Nigeria’s president-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu says that competency and character will be paramount factors in determining who make it to his cabinet.
He made the declaration on Thursday in a statement he personally signed entitled, “Nigeria At the Edge of Renewed Hope”.
He declared that it was time for politics to give way for governance and noted that only those who share his vision of good governance would make his blueprint for the nation workable.
He said: “As your incoming president, I accept the task before me. There has been talk of a government of national harmony. My intention is advanced than that. I seek a government of national competency. In choosing my government, I shall not be weighed down by considerations alien to ability and performance.
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“The day for political trickery is long gone. I shall assemble competent men and women and young people from across Nigeria to build a safer, more prosperous and just Nigeria. There shall be young people. Women shall be prominent. Whether your faith leads you to pray in a church or mosque won’t determine your place in government. Character and competency will.
“To secure our nation and to make it prosperous must be our top precedence. We cannot sacrifice these objectives for political expediencies. The freaks of politics must take a backseat to the imperatives of governance.
“We’ve bridges and roads to build not just for commerce and travel but to connect people of different faiths, parties and different outlooks in harmonious dialogue and common purpose. We’ve families to feed not just to exclude hunger but to nurture enlightenment, communal responsibility and compassion.
“We’ve jobs to create not simply to put people to work but to afford a better standard of living by which families and communities are enhanced and democracy strengthened. We’ve water to replenish not just to quench physical thirst but to kindle a thirst for creative and better solutions to society’s challenges.
“We’ve a nation to protect similar that we exclude trouble and even the fear of trouble. May all of our people be suitable to live their lives in the light of peace and the light of broadening prosperity.”
Tinubu restated his oath to run an “economy of double-number GDP growth, greater food security and one with a strengthened manufacturing base as well as an active digital economy where young people will have ample space to fulfill their dreams and aspirations.