Ministerial appointments
ABUJA—Former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Professor Charles Soludo, and former Governor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi, were yesterday sighted at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, filling visitors’ forms on their way to the office of Alhaji Abba Kyari, Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari.
Soludo entered the Chief of Staff’s office around 5:30p.m., followed by Fayemi about 30 minutes later.
They were visiting the Villa when expectations were high that President Buhari would soon make his ministerial list public.
It will recalled that the President had repeatedly assured Nigerians that he will form his cabinet before the end of this month.
Soludo, who was the CBN governor during the administrations of Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and late Umar Yar’Adua, was critical of the immediate past government of former President, Goodluck Jonathan, on the financial management and the handling of the economy, which he said was brutally raped.
Fayemi was the Director of Policy, Research and Strategy in All Progressives Congress, APC, presidential campaign organization.
I’m not available for
public service—SOLUDO
Many believed that Soludo’s critical outbursts on the eve of the presidential election in March helped to sway sympathy and votes for President Buhari even as the former CBN governor, in an interview with an online media, Premium Times, on June 7, said he was not prepared to work for the government, saying he was preoccupied with other engagements
He had said: “Nigerians and their rumours! I am glad you said they are rumours and such rumours are normal.
“For sure, I wish the new government success and for the sake of Nigeria, everyone must contribute to assist President Buhari succeed.
“I will contribute in whatever way I can. However, everyone cannot sit in government in order to serve: some will be there on full time basis, while others can contribute from outside.
“For me at this point in time, I am not disposed or available for full time public service. Perhaps in the future it could happen, but not now.
‘My hands are full’
“For now, my hands are full with several other experiments I am involved with (especially abroad) in the private sector, charity, think-tanks, and the international community.
“I am part of a major initiative in Africa’s mining and solid minerals sector, and this takes me through several African countries, among other engagements.
“I am having great fun exploring totally new vistas of opportunity that are central to Africa’s great leap in the 21st century.
“I read that President Buhari will give priority to solid minerals. We can provide free advisory services and perhaps assist to mobilize investment in the sector or in any other areas if our advice is needed.
“In effect, there are several ways we can assist the government to succeed but not necessarily to take up full time appointment. No, not now,” he was quoted as saying in the interview.
Meanwhile, it was not known whether both men later met with President Buhari as they waited for the Chief of Staff, who was in the President’s office when they arrived the State House.
