Senator wants Finance Minister, CBN Governor sacked over recession

dimeji akinloye

September 4, 2016 6:56 PM

Melaye, who lamented the deplorable state of the living condition of Nigerians, said these top officers must be fired for their incompetence

Senator representing Kogi West, Dino Melaye has asked President

Melaye, who lamented the deplorable living condition of Nigerians, said these top officers must be fired for their incompetence, as he is scared of being stoned by his constituents.

“The president must immediately transit from mere rhetoric to drastic but positive action to save the economy and Nigeria from total collapse. The hunger in the land is real, pervasive, widespread and debilitating for the poor masses,” Melaye said in a statement.

“I was a permanent fixture at the All Progressive Congress (APC’s) Presidential campaign rallies and events, functioning mostly as the Master of Ceremonies (MC). I am a proud APC Member, a party bonafide with a great stake in the success or failure of this administration, so no one can accuse me of sour grapes or meddlesomeness.

“As I walk the streets of my constituency these days, I constantly harbor a foreboding that I could be stoned by my angry constituents for the failure of Mr President to fulfill his campaign promises and expectations to Nigerians.

“Nigeria is tottering on a dangerous precipice, sliding perilously to a certain catastrophe if the current economic malaise is not halted immediately.”

The lawmaker further said: “The finance minister has not only displayed gross incompetence on the job, she also lacks the basic and rudimentary grasp of economic fundamentals necessary to run a critical sector of the Nigerian economy like the finance ministry. It is time for her to go now and pave way for a qualified and experienced person to steer the Nigerian economy away from the dark woods it has sunk presently under her stewardship.

“To be sure, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma is a very charismatic man, an accomplished lawyer, and a quintessential gentleman with a fairly untainted reputation. In everyday parlance, he is a good man. But the critical job of budget and national planning minister for a huge country like Nigeria, with her prevailing economic challenges requires much more than being a good man with a great personality.

“As a lawyer, accomplished in this field as he is, Udoma’s appointment to that position is nepotism taken to very ridiculous heights; and a classic case of putting round pegs in square holes-it will, and can never fit. It is akin to saddling a carpenter with a tailor’s responsibility. The outcome under the circumstances, as has become evidently clear, is bound to be catastrophic for the economy. President Buhari must, therefore, do the needful now by relieving Udoma of this huge burden that is constituting a clog to the revival of the Nigerian economy.”

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He accused the CBN governor of “policy flip-flops, summersaults and inconsistencies as clear evidence of gross incompetence in the management of the nation’s fiscal and monetary policies”.

“The net effect of this inconceivable ineptitude on the part of Emefiele is the free fall in the value of the naira and the total loss of faith and confidence by the international community on the Nigerian economy."

dimeji akinloye