The Goodluck Transformation Monitoring Group says they have no faith in the two ministers and they should go without further delay as the two ministers have failed to live up to expectations.
An activist group calling itself the Goodluck Transformation Monitoring group has added its voice to the growing calls for President Goodluck Jonathan to as a matter of urgency, sack the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Allison-Madueke and her counterpart in the Niger Delta Affairs Ministry, Godsday Orubebe for non-performance and highhandedness.
“As the group that monitors the transformation agenda of Mr. President to ensure that what he promised Nigerians are translated into reality by government functionaries, we will not stop to pinpoint the bad eggs in the government for appropriate sanctions by Mr. President. We will therefore continue to expose any member of the cabinet whose action or inactions are capable of dragging the name of the administration of Goodluck Jonathan in the mud and slow the development of Nigeria,” noted the group in a press statement issued Monday.
The statement issued in Abuja by the group’s chairman, Moses Siloko Siasia, accused both ministers of poor performance in office and particularly said they have failed to improve the lives of the people of the Niger Delta which they represent.” We the members of the Goodluck Transformation Monitoring Group have watched with dismay the poor performance of two of the ministers from the Niger Delta Region- Diezani Alison-Madueke and Godsday Orubebe, who hail from the same zone with Mr. President. We are sad that since their appointment as ministers since 2010, the two ministers have failed to adequately assist Mr. President in accelerating the Transformation Agenda, thereby bringing undue negative publicity to the president and his government and by extension the people of Niger Delta in particular and Nigeria in general,” the statement read in part.
Siasa further observed that the ministers are not in touch with the Niger Delta people noting that they are more concerned with serving their personal and political interests. He was of the view that President Jonathan has genuine intentions for the Niger Delta region, but regretted that Alison-Madueke and Orubebe, both from the region are bent on frustrating the peace currently enjoyed in the region. He noted that Niger Delta militants reached some agreements with the federal government before they laid down their arms, adding that the ministers are not doing enough to sustain the agreements.
Specifically, the group faulted Allison-Madueke for failing to instill sanity and transparency in the petroleum sector, saying; “she has shown complete ineptitude and visionlessness in transforming the Nigerian oil and gas industry since she was appointed minister… The Petroleum Minister has shown complete ineptitude and visionlessness in transforming the Nigerian oil and gas industry since she was appointed minister. It is worrisome that under her close watch, the level of corruption in the oil industry has reached an unprecedented alarming proportion, as evidence in the monumental looting of about N2 trillion of the oil money under a scandalous subsidy scheme, which has further exposed Nigeria and Nigerians to international opium.”
The group also took Orubebe to task saying he is clueless and visionless on how to tackle the daunting challenges facing the Niger Delta region. “Most shameful and disappointing of Orubebe is that he lacks ideas and innovations capable of attracting investments into the region, which has suffered decades of monumental decay and deprivation. By his failure to creatively meet the yearnings and aspirations of the Niger Delta, the purpose of creating that Ministry has been defeated and the opportunity to redeem the region gradually lost by the government.
What is equally baffling is Orubebe’s misplaced priority in abandoning his assigned role as a minister and engaging in the frivolity of undue politicking by attacking a governor whose duties do not in any way conflict with those of the minister of Niger Delta, thereby bringing Mr. President, who is hails from the troubled region, to ridicule.” (See full text of press release below)
(Press Release) – We the members of the Goodluck Transformation Monitoring Group have watched with dismay the poor performance of two of the ministers from the Niger Delta Region- Diezani Alison-Madueke and Godsday Orubebe, who hail from the same zone with Mr. President. We are sad that since their appointment as ministers since 2010, the two ministers have failed to adequately assist Mr. President in accelerating the Transformation Agenda, thereby bringing undue negative publicity to the president and his government and by extension the people of Niger Delta in particular and Nigeria in general.
We are uncomfortable with the presence of the two ministers in the cabinet of Mr. President for their obvious failure to add even marginal value to the administration and the wellbeing of Nigerians thereby adding to the hardship of the people of the country. We are therefore calling for the immediate sack of the two ministers for the following reasons:
Diezani
The Petroleum Minister has shown complete ineptitude and visionlessness in transforming the Nigerian oil and gas industry since she was appointed minister. It is worrisome that under her close watch, the level of corruption in the oil industry has reached an unprecedented alarming proportion, as evidence in the monumental looting of about N2 trillion of the oil money under a scandalous subsidy scheme, which has further exposed Nigeria and Nigerians to international opium.
We are at a loss as to how an oil industry official like Diezani has not been able to instill sanity in the oil industry till date. It is painful that under her supervision, Nigeria is still unable to know the exact quantity of oil pumped, sold and what amount is generated. Sadly too, the minister has proved to Nigerians that she does not know what quantity of PMS Nigeria imports daily and what the country is paying for. The unmitigated fraud in the system, which the minister pretends not to know is what led to the federal government spending about N2 trillion last year out of the N245 billion budgeted by the government.
Keeping a minister like Diezani at the helm of the oil industry would not only lead to more losses for the nation but would also create a class for a few rich while the majority of Nigerians die in poverty and squalor.
Godsday Orubebe, who has been Minister of Niger Delta since 2009 should also be shoved aside with immediate effect because he has shown clearly that he lacks the capacity and the commitment to bring about the development of the region. It is on record that minister Orubebe has woefully failed to complete any single project in the last three years of his ministerial outing, the most shameful and disastrous being the scandalous East-West Road, which is now a source of deaths and sorrow to the people of Nigeria.
It is said that as an indigene of the region, who should show sympathy and empathy with the suffering of the people, Orubebe has taken interest in satisfying personal interest than meet the needs of the people of the Niger Delta region and Nigeria.
Most shameful and disappointing of Orubebe is that he lacks ideas and innovations capable of attracting investments into the region, which has suffered decades of monumental decay and deprivation. By his failure to creatively meet the yearnings and aspirations of the Niger Delta, the purpose of creating that Ministry has been defeated and the opportunity to redeem the region gradually lost by the government.
What is equally baffling is Orubebe’s misplaced priority in abandoning his assigned role as a minister and engaging in the frivolity of undue politicking by attacking a governor whose duties do not in any way conflict with those of the minister of Niger Delta, thereby bringing Mr. President, who is hails from the troubled region, to ridicule.
We are aware that the nine Skills Development Centres designed by the Ministry, the state offices, land reclamation projects and the some housing projects spread in the nine Niger Delta states have remained as white elephant projects under minister Orubebe and he has failed to complete any of these projects despite the yearly appropriation of money to them.
It is on the basis of these reasons that we call on Mr. President to urgently remove ministers Diezani and Orubebe from the cabinet and replace them with people who have the capacity to perform and do so honestly and transparency so as to save the image of Mr. President and Nigeria. We have no faith in the two ministers and they should go without further delay.
As the group that monitors the transformation agenda of Mr. President to ensure that what he promised Nigerians are translated into reality by government functionaries, we will not stop to pinpoint the bad eggs in the government for appropriate sanctions by Mr. President.
We will therefore continue to expose any member of the cabinet whose action or inactions are capable of dragging the name of the administration of Goodluck Jonathan in the mud and slow the development of Nigeria.
Moses Siloko Siasia
Chairman
Goodluck Transformational Monitoring Group
PLOT 3379B Mungo Park Close,
Off Jesse Jackson Street,
Asokoro Extension, Abuja
