A United States-based lawyer and chartered accountant, Chief Owolabi Salis, has tasked President Bola Tinubu on the need to ensure fairness and equity in his appointments. He said this in a statement issued from his New York, United States base, against the backdrop of criticisms trailing the President’s appointments into key positions. According to him, appointments ordinarily should be an avenue to engineer national unity and cohesion.
Salis, who is also an expert in diversity management, noted that the new administration should avoid steps that could further divide the polity in view of the current challenges facing the nation. The US-based lawyer recalled the polarisation of the country along religious and ethnic lines during the last general elections.
Salis said, “As a diversity expert and somebody with a deep knowledge of Nigerian politics, one would have expected that anything that could further divide our people would have been avoided from day one.
“For a character like Tinubu and his party, the APC, they could have done better, going by the repertoire of experiences.
“Moreover, Yorubas are for equity. Yorubas are known to harmonise diverse interests and bring everyone together; that’s Yoruba spirituality.
“The truth is that despite our differences, we are one and the same as far as the Nigerian project is concerned.
“Appointments into offices, therefore, should reflect our diversity as it remains a potent tool that can either make or mar our journey towards nationhood.
“This is why I am particularly concerned about issues so far raised against appointments into offices, especially our financial architecture under the current administration.
“The truth is that good diversity management engenders national unity, and luckily, Nigeria parades quality people from every geo-political zone of the country; hence, any good leader should be able to harness such for national development.
“Thankfully, opportunity still beckons to right the perceived wrongs as President Tinubu can still redeem his image before his critics, who are no doubt right by insisting that the right thing be done.
“No doubt, one of the things that worked for him in the last elections is his perceived pan-Nigeria posture; it is, therefore, incumbent upon him to prove his critics wrong and that he is President of all Nigerians and not of any ethnic stock.”
