The Presidency yesterday reacted to the intense criticisms generated by the age grade of the prospective ministers, urging Nigerians to evaluate the nominees on the basis of their mental alertness, not on age defined by number. It insisted that there is nothing wrong with the average age of the 21 nominees being 53.
The oldest of the pack is Audu Ogbe who is 68 years of age. Six others are in their sixties, eleven are in their fifties while two others are said to be 48 years old.
But speaking in a Channels Television programme monitored by DAILY POST in Abuja, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, argued: “These people who have been nominated are qualified and are Nigerians. Talking of age, there is a saying that “age does not matter. It does not mind, if you don’t mind it.” I don’t think that age is an issue. And talking of age, you should rather talk about mental and chronological age. If you have a chronological age of 30, which makes you a youth, and mental age is not at par, what do we gain? Nothing.
“And you may have a chronological age of 68, which is the age of the oldest of the nominees, if that nominee now has a mental age of 15 or 20, what do we gain? We must rather talk of the mental age rather than the chronological age. It is not the chronological age that matters as long as that person has what he is bringing to the table,” he stated.
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