Nigeria Needs More ‘Mad Men’ in Government, Murray-Bruce Tells Tinubu

By Jeremy Fregene

Former Senator Ben Murray-Bruce has urged President Bola Tinubu to inject more “mad men” into his administration, saying Nigeria needs fearless, results-driven officials prepared to confront entrenched interests, dismantle inefficient systems, and deliver measurable results.

Murray-Bruce, a businessman and former People’s Democratic Party governorship aspirant, made the call in an open letter to the President published on his X account on Wednesday.

He clarified that his reference to “mad men” was not literal but a description of unconventional men and women willing to challenge powerful interests, reject mediocrity, and take political and institutional risks to get results.

“Mr President, I write this as a supporter of your administration and as a Nigerian who wants you to succeed. But support must never become sycophancy,” Murray-Bruce said.

“Sometimes, the greatest service a supporter can render is to tell the President what others around him may be too comfortable, or too frightened, to say. Mr President, Nigeria needs more mad men in your government.”

He said Nigeria’s problems had become too deep-rooted to be addressed by officials who merely administer existing structures without challenging the failures embedded in them.

“I mean men and women 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,” he said.

Murray-Bruce identified Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Olayemi Cardoso and National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu as two officials he believed had demonstrated the qualities required.

He argued that regardless of disagreements over some CBN policies, Cardoso had brought discipline and credibility back to monetary policymaking.

“Look at the Central Bank under Olayemi Cardoso. Whatever disagreements anybody may have with individual policies, there is no question that the institution has undergone a serious reset. Discipline and credibility have returned to monetary policymaking. That is one mad man,” he said.

He also praised Ribadu’s management of the national security architecture, acknowledging that Nigeria continued to face serious security challenges but arguing that the NSA had brought greater coordination, strategic direction, and seriousness to the country’s response.

“That is another mad man,” he said.

Murray-Bruce, however, argued that two such officials were inadequate for a country of more than 200 million people, urging Tinubu to identify more aggressive reformers, particularly for the petroleum industry.

He called for officials who would make the rehabilitation and commercially viable operation of the Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna refineries an overriding national priority.

“Mr President, make the rehabilitation and commercially viable operation of the Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna refineries a national obsession. And please, no more excuses,” he said.

“Nigerians have heard enough explanations about turnaround maintenance, contractors, technical reviews, committees, timelines, and billions spent. We want products coming out of those refineries. Whatever model is chosen, the objective must be brutally simple: Make the refineries work.”

Murray-Bruce pointed to the 650,000-barrel-per-day Dangote Refinery as evidence of the scale of refining capacity that could be established in Nigeria.

He proposed that the three government-owned refineries should initially be made to achieve a combined reliable and commercially viable throughput equivalent to at least half of the Dangote refinery’s nameplate capacity.

“That is about 325,000 barrels per day of reliable, commercially viable throughput. Then push beyond it,” he said.

According to the former senator, Nigeria should ultimately move beyond merely satisfying domestic demand for petroleum products and position itself as a major refining centre capable of exporting fuel across Africa and to the wider international market.

Murray-Bruce also challenged the administration to dramatically raise crude oil production, urging Tinubu to find an official prepared to treat the country’s current output level as unacceptable and aggressively pursue the government’s target of four million barrels per day by 2030.

“Mr President, find the mad man who will deliver it. Find somebody who considers 1.5 million barrels unacceptable when the national ambition is 4 million,” he said.

“I don’t want another committee chairman. I want a mad man. I don’t want somebody who will spend four years explaining why something cannot be done. I want somebody crazy enough to do it.”

He said the ultimate targets should be clear: “Four million barrels per day. Working refineries. A Nigeria that refines its own crude and exports petroleum products to the world.”

Murray-Bruce also urged Tinubu to impose stricter performance benchmarks on ministers, regulators, agency heads and other presidential appointees responsible for critical sectors of the economy, arguing that government officials should increasingly be judged by measurable outcomes rather than promises, processes and explanations.