I remember some months ago, the minister for Budget & Planning, Udo Udoma, was asked by a UK born Nigerian CNN journalist, Zane Asher, how much Nigeria was owing. The minister did not know! The journalist couldn’t believe her ears and asked, ‘you are the minister of budget & planning and you don’t know how much your country is owing?’.
The minister repeated that he did not know, he had to refer to the files. Good to hear he has been dropped. He should have been dropped immediately after that admission. I know there are other ministers and other government appointees like Udo Udoma.
Compare this performance of Udo Udoma with that of Babatunde Fasola who has consistently demonstrated firm grip of his ministry. He frequently gives (without reading from any file) facts & figures about several dozen different project situations across the country and discusses policy issues impressively.
Please note that Fasola’s ministry is a combination of three key ministries (engineering and a lawyer) and his taking over must have felt like learning a new language at old age, yet he wasted no time in establishing firm control. What this tells me is that Nigeria doesn’t really need more than four or five ministers. What we need is performing ministers.
