On May 29, 2012, the administration of Dr Goodluck Jonathan turned one year old. Sir, you may not agree with me, but it is he who feels it that knows it. The cheapest thing in Nigeria today is death from bomb blasts, Fulani herdsmen attack, kidnapping, hired killing, ritual killing, armed robbery attacks, cult clashes and rampaging gun men who on a daily basis feast on the bodies of innocent Nigerians. We live in a country where nothing seems to work and where all ideas seem to have been exhausted by those in charge of various sectors. In Nigeria, failures hold on as long as they wish, until a sack is announced. Though rumours were rife that you planned to reshuffle the one year old cabinet, but this has since been laid to rest. If the initial news of cabinet change were anything to go by, we would have inherited a set of people who could not transform their party but would have been called upon to transform the nation. What an irony it would have been. I am sure Nigerians are not excited about news of cabinet change as every attempt in the past seemed to have left us worse off. Sir, we know that sooner or later, the cabinet may undergo some changes and we plead with you to do a good job next time. Sir, transformation requires people with democratic instincts, uncommon ideas and intelligence, professionalism, competence, focus, daring and penchant for excellence. Unfortunately, the National Assembly that should have wielded its power to weed out the unfit is also not sincere in its screening of candidates as the body has proved to us over and over again that it exists just to rubber stamp anything from the Executive. For me, it is a waste of time sending names to the National Assembly for screening as we are yet to see the value the exercise adds to the process. The whole exercise has turned out to be a hoax, meaningless and laughable, such that ministerial appointments seems to be for rehabilitation and a family welfare scheme of some sort. Your Excellency, the next attempt at cabinet reshuffle should involve a painstaking approach of scouting around for Nigerians who can make the difference. It will be time to look beyond party affiliations and get those who have what it takes to turn things around in Nigeria. My submission is without prejudice to party men and women who can deliver the goods, rather than the recycling old and spent forces. Sir, I am sure that even within PDP, if you cast your net wide, there are men and women of impeccable records who fit into what we need today.But the PDP Mafia, I know, will do everything to preserve the status-quo. Some of us are groaning in our spirits as Nigeria seems to be heading for the cliff, however, we will cry unto God to avert the looming disaster and restore Nigeria. There is no doubt that the task of rescuing Nigeria is very urgent as we need to declare a state of emergency in all sectors, including Aso rock. Your Excellency, I urge you to make the selection process in the future more meaningful by indicating the portfolios against the names proposed candidates before the list is sent to the National Assembly. In addition, we expect the National Assembly to go beyond the rituals of rubber stamping by taking the screening of ministerial candidates to another level. The National Assembly must insist that the President indicates portfolios against nominees and when this is done, the National Assembly must request each nominee to bring a road map for the sector assigned that will form basis for screening and confirmation or rejection. Each nominee should be given between 20 and 30 minutes during the screening to present the road map before questioning. The National Assembly must also constitute a committee to score/grade each nominee and its results should form basis for decision making. As a matter of fact, the National Assembly could complement the efforts of the committee being suggested with another independent team of technical review and assessment experts drawn from the academia and other professionals who will either be present in the Chamber gallery, or in a committee room to watch the procedure live and at the end submit a report to the National Assembly. The report of the independent assessment team will be juxtaposed with the in-house committee before a final decision is taken on who will be confirmed or dropped at the end of the exercise. This is the time to try something new as we cannot continue to do things the same way and expect to get different results. We need to transform our thinking, processes and procedures in order to get the desired result. Nigerians who have analysed the situation and know what is required to put Nigeria back on track will be able to recommend to you men and women of substance that will help you win back our hearts, earn our trust again and get back our confidence. I wish you well Sir. Osanyin sent this piece in from Ibadan.
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