Posted by BY VAL OKARA, Owerri. on
Pioneer National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Chekwas Okorie, says there's need for President Umar Yar'Adua to reshuffle his cabinet for better performance.
Pioneer National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Chekwas Okorie, says there's need for President Umar Yar'Adua to reshuffle his cabinet for better performance.
He said there was need to bring in more technocrats and professionals into the federal cabinet in order for Yar'Adua to realize his objectives.
'I will add that he (Yar'Adua) has to review the team he had selected to work with. We have not seen in his team such technocrats and very knowledgeable experts that we saw in the Obasanjo era, such people like Oby Ezekwesili, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Mallam Nasiru El-Rufai and Nuhu Ribadu."
Describing government as being too slow, Okorie said that the country had not seen much performance. He, however, gave kudos to the administration for the implementation of the rule of law and due process, which he said has started to manifest at various government levels, including the police.
According to him, Nigerians had nothing to cheer, as life has become more difficult and painful, while poverty has also increased tremendously.
Okorie also lamented that security of life and property has degenerated further, as every aspect of the economy has collapsed.
'Now we have been warned by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) of hyper inflation that will hit the country soon as a result of increase of liquidity from excess crude oil without any capacity to absorb it or to turn it into something productive. All these go to give credence to the government not being pragamatic enough. We like to see beyond what we have seen so far, although, he had assured us that in the next one year very interesting things will happen. The signpost we have seen does not suggest that there is any cause for enthusiasm," he said.
The APGA chieftain threw his weight behind investigations by the National Assembly and urged the legislators to extend it to other sensitive areas. He noted that the probes would keep public office holders on their toes.
Okorie stressed: 'I support investigations because they are now helping us to understand where things went wrong. I hope that they will go into other sensitive areas to carry out similar exercise. Now, certain people know that they cannot do funny things without being exposed, at the end of the day, particularly, when they have left office."
Believing that the government would implement the recommendations of the National Assembly on the probes, Okorie said that assurances from the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation on the outcome of the investigations should be taken seriously by the government.
'It is only in that way that the fight against corruption can begin to take strong shape," he concluded.