It took President Yar'adua about 19 months to realise that there was a need to reshuffle his cabinet ostensibly for non-performance.One may even concede the fact that the first cabinet was foisted on him by the ruling or unruly PDP that takes pride in celebrating its lumbering arrogance of ignorance.

Having realised the need to reshuffle his cabinet the president subsequently dissolved it albeit in a partial manner (though one would have preferred a situation where he went the whole hog and dismissed all the ministers,for virtually all of them failed to impact the life of the average Nigerian in any positive manner but i am not the president).It then took Mister President about 3 months to compile the list of nominees to be sent to the National Assembly for confirmation.Considering the amount of time it took the president to compile the list,Nigerians were expecting that when eventually the names were announced,the best and brightest Nigerians out of the 140 million of our people would be selected.By the way i am not quite sure what the population of Nigeria is,after all in a country where the Inspector General of Police does not know the number of police officers we have in the Nigeria Police Force,don't expect me to give you an accurate figure of what our population is,but it is safe to assume that Nigerians are very many,very,very many.I seem to digress...

Only a couple of names gave cause for hope in the ministerial list but whatever hopes i had entertained were dashed yesterday when the minsters were assigned their portfolios.Easily the most popular figure in that list was Prof.Dora Akunyili and given the success she achieved in her previous assignment and her undoubted commitment and dedication,coupled with her training the last thing one expected was for Yar'Adua to make her his chief information manager,when there are other crucial sectors of our national life where her qualities are desperately needed.Such Ministries as Health,Education,and even Power,since the President has demonstrated that he doesn't give a hoot about a person's training in assigning portfolio,would have benefited from Akunyili's undoubted qualities.Dr Shettima Mustapha an agronomist has been assigned the Defence ministry,while Nuhu Way an architect is the Minister of state for Power,Dr Rilwanu Lukman who seems to have spent all his life in the public service,without a corresponding positive contribution to the life of the average Nigerian,has been assigned the Petroleum Ministry again.A classic case of pouring new wine in old bottle or is it old wine in new bottle,what fresh ideas can Nigerians still expect from the new minister in these trying times.

By these appointments President Yar'Adua seems to have confirmed the widespread notion that he lacks the gumption to lead this country or he simply has no idea of the enormity of the challenges we face as a nation.

As i write this,the Ministries of Power and Finance are yet to be filled and going by the names that are before the National Assembly for confirmation or otherwise we really have nothing to cheer about.One of the indispensable qualities of a leader is not so much in selecting the right people as in placing them where they will be most useful in actualising the vision of the leader.Regrettably Yar'Adua has not demonstrated this quality in the selection and assignation of portfolio to his ministers,and his ministers are further hampered by the fact that there is simply no concrete vision to actualise.Forget the rather vague seven point agenda.It is like being told you are going to Lagos from Maiduguri,but not how and what you need to do to get there especially when you have not been given any inspiring incentive or motivation to undertake such an arduous journey.

Suffice it to say that this country is in desperate need of leadership and direction.We have a monumental unemployment problem in our hands,to the extent of pushing young men into stowing themselves away in the engine room of a ship,without, wait for this,any idea where the ship is going to!They just wanted to get out of the grinding poverty and anywhere except Nigeria would have done.(The Nation Newspaper of 17-12-2008).Insecurity of lives and property is widespread,Nigerians more often than not live in gross darkness because there is no power supply,our educational standards are falling and there doesn't seem to be any end in sight,our roads and bridges are death traps,capacity utilisation is low,corruption has permeated every facet of our national life despite claims to the contrary,on top of all these we are afflicted with a leadership that is lethargic,unsure of itself,lacks clear cut vision and is painfully banal.

So the question is whether this new team can actually make the difference Nigeria so desperately need?Or put another way 'Can something good come out of Nazareth?''Well in the good book,something good came out of Nazareth,but it took divine intervention...

By Henry I. Okoro,Legal Practitioner,No 2 Emonyon Estate, Ekpoma,Edo State,Nigeria

By Henry I. Okoro,

Legal Practitioner,

No 2 Emonyon Estate, Ekpoma,Edo State,Nigeria

Robot  # 1 | 18.12.2008 19:10

It took President Yar'adua about 19 months to realise that there was a need to reshuffle his cabinet ostensibly for non-performance.One may even concede the fact that the first cabinet was foisted on him by the ruling or unruly PDP that takes pride in celebrating its lumbering arrogance of ignorance. Having realised the need to reshuffle his cabinet the president subsequently dissolved it albeit in a partial manner (though one would have preferred a situation where he went the whole hog and dismissed all the ministers,for virtually all of them failed to impactthe life of the average Nigerian in any positive manner but i am not the president).It then took Mister President about 3 months to compile the list of nominees to be sent to the National Assembly for confirmation.Considering the amount of time it took the president to compile the list,Nigerians were expecting that when eventually the names were announced,the best and bri...Read the full article.