Debating Wheelbarrow and Cutlass as Empowerment Tools in Niger Delta.

"The Honourable Minister of State, Labour & Employment and Former Min. of State, Niger-Delta Affairs, Festus Keyamo (SAN) has launched the Special Public Works Programme (774,000) jobs in my own Local Government Area (Uvwie LGA) in Delta State. Festus Keyamo commenced the programme by empowering the Youth with Cutlass and wheelbarrow, promoting agriculture."

Read more at: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2021/01/social-media-reactions-keyamo-launches-774000-jobs-in-grand-style. 

Please, those of you who have access to Mr Keyamo should start contacting him immediately. Delta State is an oil-producing state. To think that distributing Wheelbarrow and Cutlass are the best way to kickstart career empowerment in your community is an unmitigated human error. With this resume, can Festus go to Effurun tomorrow and ask for a vote to go to the Senate? I don't think so. He has to find ways to undo the damage. The first start is to bring into his inner circle,  smart and independent-minded Advisers who will not be afraid to confront him with the truth and what he doesn't want to hear. Wheelbarrow and cutlass are no longer good enough for "Abokis," talkless of the sophisticated Niger Delta folks. Come on, friends!

President Bill Clinton is the most educated and best-prepared American President of our time. He graduated from Georgetown with a Bachelor's degree. Went to Oxford, England as a Rhode Scholar for a two years master's program, before proceeding to Yale Law School for his Law degree. You cannot be smarter than that, not even Brack Obama. With all that visible intellectual prowess, you would have thought that President Bill Clinton would likely emerge an intellectual snob, not all. Of all his kitchen cabinets only George Stephanopoulos graduated from an Ivy League institution - Columbia. All the other guys were just street smart and well-grounded in public policy. And they were never afraid to confront Bill Clinton with the best options in any debate. 

I am publishing this protest piece here because of the respect I have for every one of you as friends and as alumni colleagues. Otherwise, I would have published it on my Facebook page. I love Festus and I want him to succeed. He should go and hire new Advisers as soon as possible. The Federal Government will pay their wages, not him. Is it too much for Festus to go to the Department of Political Science at Uniben, AAU, or DELSU to hire a Lecturer as an Adviser? That's what Northerners do. Festus is a smart lawyer, that's it. He doesn't know much about public policy or political economy. Whatever position he holds next in Delta State will depend substantially on the use he made of this present position for the people of the Niger Delta. As at now, wheelbarrow and cutlass do not cut it.