By Frank Meke
Now that the long-awaited Cabinet Reshuffle has taken place even though, in my opinion, it was not sweeping enough, it is important we go to holding the new appointees and survivalists accountable.
Before I go into the full interogations of the alleged Culture loan obtained by Hannatu Musa Musawa on the ” sidelines of the recently concluded ONGA conference in New York, from Afrixbank , let me once again appreciate Mr President for merging Culture, Tourism and the Creative Economy together.
Having said that, the problem before us in the “new ministry”; is LEADERSHIP, emphasis by me and as we say on the streets, “ehn get why”.
Now, after the president had merged the three tourism enablers, he has not told us who should man the new entity after publicly sacking Lola Ade John who thought that tourism is about the business of family and friends and a photo shoot session.
The other minister in culture, Hannatu Musa Musawa, is uncharacteristically very quiet, and the president and his people are quiet also and did not in any official statement tell us that the attention seeking pretty lady known for banding around strange figures, is still in the saddle and or may hold forth for the merged ministries.
Honestly, I don’t understand the way government do their things, sometimes. If you sack Lola Ade John for non performance, why leave the worst failure in Hannatu Musa Musawa in Culture? Meeen, I don’t gereet it? Hannatu Musa Musawa shouldn’t go into the second half of this president team except if ” ehn get reason’..
That is possibly why I am not excited by the cabinet reshuffle as it has not comprehensively addressed my anxieties and worries on the true future of cultural tourism economy. To leave Hannatu Musa Musawa is incomprehensible, and if I could reanact the then days when those who play ludo with our hands twinkling the game, with expected screaming of OJORO, cheating, we no go gree!
For over one year, Hannatu Musa Musawa has effectively created twenty million Culture jobs in the air. She has insisted without telling us how she is going to generate and inject one hundred billion dollars in our economy through cultural activities in 2030. She is equally dancing around the national theatre, making us aware that she has no creative contributions to its remodelling by the bankers committee. Truth be told, Hannatu Musa Musawa has not laid any solid structure for sector and to prove she is not people centric, the top players in the creative community are not on same page with her mere paper tigerish cultural policy with a little of the staff she inherited from the old share offices, leaving the ministry in droves due to her high handedness.
I won’t bother asking us to go watch for a second time, her television encounter with fire spitting Seun Akinboloye on channel television recently and which I believe nailed her as a Culture dream hawker, a mere television beauty queen!
In my recent piece, before the change of some ministers, titled ” The channel of cultural Reality and Hannatu’s Strings of Dots”, it was also about a minister who failed to provide leadership, but deliberately find joy to regale us with dramatic evasive absurdities in the name of trying to earn marks to merely pass examination.
She lacks passion and dedication. To Hannatu Musa Musawa, making our culture industry work is all about statistics and figurative inanities. How did she pass the examination nau and Ade John failed?
Some mischievous people are alleging and pointing fingers at the vice-president, kassim shettima, a fine gentleman who has been busy touring the world to represent the president at some international assignments for the “hold” on Hannatu’s expected sack
Anyway, I am waiting for the official announcement of who would man the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Creative economy, and until then, I will keep my fingers crossed.
Now, the main issue on my plate of Amala is the culture and creative economy loan which Hannatu Musa Musawa gleefully announced on the Sidelines of ONGA recently.
I didn’t see any pictures of the singing of agreement either in new York or in Egypt where Afrixbank is headquartered.
All I heard and read was that Afreximbank raised funding purse for the Creative Africa Nexus ( CANEX) program from one billion dollars to two billion united states dollars for the next three years.
The statement by the president and chairman, Board of Directors of Afreximbank , Professor Benedict Oramah did not specifically mention how the fund will be executed nation by nation, and was Nigerian loan specially mentioned. so I wonder where Hannatu Musa Musawa got her Afreximbank 200 million dollars for the Nigerian creative economy?
I think government should be more circumspect about any Minister’s signing for any foreign or local loan negotiations or procurement without being guided by relevant financial authorities high up at Central Bank of Nigeria.
Even the so called loan if it was proposed or intended for injection into the Nigerian creative sector, we ask where are key items or projects that the fund would be deployed?
Something tells me the so called loan is just a mere talkshow for Hannatu Musa Musawa who is an adpt to taking advantages 7of photo sessions and the media to project an image of a ” working minister”.
Kai, I have seen through Hannatu Musa Musawa dramatic and acrobatics soap opera timeouts in the past one and I tire! All na wash, just a show by non performer. And I am thinking hard if she is added on certain political reasons, however how she will survive in a full fledged Culture, Tourism and Creative economy
ministry, I just wonder. Ali Ndume, the most
outspoken minister in this government believe more non performing ministers should go. Did I hear say “yes ” . Hannatu Musa Musawa should go, and I won’t fail to continue to remind the president except ehn get why beyond true performance expectations. Auntie fine girl should go just same way Lola Ade John was given a red card. They are two of a kind.