Buhari’s apt warning to ministers

This week, President Muhammadu Buhari swore-in 43 ministers, who would serve as members of the Federal Executive Council (FEC), with a warning to them to desist from all forms of rivalry that could undermine the administration and development of the country.

Specifically, the president said he would not tolerate altercations between ministers and ministers of state, on one hand, and between ministers and permanent secretaries, on the other hand.

“I must emphasize the importance of communication and harmony within our government,” he said. “You must, therefore, work in harmony with your fellow ministers. Communication, vertical and horizontal, can only be ignored at a price.”

But, even more importantly and crucially, as far as nation-building and development are concerned, the president advised his ministers not to allow political or ethnic difference to affect their performance.

He said the country can only make meaningful progress if the ministers and, indeed, Nigerians, collectively commit themselves to addressing the challenges confronting our nation in the best interest of our people and posterity.

Of course, it needs not be said that ethnicity, allegiance to religion and political party, rather than unity and love for Nigeria, have combined to undermine our country’s nation building process.

Thus, when the president said that “we must not allow such issues as political affiliation, sectional interest, and primordial loyalties to blind us against our patriotic obligation to drive our nation’s growth, development, and prosperity in an atmosphere of enduring peace, security and stability,” there’s no doubt he spoke the minds of true lovers of the country.

Nigerians demand progressive minded people, like the president, who must be patriotic and transparent in all their actions to serve as ministers, not those who think about their pockets only. And now, with the inauguration of a new executive council, Nigerians look forward to seeing this government serving the interests of the country and its people in order to deliver good governance to every section of Nigeria.

Still, it must be said that running an all-inclusive government is beyond rhetoric and, thus, it is the expectation of Nigerians that the president will closely monitor the actions of his ministers.

Nigerians expect to be constantly engaged by the president on issues that affect them and their country. After all, no government can lay claim to running inclusive system when some Nigerians are marginalised and treated with disrespect and disdain.

Ideally, other than through the ministers, there should be many communication channels available to the president to engage Nigerians and let them be part of the daily governance of the country. There’s little or no doubt that when citizenry engagement is sincerely carried out and done without mockery or prejudice, the result is amazing as it helps the government build partnership that works with the citizens of the country and leads to overall development and peace.

In the end, the president must bear responsibility for all the actions of his government. Though forced by the constitution to appoint ministers, the president should be totally in-charge of government and government activities and should not watch any of his appointees, whose only interest is pursuit and advancement of their personal goals, over and above that of the public, to last more than a day in the government.

Th present administration must, as a matter of urgency, give priority to education because it is only through education of particularly youths that many ills of the country can be addressed.

In the same manner, the issue of security must also continue to occupy the front burner with the security agencies properly funded. For too long and for no reasons at all, lives were wasted and property destroyed. Things must not continue that way, where killings of human beings become a daily occurrence. Without any doubt, things must change in Nigeria, especially in the security sector for the citizens to live normally.

In a nutshell, with the ministers now in place and the president’s warning sounded clearly into their ears, Nigeria must work effectively for the next four years and it should not be hampered by ministers’ inadequacies and or squabbles.

Timely work on the 2020 budget

The newly sworn-in ministers will start work on the 2020 budget estimates immediately, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr Boss Mustapha, said this week.

Speaking shortly after he was sworn-in by President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House in Abuja, the SGF said the executive arm of government made a commitment to submit the budget proposal to the National Assembly when the lawmakers return from a recess in September.

He told the ministers to work with their permanent secretaries on the budget, taking into cognizance the promise made by the executive to the National Assembly to send the budget immediately the lawmakers return from their recess.

Though budgeting is all about making a blueprint of the overall funds that government will spend on various sectors and the kinds of taxes that would be levied, delay in the country’s budget process has become the norm in recent years, with the delay mostly caused by the disagreements between the executive and legislative arms of government.

Thus, it is crucial that both arms work on improving the schedule of the country’s budget process because the absence of good budget process that is scheduled has many repercussions for the country’s development and government officials will have to struggle hard in developing processes for same.

Among the many repercussions are that if funds for critical projects are not disbursed on time, the tempo of economic activities will be reduced, dragging the economy into a state of inertia and economic decline. Late preparation and passage of the budget is, therefore, a threat to achieving the ERGP targets and to the country’s goal of becoming one of the top 20 economies by 2020.

Capital expenditure such as infrastructural development, construction work and payment of contractors will also be affected. This is, especially, of concern when these funds are meant to be channeled towards sectors that improve the ease of doing business, such as transportation and electricity.

Performance of these sectors is, no doubt, correlated with the success of Nigerian businesses, which are key players in the effort to combat the country’s high unemployment rate. It also affects private sector operators that depend on the budget to plan their activities for each fiscal year.

Undoubtedly, delay in passing the budget slows down activities, with negative economic consequences, in addition to adversely affecting the economy, slow provision of critical infrastructure needed to boost industrial activity negatively affects the country’s ability to export locally made products and, therefore, reduces its revenue and foreign exchange from non-oil exports.

Therefore, the call made by the SGF on the ministers to start work on the 2020 budget could not have come at a better time than now when the lawmakers have opened a new page in their relationship with the executive.

New ministries, new ministers

Along with the swearing-in of new ministers, came the announcement by President Muhammadu Buhari of the creation of three new ministries, namely, Ministry of Police Affairs, Ministry of Special Duties and International Affairs, and the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development.

The president also announced the unbundling of the hitherto Ministry of Power, Works and Housing to form a full-fledged Ministry of Power.

The Ministry of Transportation was also unbundled to create a full-pledged Ministry of Aviation.

The president also announced the merger of Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Budget and National Planning to create a new ministry called Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning.

Still, even with the creation of new ministries and merger of some, the basic functions of hardly change as they will be responsible for the development and implementation of policies, programmes and projects in their ministries, departments and agencies in line with the government objectives.

And, if the administration must succeed, they should work as a team and working as a team demands that each minister knows what the next person is doing. Otherwise, there’ll be no cooperation and the country will suffer lack of development. 

Again, despite the increase in the numbers of ministries and ministers that come and go, the basic functions of government and its responsibilities to citizens remain the same – to protect lives and property and guarantee welfare of the people.

It is, therefore, hoped that it is to these functions that the Buhari-led administration will rededicate itself to. It is equally hoped too that the administration will impress on the new ministers and ministries that they appointed and established, respectively, to serve the interests of the people and the country, not selfish interests of few priviledged individuals or groups.

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