₦airaland Forum

“The Ministers are there to make a lot of noise; for the politicians to make a lot of noise…People from different constituencies want to see their people directly in government, and see what they can get out of it.”President Muhammadu Buhari.

“I had rather be right than President.”

Economy
Economy
Henry Clay, 1777-1852, letter to Senator Preston of South Carolina, 1839.

When I first read that statement, by Clay, in a course on American Government in my second year as an undergraduate in 1965, my first reaction was “this guy must be crazy, who would not want to be American President at any price?” But, I was young then, and courses in Philosophy, and especially Ethics, had not been undertaken to sharpen my intellect and morals. Now, I know that position, power and wealth are not the only things for which people must strive at all costs. Above all, a man must aim for self-respect; he must stand for something or fall for anything. After reading that statement from President Buhari, nothing should induce any self-respecting Nigerian, male or female, to accept a ministerial appointment – if it is offered. But, I am jumping the gun. Let me go back a few weeks.

Shortly after Buhari appointed several people in August, a sage, and one of my mentors and heroes taunted me by asking “Dele, what do you think of Buhari’s choice of cabinet which excludes the South West?”

“But, Buhari has not appointed his Ministers, he had selected his advisers”, I said. “It shows how naïve you are; Ministers are mere errand boys, the important decisions are made by the kitchen cabinet and your people are not there.”

Despite the strength of the logic, my mind still refused to accept it. A week after that sobering and deeply disturbing conversation, Chief Ogunlewe, former Minister of works under Obasanjo also announced that “Buhari has formed his cabinet”. He was the Minister who announced to Nigerians in 2007 that Obasanjo’s government had rehabilitated 500 Nigerian roads. Asked to name them he refused. That falsehood was exposed by the fact that the road leading to Ogunlewe’s home town, Ijede, on the Ikorodu-Epe expressway was not touched at all – while he was busy with 500 phantom roads rehabilitated. But, despite that, Ogunlewe made the point that Ministers are visitors to the seat of power; most decisions are made by “Advisers” for Ministers to execute.

Still, I clung stubbornly to the belief that, under Buhari’s change programme, Ministers would be appointed and valued for their intellect, competence, character, work rates and integrity. The statement above, credited to Buhari, changed all my perceptions about the role Ministers will play in this government. Even before their appointment, they have been visited with the sort of contempt which the office of Minister in any government does not deserve. They have been told that they will be regarded as people who “are there to make noise” and who are “in government and see what they can get out of it”. Taken together, those views of Ministers characterized them as noisy parasites. Can any self-respecting individual, not desperate for a job, accept an appointment based on that view of his/her role in government?

Henceforth any Minister in this administration should not be offended if he is called a noisemaker or vulture– after all, his boss had tagged him/her with that disgraceful appellation before taking office.

Let me end this article by recalling a personal example. In the mid-1980s, as a very successful Marketing Manager with North Brewery, I was offered a job with another brewery in the south, without applying for it. My take home pay increased by 200% and as a young man eagerly accepted the offer. Within nine months the new brewery’s sales had increased by over 300%. Of all the top managers, I was the darling of the Chairman, who during our quarterly meetings routinely insulted other managers; sometimes the maledictions passed to their parents (“your father”, “your family” etc). But, because the man paid so well, none of the managers wanted to leave.

One day, after one of my colleagues had his parents and grand-parents thoroughly abused, I asked the fellow why he did not quit. His answer was “Dele where would I find another job paying so well?” It then became clear to me. In this company we were trading insults rained on our parents for money. I would have none of it. I promised to walk out the day it happened to me. I would rather eat sand than accept that.

It happened soon enough. We went for budget presentation for the coming year. I presented the marketing budget including advertising expenditure. The advertising agency we used was 100% owned by the Chairman and the expenditure was prepared in collaboration with its Managing Director, Cornelius Tay, (later of C-Tay Agency). The Chairman took one look at the advert proposal and flared up in his usual manner. I got up, excused myself, went to the parking lot, drove out, got to the office and resigned my appointment.

They waited for me and discovered that I was not returning to the meeting. When the brewery MD came to the office and asked me to report to the Chairman’s office, next day, I told him “No, I no longer work for him; he cannot because of money insult my parents”. Later, in life, I added myself to the list. My attitude about wealth is summed up this way. “The true measure of your wealth is how much you will be worth when you have lost

all your money”. No job is worth one’s self-respect. NONE.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/09/so-you-want-to-be-minister-read-this-and-despair/

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Nigerian politicians know no that one o

For naija wey them dey insult people for free sef talk less of for ministerial appointment

maskamdo:
For naija wey them dey insult people for free sef talk less of for ministerial appointment

You dey mind am,He is camparing 1980s when they are begging people to work with 2000s when there are no more jobs,
Try to form champion now and your company will find someone better,educated,hardworking,and more exposed than you withing 24hours

Nigeria politicians don't care about their name or reputation. If you like insult them and their family and generation. All what they care about is the money they will make while in office.
We are waiting for the heavenly "NOISE MAKERS".

na minister wey no sabi na im dem fit treat like dat
abi una don forget former fct minister el rufai wen insult d entire senate and got away with it
na even obj de apologiswe on his behalf
now that's swag

I can be a minister you know ..

..