A FORMER Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu, has called on the president-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to consider more of technocrats in the appointment of his cabinet members, and give priority to young people.
Chief Wogu also urged the president-elect to give all his appointees timelines for optimum performance.
The former minister also advised the Tinubu to appoint the best hands to manned the ministries of Finance, Budget and Planning, Labour, as well as the governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Wogu, who spoke with journalists in Abuja at the weekend, said Tinubu should appoint only his trusted allies among the ex-governors, rather than over-populate his cabinet with them;
According to Wogu, “he should go out and look for a mixture of experienced people, technocrats and very young people; and give them a timeline. That is my personal observation.”
He opined that the incoming president must have a robust economic team, and focus on total reform of the oil subsidy regime if he intends to turn around the ailing economy within a short time. “In addition, he must have a robust economic team; he must hire the best hands for the Ministry of Finance, Budget and planning, Governor of Central Bank and of course, the Ministry of Labour and Productivity. It is quite central and strategic to the national economy because a strike that is prolonged can bring down the economy.
“In others countries, labour minister is a key minister. After the Ministry of Budget and Planning, the next is Labour, because Labour is central to the economy of every nation. The workers are the people who get this revenue for the government. That should be his focus and total reform of the oil subsidy regime. It might be painful to both the Nigerian workers and all that; but if we are going to remove subsidy on petrol, we should return the subsidy on diesel and kerosene and have a robust bus transportation system,” Wogu said.
To quickly revive the economy and avoid incessant strikes, the former minister pointed out that Tinubu should build more refineries and encourage privately-owned ones like that of Alhaji Aliko Dangote to be productive, adding that it was a shame that Nigeria is still importing fuel after almost 100 years of crude oil exploration in the country.
Wogu pointed out that Nigeria has had very corrupt subsidy regime in the oil sector, adding that the new government should address this knotty issue, and concentrate on gas, while diversifying our sources of revenue.
“We have a better prospect outside oil. The new frontier is gas, and Nigeria has a lot of gas. Then other minerals like gold, and so many others are found in almost all the 36 states of the federation, including FCT. So, what I will advise the incoming government to do is to diversify our sources of revenue,” Wogu added.
Asked if he would accept an offer to serve again if the president-elect calls on him, he said he would accept such offer if the president has confidence in him and assure that he would always have access to him.
“Once there is a political will, there is nothing you cannot achieve. I resigned from cabinet in 2014. I am not being boastful, if I have the support of the president as a minister, I will achieve my goals. I was able to achieve a lot as Minister of Labour and Productivity because my president had confidence in me and I had access to him. Without being boastful, if I am made a minister of petroleum today, God willing, I will clean up that sector.
“In as much as I will not be seen as lobbying for any job, with the experience I have gathered over the years and the money the system invested in me, I think I can do well in any position in this administration, if I will have the support of the president, if I would have access to the president. These are the key things, then I will bring out my best, and there are also many Nigerians who could do the same,” Chief Wogu said.
He expressed the belief that Tinubu presidency would perform well and surprise Nigeria if he surrounds himself with good hands. According to Wogu, “I believe he will do very well, because he has a challenge. People will want to see if he can repeat the miracle of Lagos where he hired people who are even intellectually superior than him to run the system and he succeeded. That has always been his system when he was in Mobil Oil as a Treasurer and as an Accountant. So, I have much belief that he would do well.
