The Mayor of Urhoboland, Eshanakpe Israel a.k.a Akpodoro, has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to, as a matter of necessity, sack some non performing ministers who he said preponderate his cabinet, chasing clouts rather than adding value to the realisation of the Renewed Hope Agenda of the current administration.
The Mayor who is also a notable ex-militant leader and the national President of the National Coalition of Niger Delta Ex-Agitators, NCNDE-A, stated this in Abuja at the sideline of a critical stakeholders meeting held to review the achievements or otherwise of the All Progressives Congress, APC-led Federal Government.
The meeting, according to the Mayor, who sits on the head of the Association of Family Mayoral Crown as incorporated was hugely successful as matters of urgent national importance were discussed by echelon of Urhobo youths and persons of the Niger Delta region.
According to the Mayor, the Coalition called on the President to immediately rejig his cabinet without further delay to pave the way for a more robust interaction between the government and the citizens, noting that currently most ministers are inactive in their respective positions of authority.
Notably among them Akpodoro said, is the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Minister of Power and Energy, Minister of Education, Minister of Commerce and Industry, Minister of Youths and Sports among others including the agencies under their supervision.
He added that unless the ministers are sacked and new ones appointed, the achievements of the Tinubu’s administration will perpetually remain unnoticed.
Mayor Akpodoro noted that the current administration has recorded so much progress in all facets of the economy but for the deliberate silence of his appointees who keep mute without interacting with members of the public, giving room for damaging rumours of all shades against the government making it seemingly unpopular because they lack information.
The information the Nigerian population gets, according to the Mayor, the staunch supporters of the government who are also alienated by the Ministers and their agents who are too big to pick calls form the supporters of the government they serve.
“They won’t work and won’t allow public spirited individuals to support the government. Call to make inquiries from them, no Nigerian minister would ever pick up your calls. They are too proud to take calls, not even with serious issues on your hands.
“They will never respond, not even text messages on their phones. They are not loyal and patriotic to the government and should be sacked to pave the way for those with reformative and innovative ideas and capacity for interactions with the people to take the centre stage.”
The Mayor stressed that the recent outburst by the presidency of the its intention to relieve some ministers of their duties vindicates Akpodoro’s earlier call for the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris Malagi to be sacked for not marketing the administration but sleeping on duty.
Malagi, according to the former warlord, is known only through Google search because Nigerians hardly know the names of President Tinubu’s ministers because they do not talk or appear in public domain and would want to silent any voice of support for the President because “they feel peoplevwho talk for the government, who form a protective shield for the administration are usurping their roles, they will prefer everyone keep mute.
“The achievements of this government for eighteen months running cut across every segment of our national life, but the political system is grossly disjointed and dysfunctional. There’s no accurate feedback from the citizens, just as the citizens are starved of information by agents of the administration, and this trend must change.
“How can you have an information ministry that does not keep the citizens abreast of information? It’s agency – NOA is also derelicting in its service to the nation.
“Nigerians hardly know the names of their Ministers due to dormancy and cluelessnes. We are at a loss on what the SGF and the Chief of Staff are coordinating, and the duo are equally guilty like the ministers.
“A protest is rumoured to be scheduled for October 1, till now, our NOA is deeply asleep and not knowing what to tell Nigerians due to gross ineptitude and laxity.
“All agencies of the federal government are quiet until a few hours to the planned protest. You will hear them make scanty statements here and there. The budget of their offices is forbidden to be spent on public relations but for frivolities and empty clout chasing. The President must sack them all.
“For those of us who spend our hard earned resources to enlighten, educate, and inform the people on the positives of the policies and programmes of this administration, nobody supports us or even commends us.
“It is a duty that national solidarity and patriotism brought upon our shoulders. Our love and passion for this administration have turned us to the evangelists of Renewed Hope Agenda due to our implicit confidence in President Tinubu’s government,”
the vociferous Urhobo, Delta State-born Mayor stated.
