Over four months after he was declared winner of this year’s presidential election by the chief returning officer, Professor Mahmoud Yakubu, Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and some two months after he was inaugurated for his second and final term in office, Mr. President has finally submitted the much awaited ministerial list to the senate for confirmation this week. It is coming just three days before the National Assembly’s annual two months vacation scheduled to begin on July 26. Observers had raised concerns about the delay in submitting the list. The concern arose from fears that if the list did not get to the National Assembly this week, then it would have to wait until the lawmakers resume from their yearly vacation on September 26.
Then, there would have been little difference in the time frame between the inauguration of President Mohammadu Buhari’s first and second term cabinets with concomitant negative consequences. Mr. President’s first term ministers were not constituted until November, six months after his swearing-in on May 29, 2015. At that time, the president said that he was taking his time because he wanted to pick the best candidates, but critics pointed out that the kind of people he was searching for abound all over the country, in all regions and that it should not take so long to fish them out wherever they are.
As it turned out, not a few people were disappointed by the final unveiling of the ministerial list after such a long time. Nigerians rated that cabinet as average. What is more, Buhari never rejiged or reconstituted that cabinet as happens in other democracies, for the entire four-year term. Except for the Kogi-born former minister of state of labour who died in a road accident and the former environment minister now deputy United Nations secretary-general – both of whose replacements came several months later – others who left for one reason or the other simply had their portfolios assigned to other ministers. This left the womenfolk short-changed. President Buhari had said during and after his re-election that he would work harder with renewed vigour, commitment and pace in this his second term to take Nigeria to the Promised Land, the next higher level. And Nigerian masses who largely voted for him believed him, for in their opinion he was debarred from fashioning the Nigeria of his dream by some political shenanigans which acted like obstacles and derailed his envisioned dreams for the country. Hence they cast their lot with him, seeing him literally as a ‘victim’ of bourgeoisie hanky panky and believing that this time around, having learnt from his first term mistakes, he would know how best to wriggle himself from the sharks infested political waters to finally deliver real dividends of democracy to the masses.
Although the statistics in terms of inflation rate, external reserves and growth rates are looking good on paper, they have not translated to real increased purchasing power and improved living standards for the average Nigerian. Remarkably, though, President Buhari’s work environment is relatively better now than it was in his last term. For one, he is healthier now; at least he now spends more time in Nigeria than outside its shores, unlike last term when he spent a considerable amount of time on a sick bed abroad. For another, he now has a more compliant legislature with his choice candidates at its helm of affairs. This is unlike previously when the legislature and the executive were more or less at daggers drawn. Nothing best illustrates this new partnership than the fact that re-presented nominees rejected by the last 8th National Assembly are now approved by the current senate in a jiffy.
New Senate President Dr. Ahmad Lawan has promised that the delays associated with passage of national budgets and the attendant disagreements will now be a thing of the past. In fact, he hinted that the senate is exploring dedicating a fixed period to the consideration and passage of the federal budget. Leadership of the National Assembly now meets more regularly with President Buhari under a convivial atmosphere. This is unlike before when they confer with each other only when there is what one may term ‘force majeure’. At such times the gulf between them was unmistakable.
Additionally, the senate had volunteered to defer its annual vacation to enable it screen the ministerial nominees. Disappointingly, the names were not submitted soon after that pronouncement, necessitating the senate to aver that should the list fail to reach it this week, members would proceed with their planned annual holidays.
Now, Mr. President had said that it would not take him so long to assemble his second term ministers that it would happen in a matter of weeks. Indeed, a presidential spokesman gave the impression that the list was ready and that the presidency was only waiting for the principal officers of the senate to be constituted before sending it to them, promising that he would make the names public once the senate got it. The senate leadership itself did say they were expecting to get the list soon after they were through with selection of all their executive officers. However, this did not happen. So, what could have held up the ministerial list to this time? Mr. President himself revealed that he was being pressurised over the list. My guess is that the recent reappointments by President Buhari has altered some permutations. For example, some of those thought to have been pencilled down for the post of Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and others did not get them. Pressure was perhaps being put on the president to take another look at the names, to rejig it in order to balance things up.
In his acceptance speech as winner of the February 23, presidential poll, President Buhari had stated, “We will strive to strengthen our unity and inclusiveness so that no section or group will feel left behind or left out”. However, consider that the six ‘powerful’ positions in the land is spread amongst the six geographical regions thus: number one citizen (Northwest), number two (Southwest), number three, Senate President (Northeast), number four Chief Justice of the Federation (Northeast) number five Speaker, House of Representatives (Southwest), number six SGF (Northeast). Also the chief of staff to the president, yet another powerful position because the holder is like Mr. President’s right hand man, is also from the Northeast. The Southsouth region currently holds the post of deputy senate president. So, the Southeast and Northcentral are out of the power equation for now.
Surely, President Buhari still has a lot of balancing to do in his appointments and he may have to tinker with them again to balance the equation of fair representation, if only to engender national loyalty and unity of purpose.
Ikeano, a journalist, writes from Lafia, Nasarawa state via [email protected] 08033077519
