*Says Okonjo-Iweala, Ezekwesili, Muhtar, Adesina, others should drive economic summitSunday Aborisade in Abuja
The Senator representing Borno South in the National Assembly, Mohammed Ali Ndume, has asked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to sack more ministers who are underperforming to fast-track the implementation of his "Renewed Hope" agenda for the country.
In a statement issued yesterday in Abuja, Ndume described the rejigging of the federal cabinet, and the establishment of the Ministry of Regional Development to oversee all regional commissions in the country as a welcome development.
The lawmaker said: "More needs to be done because some ministers are still missing in action."
Recall that President Tinubu on Wednesday reshuffled his cabinet by sacking six ministers and naming seven others. The president also swapped the portfolios of 10 other ministers.
Ndume, former Chief Whip of the Senate, also called on President Tinubu to convene a national economic summit as part of efforts to proffer home-grown solutions to the economic situation in the country.
The ranking senator urged President Tinubu to convene a national economic conference to be handled by the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning; National Economic Adviser and renowned Nigerian economists as part of efforts to proffer home-grown solutions to the economic situation in the country.
He suggested that former Minister of Finance and Director General of World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; former Minister of Education, Dr Oby Ezekwesili; Dr Mansur Muhtar; President of African Development Bank, Dr Akinwumi Adesina; Aruma Oteh and Tope Fasua, should drive the economic summit.
"This national economic summit should be purely led by these eminent Nigerians, and they will come up with recommendations instead of the IMF and World Bank's prescriptions that are harsh and hard on the ordinary citizens.
"I believe if the recommendations are good, President Tinubu will implement them, and this will help the country in no small ways," Ndume said.
The senator hailed the move by President Tinubu to reduce the cost of governance in the face of economic difficulties and urged other arms of government to do the same.
He particularly commended the de-dollarisation policy and explained that it will strengthen the naira and boost trans-Atlantic trades with other nations of the world that don't depend on the United States dollar.
De-dollarisation is the process by which countries look for alternate methods of conducting international trade and financial transactions and lessen their reliance on the US dollar as the main global reserve currency.
He urged the President to follow it up to a logical conclusion by making Nigeria join BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa).
Ndume said the move would help Nigerian businessmen and women who, for instance, import goods from China to jettison the US dollar and put less pressure on the naira.
The former Senate Chief Whip had recently called on Tinubu to hire the services of military contractors to wipe out Boko Haram terrorists in Borno State.
He hailed the president for equipping the Nigerian Air Force, by purchasing military planes and helicopters to help them in the discharge of their duties.
Ndume said the planes would be used to provide air support for soldiers and other security operatives, leading the ground offensive against insurgents and other terrorists in the country.
He said: "I must commend the president for approving the purchase of military planes to help in the ongoing war against insurgents.
"I'm also urging that we buy more attack helicopters to help in this fight. More troops need to be recruited into the Nigerian Armed Forces and other security agencies.
"In addition to this, the security forces need to be trained, equipped, armed, and motivated," he added.
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The lawmaker, in the statement, hailed President Tinubu for rejigging the federal cabinet and particularly commended the establishment of the Ministry of Regional Development to oversee all regional commissions in the country.
"More needs to be done because some ministers are still missing in action," he added.
Ndume hailed the move by President Tinubu to reduce the cost of governance in the face of economic difficulties and urged other arms of government to do the same.
"We saw what President Tinubu did during the week when he rejigged the Federal Cabinet. It was a masterstroke.
"I'm particularly happy about the establishment of the Regional Development Ministry to oversee and supervise all the various regional development commissions.
"The president also scrapped some ministries he felt were no longer useful and this is a way of reducing the cost of governance, and President Tinubu is demonstrating that through these bold actions," he said.
