Ben Murray-Bruce To Tinubu: Nigeria Needs More ‘Mad Men’ In Government

Former Bayelsa East Senator, Ben Murray-Bruce, has called on President Bola Tinubu to bring more “mad men” into his administration, saying Nigeria needs bold officials who are willing to confront entrenched interests and deliver results.

Murray-Bruce, who is also the founder of Silverbird Group, in a post on his X handle, said he was making the call as a supporter of the administration who wants the President to succeed, stressing that support should not translate into sycophancy.

He explained that by “mad men”, he meant people who were willing to challenge a broken system, confront powerful interests and reject mediocrity in public service.

According to him, Nigerians need officials who are “crazy enough to confront a broken system, step on powerful toes, offend entrenched interests and refuse to accept mediocrity simply because mediocrity has become normal.”

The former senator cited the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Olayemi Cardoso, as an example of what he described as a “mad man”, saying the apex bank had undergone a serious reset under his leadership.

He also praised the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, saying there was greater seriousness, coordination and strategic direction in the country’s security architecture, despite the security challenges still confronting Nigeria.

Murray-Bruce, however, argued that two such individuals were insufficient for a country of more than 200 million people.

He called for similar tough-minded leadership in the petroleum sector, particularly in the rehabilitation and operation of the Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna refineries.

The former senator said Nigeria could no longer afford to export crude oil while importing refined petroleum products.

He urged the Federal Government to make the rehabilitation and commercially viable operation of the three refineries a “national obsession”, insisting that Nigerians had heard enough explanations about turnaround maintenance, contractors and committees.

“We want products coming out of those refineries,” he said.

Murray-Bruce suggested that where government lacked the capacity to operate the refineries efficiently, it should consider bringing in world-class technical partners, private capital or concessioning the facilities.

He said the objective should be simple: “MAKE THE REFINERIES WORK.”

The former senator pointed to the Dangote Refinery as evidence of what could be achieved in Nigeria, noting its 650,000 barrels-per-day nameplate capacity.

He proposed that the three government-owned refining complexes should target, at minimum, the equivalent of 50 per cent of Dangote Refinery’s nameplate capacity — about 325,000 barrels per day of reliable and commercially viable throughput.

According to him, Nigeria should move beyond meeting domestic petroleum demand and position itself as a major refining hub and exporter of refined petroleum products to other African countries.

On crude oil production, Murray-Bruce challenged the administration to pursue its stated ambition of raising production towards four million barrels per day by 2030.

He urged President Tinubu to “find the mad man who will deliver it”, arguing that production of about 1.5 million barrels per day should not be accepted when the national target is four million barrels daily.

The former senator said the country needed public officials who would treat ambitious national targets as obligations rather than mere aspirations.