Former Presidential Candidate, Dr. Thomas-Wilson Ikubese, has said that President Muhammadu Buhari has betrayed Nigerians in the list of his 41 ministerial nominees.
According to him, President Buhari failed to keep his earlier promise of implementing the 2005 National Gender Policy, which stipulated 35 per cent appointive positions for women.
Ikubese said going by the few number of women among the President’s ministerial list, President Buhari had shown that his government is “gender unfriendly.”
He rather described the ministerial list of the President to the Senate as “compensation list.”
Ikubese, who is the Convener of YesWeFit Revolutionary Movement, made the comment in a statement on Wednesday.
He said, “The list comprises of 14 former ministers, 7 former governors amongst whom are persons perceived to be fanatically corrupt and a number of senators who failed to win re-election to the Senate, making the list riddled with recycled politicians who are not likely to bring anything new to the table.
“President Muhammadu Buhari is simply out to compensate those who helped him win the second term ticket, nothing more!
“Going through the 2019 ministerial list sent to the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari after almost two months of waiting, it has now become clear that not much stands to be achieved by the Buhari administration in the next four years.
“The 43 persons’ list, which comprises of 7 women and 36 men, is gender unfriendly, as women have shown that they are not less endowed than their male counterparts. President Buhari, in March 2015, had vowed to implement the 2005 National Gender Policy, which stipulated 35 per cent appointive positions for women, only to appoint 6 females out of the 36 Ministers, making up 16.7% females into his cabinet then.
“The President repeated this promise during his 2019 re-election bid, only to end up appointing 7 females out of a total number of 43 appointments, coming up to 16.9%, in betrayal of his earlier affirmation.
“Perhaps, most depressing is the fact that the list comprises of 14 former ministers, 7 former governors amongst whom are persons perceived to be fanatically corrupt and a number of senators who failed to win re-election to the Senate, making the list riddled with recycled politicians who are not likely to bring anything new to the table.
“President Buhari truly lived up to his words that he would only appoint those he knows, which is most unfortunate because, for Nigeria to move to the next level, he needs to scout for distinctive Nigerians across party lines, youths who are bubbling with fresh ideas that can turn Nigeria around within a short period of time and not necessarily those he knows.
“Without much ado, it is crystal clear that this Ministerial List is nothing but a Compensation List! President Buhari is simply out to compensate those who helped him win the second term ticket, nothing more! These nominees are certainly not capable of taking Nigeria to the next level of development.
“If President Buhari had come up with a roadmap for each of the sector for his tenure, then just maybe there would have been no need to worry about this team, because just about anyone could seat atop the ministry and supervise its implementation.
“But unfortunately, President Buhari does not have a roadmap for the tenure of his administration.
“Therefore, it will take an out-of-the-box thinking Minister to generate a result-oriented roadmap, a feature that is lacking in this team.
“We urge Nigerians to tighten their seat belts for another term of wilderness experience as this team, put together by President Buhari, does not have what it takes to move Nigeria to the Promised Land.
“Hopefully, there will be light at the end of the tunnel, after the democratic exit of this administration.”
