Youth, Gender Balance Lacking — Ugbodaga

Dr. Philip Ugbodaga is the Executive Director, Registered Voters Association of Nigeria (REVAN), he told Alemma-Ozioruva Aliu in Benin City, regrets the absence of youth and gender in ministerial list.

On the list so far submitted
First and foremost we are happy that at last, a list has been submitted after the very long wait by Nigerians, a long period of anxiety because people wanted to see the team to bring about the change. But the president needed to take his time and we thank God that has been finally been put to rest, with the unveiling of his ministerial list. Although this is not a full list yet, my first reaction is that of relief that we now have a semblance of a full government in place.

There have also been a lot of misgivings and reactions by some Nigerians and civil society organisations and those reactions are not misplaced. People expected to see a star-studded team, because when you are facing huge challenges as a country, you need extra-ordinary people to help drive the change. So to that extent, people wanted to see a team that is radically different from what we have always had and will not fit into the permutation of commentators who almost knew the direction that things may go. When you look at those that worked for the president or may have invested a lot of money in our usual high spending political campaigns and endeavours, I think a lot of Nigerians felt disappointed. The only consolation for the rest of us is that of the 37 constitutional number of ministers that must be appointed, only 21 have been unveiled, leaving a whopping 16 more for the president to play and make some corrections and I am sure that is why some of the analyses become imperative and important.

For example, I feel saddened that the average age of the unveiled list and nominees sent to the Senate for confirmation is well over 60 years. In a country where if you are looking at patronage, the real electorate that voted in Mr. President and change, are the 18 to 45 voting elements and these people actually represents those who have the real stake in the Nigerian project. These set of people have not been accommodated in the ministerial list and for us to have too many older people in this government that we need very vigorous debates and activism from these people for Nigeria to move forward, is one setback for this list we have seen

Gender sensitivity
We have not seen many women. In the recent past, we have had a lot of high profile Nigerians who have distinguished themselves in different endeavours around the world who were appointed to high offices, whether many of them eventually delivered is another ball game, but we also have today, so many Nigerian women who are doing very well around the world. So I think the women folk are justifiably angered that not many women have been considered fit and proper to be part of the change process that Mr. President is trying to bring about.

And to that extent, one can say that the 16 nominees still left, it may be a little premature to completely pummel the list because what if the remaining 16 turned out to be all women or youthful people? So that gives the president the opportunity to look at these genuine misgivings by Nigerians, so that he can correct them. We haven’t seen a lot of technocrats, what we see are people who appear to be recycled; because one of the bane of our leadership has always been expired politicians who are kept recycled over and over again.

Those who were senators and now governors are now ministers, they will come back to become governors, thereby shutting out another segment of the Nigerian population from the governance process. Having said that, one recognises and recalls that the major plank of Mr. President’s agenda for change was centred on the economy, fighting corruption, fighting insecurity and helping to bring about general infrastructural development. But in the list released so far, one has not seen the kind of people that can bring about innovations in these key areas. We need a team that will repose a lot of confidence in investors, there are some personalities when you see them in government, investors’ confidence improve and there are certain characters that you will see and Nigerians will begin to have confidence in the process.

As a civil society operator, we are not so happy that the organised civil society has not been carried along in this process.
Competence of the nominees
Nigeria is so blessed with exceptional human resources who can hold their own anywhere in the world. The kinds of things that are needed to drive this process we have embarked on, are character, integrity and competence. This must be the driving force or the concern of anyone who wants to appoint anybody to help drive this. The ministerial list contains a lot of people who have some questions to answer, who have held high offices before and it appears that people are calling them to question, yes there are few in the list that one can say have distinguished themselves in the past but the overall picture is that the list does not give room for the optimism and expectation of people.

Expectations and challenges
I think that maybe one of the good things we have been able to derive from this extended period is that it has given Mr. President the opportunity to look at the root of the crisis of the Nigerian State vis-a-vis the challenges that we face in almost every sector. He has had the opportunity to work very direct with the core civil servants who have fed him with raw information on the actual state of things, so I think moving forward, it has actually set a direction for his government. So the newly appointed ministers therefore, have no choice but to key into the agenda of the president.

One must also say that the challenges are monumental in every sector of the country. Most Nigerians have almost lost faith in the country and this regime represents an opportunity for a fresh start. The economic prospect of every Nigerian remains a nightmare. So, it is a huge challenge for those who will be articulating the economic agenda because we need a quick win solution in such a way the huge army of unemployed youths in this country will be taken care of, because we are sitting on a time bomb, the unemployment rate in the country is unacceptable.