeosun Senator Dino Melaye, representing Kogi-West
Senatorial District has called on President
Muhammadu Buhari to take drastic measures
on the ailing economy, including the immediate
sack of the minister of finance, Kemi Adeosun,
minister of budget and national planning, Senator Udo Udoma and the Governor of the
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Godwin Emefiele. Melaye in a statement in Abuja on Sunday,
September 4, said the president must shake up
his cabinet and accused some members of
cabinet as lacking the capacity to deliver on the
mandates of their ministries and agencies. He said Adeosun, Udoma and Emefiele should
be axed for the economy to be effectively
rebooted to deliver on the change agenda of
the present administration. Melaye said: “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 among 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.” The All Progressives Congress senator, also
condemned Buhari’s economic team led by
Vice President Yemi Osibanjo, saying that “their
decisions will not be and has never been
respected by the economic managers and the
bureaucracy in Nigeria.” 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.” 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. Melaye urged the President to, instead,
constitute an ‘Emergency Ad Hoc Economic
Team’ made up of all former ministers of
finance, ex-ministers of budget and national
planning, ex-CBN governors as well as
members drawn from the academia with “deep knowledge of developmental economics to
drive the economic revival programme.”
He said: “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.” Nigeria’s minister of finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun recently spoke on Nigeria’s recent slide into
recession. Adeosun expressed confidence that the
economy will turn-around in no time, assuring
Nigerians that the recent slide into recession
will not last long. She however called for discipline in
government spending, even as she noted that
the Nigerian economy is long overdue for
diversification.

No stew self.