Shittu says Yorubas got key ministries because of clean record

– Barrister Adebayo Shittu expressed pleasure in the appointment of Yoruba people into key ministries
– The communications minister said the track record of Yorubas fetched them the enviable opportunities
– He promised to use his ministry to push for economic diversification
Barrister Abdur-Raheem Adebayo Shittu, the minister of communications has said that the reasons Yoruba people where accorded huge positions in the cabinet of President Muhammadu Buhari was because they were not corrupt.
The appointment of Babatunde Fashola as the minister of power, works and housing – three ministries in one –, Kemi Adeshina as minister of finance, Isaac Folorunsho Adeoye as minister of health, Kayode Fayemi as minister of solid minerals among other has not gone unnoticed.

In an interview with Vanguard, the communications minister talked about how much he appreciated the appointment of Yorubas by President Buhari into key ministries which he believed was due to the impeccable records the Yoruba people have.
He said: “Our credentials of incorruptibility, great passion, selflessness and dynamism are the selling points. We would do our best to justify the confidence that Mr. President reposed in us. We appreciate the great favour the President has done to us.
“And if you look at the antecedents of all of us, ministers from Yorubaland, you would agree with me that these are people of impeccable character, who have had knowledge update in public life and have the commitment.
“ In any case, Mr. President is the model that everybody has to follow. If he was not confident that we could perform, he wouldn’t have done it the way he did it. So, I believe that we would not disappoint Mr. President and also, largely, we would not disappoint the Nigerian people.”
Shittu said the fall in the price of oil is an eye opener for the country to diversify and that his ministry is geared towards doing that.

“In the past, oil was contributing about 90 per cent of our economy. Unfortunately, price of oil started plummeting at the international market. At the end of it we thought that agriculture would be able to fill the gap. The gestation period for investments in agriculture takes time but the telecommunications, for instance, generally will be the cash-cow if we can encourage a greater participation in it. Therefore, my office as minister of communications provides me with the opportunity that one has to work on, capitalise on and develop so that we would get all the results that we need to further develop Nigeria.