WHILE WE AWAIT OKOROCHA’S CABINET
It would be preposterous and ridiculous to
commence this piece without letting people realize where I’m actually coming
from. I may have been known as an analyst or activist as it pleases the people
but the gospel truth remains that I’m putting up this critique not based on the
aforementioned facts but owing to the fact that I’m a bona-fide Imolite;
suffice it to say that, whatever that affects Imo State affects my person
directly as well. Thus I sincerely present this piece as an Imolite.
The last time I checked, if I’m not mistaken, the entire Imo populace
was preoccupied with the urge of meeting the set of persons that would make up
Gov Okorocha’s cabinet to include the commissioners as well as special advisers
just as the tradition demands. In the same vein, the last moment I also
checked, none of the said group of people was aware of the reason for the
delay. In view of this, I wish to start with a clarification note; let me
hurriedly use this avenue to clear the air.
Ordinarily, the ethics of the
game is that immediately after an election has taken place, those who emerged
victorious in the various states as the governors would appoint some gentle men
and ladies to assist them in running the affairs of their respective states.
The appointees are often referred to as members of the governor’s cabinet. This
step is invariably necessary because a tree cannot make a forest.
It is apparent that the All
Progressives Congress (APC) is currently occupying the number one political
seat situated in Aso Rock villa. It is also noteworthy that, same political
party happens to be in charge of the Douglas House found in the Eastern
Heartland. These two obvious facts indicate that Gov Rochas Okorocha was not
meant to form his overall cabinet until President Buhari had concluded his;
such approach is consequential and rational because the governor wouldn’t know
the Imolites that would make it to the Mr President’s incoming cabinet.
If you take a close observation, you would notice that virtually all the
progressive governors are yet to constitute their cabinets; please ‘progressive
governors’ literally means governors of the APC. Needless to say that it is not
only Gov Okorocha that is putting on such shoes. Of course it was barely few
days ago that the Lagos state governor Mr Akinwunmi Ambode brought out his own
list, simply because the man who hails from the state Mr Babatunde Fashola, SAN
that made it to the ministerial list had been cleared by the Red Chamber of the
National Assembly.
Frankly, it is politically wise
for any progressive governor to wait till the man in charge of the Aso Rock had
constituted his cabinet because he wouldn’t know if any of the persons he would
like to include in his awaited cabinet would be adopted by President Mohammadu
Buhari; that is politics for you. But the problem is that such practice is
often at the detriment of the electorate due to the fact that it would be
delaying the good governance they all pray for, or that awaits them.
Now that the long awaited ministerial list is out and almost all the
names in it had received favour from the Senate, though that of Imo State is
still pending, Imolites in their entirety including my humble self - Fred Doc
Nwaozor cannot wait to see the amiable governor tendering his own list, which
is long overdue according to the people, to the Imo House of Assembly for
onward scrutiny and confirmation.
But while we await the governor’s
cabinet, there are some rudimentary facts I would like to present to the leader
in question via this medium. Undoubtedly, it is my individual social
responsibility to disclose the needed facts towards ensuring that there
wouldn’t be any iota of derailment while the process lasts.
First; I wouldn’t like what
happened at the apex level regarding exclusion of the youth to repeat itself in
my home state. It is no longer news that the said ministerial list never
favoured any youth; it is so appalling that among the whole thirty-seven (37)
names released by Mr President lack a name belonging to a youth. It is
humiliating and unfair that the people who are ubiquitously referred to as ‘the
leaders of tomorrow’ are often relegated at the background; it’s indeed a
paradox. Sometimes I see it as a thing of mockery whenever the youth are
classified as the leaders of tomorrow that cease to come considering the contemporary
Nigerian society.
Similarly, I want the people’s
governor to detest the language of ‘recycling’ that is usually practised on the
Nigerian socio-political platform, which is drastically becoming a norm, with
passion. Yes, he ought to passionately detest the anomaly because it is
severely telling on our polity.
Unequivocally, it sounds absurd
and disgusting to my hearing each time it comes to my notice that the same set
of names that were being heard far back thirty years ago are still roaming
about in the Nigerian political setting. I’m not saying that the names ought to
be scrapped; but for crying out loud, the owners of the names are supposed to
act as elder statesmen towards actualizing good governance rather than posing
as the main actors. They have acted in the past and this is the time for their
young ones to follow suit, or start from where they stopped.
Most importantly, I want Gov Okorocha to note that including technocrats in his awaited cabinet is meant to be seen as an uncompromising gesture if truly he is keen to actualize the anticipated outcome of his industrialization and massive job creation mantra. Let me quickly define a technocrat according to the BBC English Dictionary, before we contradict it at the long run. A technocrat is ‘a scientist, engineer, or other expert who is one of a group of similar people who have political power as well as technical knowledge.’ Please, we need nothing but cognoscenti.
So as we await the quintessential governor’s cabinet, I wish to state
candidly at this juncture that, every good thing that has happened in our lives
happened because something changed. Hence, we ought to endeavour to change some
norms that seem outdated. Think about it!
FDN NWAOZOR
(The Media Ambassador)
Executive
Director, Centre for Counselling, Research
& Career
Development - Owerri
_____________________________________
frednwaozor@gmail.com
+2348028608056
www.facebook.com/fred4nwaozor
Twitter: @fdnnwaozor
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