Nigerians have urged the president to take quick steps and impelement policies which will better the livelihood of the citizens of the country. The call came as a result of the current economic hardship facing the country as the Nigerian naira continues to slip against the greenback.
Speaking to the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, today in an interview, a chieftain of the All Progressive Congress, APC, the political platform upon which the president ran for office, Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed has joined voices with other Nigerians and APC chieftains to challenge the president on his administrative plans.
Speaking during the interview, Baba Ahmed urged the president to sack some of the ministers in his cabinet adding that dropping the political appointees who have not performed or under-performed will help his administration go a long way.
Baba-Ahmed who spoke in Kaduna said: “If you go by the opinion of a lot of Nigerians, some of the ministers are just filling up space. “There is a case to be made for the argument that the president should critically assess his ministers and remove those that he believes have not performed as well as they should.
“Replace them with people who will bring greater energy, greater vibe and greater imagination in managing scarcity and high expectations in the context in which we live.”
Baba-Ahmed further decried the level of poverty and starvation in the country noting that the Federal Government needed to attend to it promptly.
“What the government can do is what I think it is doing, trying to come up with policies that in the short time, can alleviate the crushing poverty.
“There are a lot of people who feed only once a day, there is a lot of hunger, frustration and bitterness.
“If we have N500 billion in the presidency now waiting to be disbursed, one would like to see an imaginative and productive use of that money, so that it reaches people that need it to feed, pay school fees, pay medical bills, rent and to go to places where they can earn a living.
“Government must mobilize resources directly and make sure that it gets to the people.
“In the longer term, we need bold and imaginative policies that should reposition and restructure the economy, to reduce dependence on oil.” Asked to speak on the performance of President Buhari, he said: “One year is long enough to assess people and too short to actually pass judgment. “I will say yes, he has done well in the area of fighting security, he has done well in terms of signaling his intention to fight corruption, and has many challenges in managing economic recession.”
