Buhari ‘Sleeping On The Job, His Cabinet A Failure’ – Agbakoba

Former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Olisa Agbakoba, has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to fix the decay in his cabinet and stop “sleeping on the job”.

Agbakoba said President Buhari must revamp his cabinet as it has failed to work for Nigerians.

The human rights activist and maritime lawyer, who spoke on Thursday on the agenda of the newly formed National Intervention Movement (NIM), said the president “needs to take his job seriously”.

Agbakoba said: “We want the government to work for Nigerians. Presently, it does not. President Buhari needs to take his job seriously. He is sleeping on the job. He needs to sack his entire cabinet because they have failed.

“Why for instance has nobody been fired for Mainagate? What is government’s plan for unemployment? Seventy percent of our young people are unemployed. It is alarming! What is the federal government’s plan for power?

“Should the privatisation process be reversed? Why is our bidding and procurement processes failing? Why is government still appropriating billions of naira for turnaround maintenance of dead refineries?” he queried.

Agbakoba further charged the civil society and the media to “wrest power from this ruling political elite to achieve a new system that is inclusive and works for all and not a few”.

He lamented the situation whereby “politicians charged with corruption present themselves for public office in every election circle.

“We need to ask simple questions. If APC promised us ABCD, how many have they fulfilled? How many ministers are actually competent to deliver on their ministries? For instance, the good friend of mine Dr. Kayode Fayemi has no competence to be minister of mines because that’s not his background.

“What is the competence of another good friend, a nice chap and a successful man, Udo Udoma (SAN), to be the minister of budget when he is a lawyer? So, the President should be called upon to dismantle his cabinet and pick the right people because the best guys are not there.

“Another good friend Geoffrey Onyeama is an intellectual property lawyer. He has no competence to be a foreign minister, but he’s there. The federal cabinet lacks competence and that’s what’s causing our problem,” he said.