Daily Independent (Lagos)
Otei Oham and Festus Owete
13 January 2009
Abuja — At last Foreign Affairs Minister, Ojo Maduekwe, on Monday appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs to defend this year's propposed budgetary allocations to the ministry.
Twice, Maduekwe had turned down the committee's invitation and merely sent in a representative on one occasion.
He tried to douse the tension created by his non-appearance before the House of Representatives last week.
The minister had incurred the wrath of members who berated him for dishonouring the House's invitation.
When he eventually turned up, Maduekwe engaged committee members in sweet talks, and begged that they sheathe their sword over his failure to honour previous invitation to defend the 2009 budget.
He said he was preoccupied by national assignment, adding that as a former member of the House, he had no reason to disregard any invitation to appear before it.
He told the members that he accompanied President Umaru Yar'Adua to Ghana for the inauguration of that country's new president.
Members of the committee, who had vowed to drill the minister, accepted his plea and gave him the floor to defend the budget.
Maduekwe decried what he described as the debilitating effects an over-bloated workforce he inherited was having on his ability to effectively deliver on the foreign policy thrust of the nation.
The recruitment pattern in the past, according to him, was faulty as unofficial windows were opened to bring in people who had nothing to offer with foreign affairs into the ministry.
"It is an over bloated ministry for a start; there are problems when you bring in people into the civil service through patronage and through all kinds of networks, influence peddling.
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