Jideofor Adibe, a professor of Political Science and International Relations at Nasarawa State University, believes that if the newly appointed ministers are given the proper support, they will perform better.
The professor appeared on Channels Television Politics Today on Monday.
“For the ministers to work, for them to be effective and be able to take risks, the President has to set the tone. If you do not want to wrest waste from the government, you must lead by example,” he said.
“We expect that the President should be confident enough to allow the ministers – the legroom to take decisions. It is only when the ministers are very sure that they are given a political cover that they will take effective risks.”
He cited the demolitions by Nasir El-Rufai (while he was FCT minister) under the Olusegun Obasanjo regime and the bank consolidation of Professor Charles Soludo as typical examples.
“If it was not a strong character, a strong-willed person like Obasanjo, none of them would have the light of the day,” the lecturer said.
“If you compare that to what happened under Buhari – it seems that – well if there is too much criticism of any policy – Buhari would just throw you under the bus and we saw exactly how he related it with the naira redesign.
“Even though he came out on public television and took ownership, when the heat was very much on Emefiele, nobody saw him – that should never have happened under Obasanjo.
“If you really want your ministers to act, they would tread on feet, they would step on powerful toes, and they can only do that if they are very sure of the political cover!”
