Energy expert and president of DDK Business Strategy Limited, Dr Dan Kunle has said President Bola Ahmed Tinubu should look beyond political party lines to assemble a formidable rescue team for the country.
Kunle, who stressed the need for urgency in setting up the team, added that there are many competent Nigerians, cut across party lines, who are willing to serve in Tinubu’s administration.
He also said the president needs former Kaduna State governor and ministerial nominee Malam Nasir El-Rufai in his cabinet because of his wealth of experience and expertise in the energy sector.
Kunle, who described the pending confirmation of El-Rufai by the Senate over a security report as dramatic, said the former Kaduna State governor is one of the best public officers that Nigeria has produced since 1999.
The energy expert, who stated this when he featured as a guest on LEADERSHIP TV programme in Abuja yesterday, added that the president needs to urgently set up a rescue team.
He added that Tinubu and Shettima have the responsibility of recruiting the best brains in their cabinet and also build a robust economic management team which the country urgently needs.
Kunle said, “We have just reached a point in the last eight years that we just need a team, a rescue team. So, with regards to the candidature of Mallam El-Rufai, yes there might be people who like him or who do not like him. But the focus of this government should be how do we build a rescue team and in this regard Mallam El-Rufai has gone to the Senate but the security report may have put some question marks which can still be cleared at an appropriate time. But I want Mr President to know that as from today starting from 1999 to date this is one of the best public officers Nigeria ever produced.
“Former President Olusegun Obasanjo and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar brought Malam El-Rufai into their government in 1999 and nobody can fault the performance of Malam El-Rufai. So, we must not throw the baby with the birth water.
“So, the president and his vice president need Mallam El-Rufai. I’m not saying that he is a person that is indispensable in the country. There are stars like him that we need to assemble. And I know stars like him that are volunteering and saying we are ready to join the rescue team. Like me, people like Mustapha Chike-Obi, Dr Goke Adegoroye. I can mention 20 Nigerians that are ready to join the government team not on the party line.
“But to say El-Rufai should not be part of this team will be very bad. I’m beginning to think that a few of us, if they give us the chance, should go and see President Tinubu, to tell him that we have the following reasons why you should allow Mallam El-Rufai to be part of this rescue team. This is part of the reason why it is important that the rescue team must be put together,” Kunle added.
The energy expert disclosed that many people contributed significantly to reforms in the sector but added that because of changes in the sector which occur every four years, good ingredients of the reform have been eroded over time.
“I expect Asiwaju to reassemble people of different backgrounds with his new team to rebuild a robust power sector reform.”
Noting that El-Rufai was a major part of the energy reform, Kunle added that he has courage and inside knowledge of the sector to put it in good stead.
He recalled that all the jobs done between 2000 to 2007 were slowed down between 2007 and 2010 because of the situation of late President Umar Musa Yar’Adua and the way the energy sector was managed at the time.
Kunle, who said he was in the ministry of energy at the time, blamed the over politicization of some decisions on power and gas for the stagnation of reforms in the sector at the time.
He recalled that while former president Goodluck Jonathan revisited the reform they didn’t privatize the gas production and supply component which didn’t allow for the full kick off of the reform.
He lamented however that since 2015 till date the government has not done anything in the power sector.
“Even if they have done, we have not seen any result. In fact the situation went further bad,” he added.
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