90 Percent of Ministerial Lobbyists Are Selfish – Jonathan

Daily Independent (Lagos)

Chesa Chesa And Oyeniran Apata

26 May 2011

Lagos/Abuja — No Minister who performed below 60 per cent will be re-appointed in the new federal cabinet, President Goodluck Jonathan announced in Abuja on Thursday, stressing that much of the media speculation about the appointees was wrong.

He said 90 per cent of Ministerial job lobbyists are selfish, and lamented that one of the reasons the country has not been transformed is the high turnover of Ministers.

Jonathan cited the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which has had 24 Ministers in 51years. He spoke on Thursday in response to the Presidential inaugural lecture titled: “A Transformation Agenda for Accelerating National Development”, delivered by Professor Ladipo Adamolekun.

“I am not saying any (Nigerian) Minister should serve as some did in the defunct Soviet Union where a Minister could serve for as long as 40 years.

“But at least you will expect a Minister to stay for a number of years if he must help to transform Nigeria, particularly if that person is performing above 60 per cent,” Jonathan argued.

He named the Steel Development Ministry as one in which much has not been achieved

“Here Ministers only last for nine months, so what can you do?”

Jonathan disclosed that 90 per cent of those lobbying him for Ministerial appointments are doing so for selfish, not national interests.

“There are people lobbying for Ministerial positions for personal reasons, either for themselves, their wives.

“Those who love the country when they come to you for a particularly person, if you analyse it you will see that they have no relationship with that person, they are only lobbying because they feel the person has the background to do the job.

“Those are the people who love this country. Unfortunately, they are fewer than 10 per cent.”

Jonathan has explained that his insistence on appointing a credible Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman (Attahiru Jega) and the declaration of election results at the polling units contributed greatly to the credibility of the ballot last month, which has slashed post-election litigation by 80 per cent.

He said Nigeria’s electoral process is transforming and expressed the hope that election litigation would drop 95 per cent in 2015.

People could “do funny things like changing a result of 100 votes to 10,000 votes”, if results are not made public at the voting centres, he noted, hence the need to devise a strategy to curb the trend.

“When I travelled outside, even when I was acting President, I noticed there was just one thing we needed to do in our electoral process – get a credible umpire and make sure that at the end of the polls the results are declared at every unit and let all the agents have copies of the results.

“So I said to (Jega), no matter what you do, make sure the votes are counted and the results shared to all the agents of the candidates, and the two or three accredited security agencies too should get the results.

“We insisted on that, and luckily our elections have been accepted as free and fair”.

Jonathan disclosed that the legal department of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) confirmed that the number of litigations this year has dropped by over 80 per cent compared to 2007.

“That shows that even in terms of electoral processes we are transforming, we are going somewhere. My feeling is that if within this year alone, because of the little changes we have made we are able to reduce litigation by over 80 per cent, I believe that in 2015 we will reduce it by 95 per cent.”

In his lecture, Adamolekun, a development consultant to the World Bank for two decades, identified electoral legitimacy, peace and security, government policy stability, the rule of law and anti-corruption as five fundamentals necessary to transform the country.

He said electoral legitimacy ensures that leaders that emerge through credible elections are accountable to the citizens and the citizens are free to demand accountability, a situation that “is generally considered conducive for achieving well-performing governments.”

He underscored the importance of peace and security as “an incontrovertible precondition for development,” and stressed the need to revisit the implementation of the amnesty programme for sustainable peace in the Niger Delta.

Adamolekun argued that the Niger Delta Ministry should be phased out and the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) strengthened and run by experts and professionals.

He lamented instability in policy especially in critical sectors, noting “varying degrees of inconsistencies and contradictions, including notable policy reversals.”

He said countries like Botswana, Brazil, China, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, and Thailand recorded over seven per cent growth for 25 years because of policy stability in the second half of the 20th century.

In his view, Jonathan would be assessed by progress made in peace and stability, reducing corruption, rehabilitation of education and infrastructure with emphasis on electricity supply, and achieving Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Elsewhere on Thursday, former Commonwealth Secretary General, Emeka Anyaoku, described the present 36-state structure and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as a costly exercise that siphons funds from capital projects.

He sought constitutional amendment to provide for a one-term of six years for the President and five years for Governors so that the country can be well served, noting that a one-term of six years is successful in Mexico.

No nation, big or small, can evade the forces of globalisation, he said, and enjoined Nigeria to exploit globalisation in managing domestic and foreign policies in order to meet the aspirations of its citizens and respectable standing abroad.

To him, Nigeria should be pro-active in such organisation as; the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), African Union (AU), the Commonwealth, the United Nations (UN) and be conscious of its special responsibilities in Africa.

Anyaoku condemned the activities of multinational oil companies in Nigeria and regretted that the Extractive Industrial Transparency Initiative (EITI) has not achieved much as oil companies continue to flare gas, put pressure on the environment, and fuel militancy in the Niger Delta.

He stressed the urgent need to return to sound and faster development experienced in the first five years of independence by restructuring the country into six federating units based on the six zones.

Anyaoku made the suggestions as guest lecturer at the third eminent persons lecture organised by Bells University of Technology, Ota, Ogun State, where he advocated the retention of the 36 states as development units without expansive government structures such as state Assembly and judiciary.

He also sought a drastic reduction in the entitlements of political office holders especially in state and federal Assemblies.

He said turning political offices into avenues for “stupendous wealth” is responsible for the do-or-die posture that encourages political violence and electoral corruption.

Bells University Vice Chancellor, Isaac Adeyemi, pledged that the university would continue to provide quality education and improve on its status as the world is fast measuring up with globalisation in education.

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