Ex-SGF Recognised Only 2 Competent People Among Tinubu’s Ministers

Former SGF Babachir Lawal critiqued President Tinubu’s cabinet, highlighting only two ministers, Dave Umahi and Wale Edun, as competent based on their track records.

Lawal expressed concerns about Yemi Cardoso’s suitability as CBN governor, criticizing his decisions, especially on lifting the import ban on critical items. He emphasized that many other ministers appeared to be appointed due to personal connections rather than merit.

Lawal questioned the qualifications of certain appointees, suggesting the need for more scrutiny in selecting individuals for sensitive positions.

He said, “I like to remind you that ab initio, we were friends with Bola Tinubu for many years and I know the people around him. Based on my knowledge of some of his friends, I have a suspicion of who will occupy what position.

“When they announced his cabinet of 46, to be sincere, I only acknowledged two competent people. And so I phoned those two to congratulate them and confessed to them that I consider them a round peg in a round hole.

“The first is David Umahi who is the Minister of Works. Before he became a governor, he was a civil engineering contractor doing roads and buildings. So I considered him a round peg in a round hole and I congratulated him on his appointment. The second person is the Minister of Finance, Mr Wale Edun. I also called to congratulate him.”

Continuing, Babachir also explained why he was piqued with Tinubu’s choice of Yemi Cardoso for the post of Central Bank governor.

According to him, it is not enough for the President to appoint anybody for such a sensitive position based on the perception that he once headed a bank with 13 branches.

He explained, “You cannot say he (the CBN governor) has the experience in that position to be Central Bank Governor. Some went on to say he was chairman of a bank (can’t remember which now) with 13 branches located around Lagos (two branches), Warri, Benin and all those places.

“That still doesn’t give him sufficient exposure. To me, the bank was targeting oil money. Now he is CBN governor and he didn’t disappoint me. The first thing he did as a governor was to remove the import ban on 43 items, most of which were very critical to Nigeria’s sufficiency. He removed the ban on the importation of rice too.

“Nigeria has a very massive programme on self-sufficiency of rice for the Anchor Borrower’s Programme and we are beginning to reach about 90 per cent self-sufficiency where even farmers are beginning to say ‘By next season, we will be exporting the excess rice we have produced.’ But he came on board and said ‘I will give you the foreign exchange to import rice.’ So my conviction that this man would not be able to do the job was right.

“Aside from those two, I don’t know much about the rest based on what they have been doing in the past. The Minister of Education from my state was a vice chancellor of the university. He has been in academia all his life. I don’t know. Perhaps he too is a round peg in a round hole.

“That is my assessment of the government. The rest are just his (Tinubu) cronies, my friend’s friends, my sister or wife’s friends and all that.”