Dr. Philips Nto, who is the Director-General of the Agribusiness Incubation Centre at Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, and a consultant for the World Bank, provided insightful perspectives on Nigeria’s economy, electricity subsidy, insecurity, student loans, and an evaluation of the APC government led by President Bola Tinubu in a report that was published not too long ago by The Sun….CONTINUE READING
Dr. Nto, when asked about the stagnation of Nigeria’s economy despite the measures employed by President Tinubu’s government, ascribed the perceived failure to the administration’s tendency to favour those who were related to them. He emphasised that tribalism and nepotism have been obstacles in the way of the recruitment of competent individuals to critical posts, which has led to the placement of individuals based on nepotistic factors rather than merit.
Dr. Nto made the observation that a transformative leader who is capable of revitalising the economy would have a broad-minded attitude, putting competence ahead of nationality or regional origin whenever possible. He brought attention to the practice that is prevalent in developed nations such as Canada, the United States of America, and the United Kingdom, where Nigerians are employed in essential fields on the basis of merit rather than nepotistic reasons.
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In order to further emphasise the influence that nepotism has on government, Dr. Nto mentioned the rapid removal of Betta Edu from her position as Minister of Humanitarian Affairs as an illustration of a situation in which merit, rather than nepotism, appeared to be the controlling criterion. As a contrast to this, he pointed out that the president appears to be reluctant to remove underperforming officials from critical posts due to the fact that they are affiliated with a particular region.
In his words: “The president can not have the political will to sack CBN Governor or Hon Minister of Finance that is not performing. Can you imagine how Betta Edu was quickly suspended as minister for Humanitarian Affairs because the appointment was not based on nepotism?