Task before Buhari’s cabinet

All is now set for the swearing-in of the 36 ministers confirmed by the Nigerian senate, following conclusion of a two-day retreat organized for them at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. The recent retreat was important in that it would avoid their working at cross purposes or making contradictory statements, among others. Of particular note is […]

All is now set for the swearing-in of the 36 ministers confirmed by the Nigerian senate, following conclusion of a two-day retreat organized for them at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. The recent retreat was important in that it would avoid their working at cross purposes or making contradictory statements, among others. Of particular note is Mr. President’s charge to the in-coming ministers to work as a team. This is quite apt given recent events. For example, on the heels of Chief Olu Falae’s kidnap and release,  both the Police and Department of State Security a.k.a. SSS, paraded two sets of suspects. Again, only recently, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) countered the statements of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN) on Stanbic IBTC bank. 
Figuratively speaking, inauguration of Ministers marks official take off of the Buhari administration. And this is coming over five months after President Muhammadu Buhari and his vice, Professor Yemi Osinbajo were sworn into office on May, 29. What a wait.
 Proponents of Buhari had excused his slow pace with the argument that being a totally new government, taking over from a party that had been at Aso Villa for 16 consecutive years, the new president had to thoroughly examine and analyse what was on ground; more so now when as a ‘converted democrat’ things had changed drastically from when he was Head of State some 30 years ago. They further argued that the APC being an amalgamation of different parties, Buhari needed some time to study his relatively new party members to be able to know who can fit into what. 
Buhari’s own reason for his slow but “steady” pace was that the transition committee submitted its report only a few days to his inauguration and he needed to compare their report to what was on ground. Hence his debriefing of permanent secretaries and heads of various agencies and parastatals.
The president had from the onset and apparently taking all these into consideration, given September as date for submission of ministerial list to the Senate for confirmation. He did keep to his promise, handing in the first batch of nominees on the last day of September; the remaining 15 nominees arrived in quick succession a few days later. Most well meaning Nigerians had thought that it would take the senate only a few days to confirm the nominees to enable real governance take off in October. This was not to be as it took our senators four weeks, 28 days to approve the list, the last set of approvals was done on October 29. This added to the delay in cabinet inauguration.
And here we are, they are being inaugurated not in September or October, but five months after this administration assumed office. Thus it is nearly six months after, which is almost half of a year. It goes without saying that the ministers have to hit the ground running, to cover lost grounds especially given Nigerians’ high expectations on this government, not least on the economic front. I do not remember this administration sending any supplementary budget to the National Assembly to cover the period, June 2015 to December, 2015. And it could not have been implementing the last administration’s 2015 budget, not when falling oil prices had put a spanner into its projections.
 As it stands, no new infrastructural projects have been executed in the last five months. Yet, 2015 is drawing to a close and there is no public talk of the 2016 budget. Vice president Osinbajo who had been overseeing economic matters may have, together with permanent secretaries, been working silently on next year’s budget. Nonetheless, this administration needs the full complement of the cabinet to breathe oxygen into it. Ideally, a budget for the coming year (Appropriation Bill) should be forwarded to the National Assembly three months before end of the current year so that it can be passed into law by January of the following year. As it is, it is doubtful if 2016 Appropriation Bill will be assented to by March, 2016 because its submission is already late.
 Our country is currently experiencing challenges in the economic sector occasioned by continuous drop in international oil prices (our major foreign exchange earner). Oil prices have dropped drastically by 60 per cent, from the about 100 dollars per dollar in 2014 to some 40 dollars per barrel currently. The result is that there is less and less money for all tiers of government. Consider: amount shared amongst federal, state and local governments at the monthly Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting dropped progressively from N409 billion in June to N412 billion in September and N398 billion in October. Compare this to the corresponding period last year when nearly N600 billion was shared in October 2014. To put things in perspective, consider lamentation of a governor who reportedly said his state got N1.2 billion “whereas my monthly wage bill is N2.6 billion”. Inflation rate is put at 9.4 per cent now while foreign reserves are down to a three month low at $30.13 billion.
Only recently, in India, Buhari confirmed what was being whispered since the last quarter of 2013 but which the last administration denied. He said that our country is broke. He hinted that that was the reason why no capital projects were undertaken these past months and also delay in appointment of ministers. According to him, Nigeria was “materially and morally vandalized”. President Buhari further hinted that some ministers may just be cabinet members without portfolio in the proposed pruning down of MDAs, to cut cost. How he can make a minister just a sitting cabinet member without courting displeasure of the politician and the state he/she represents remains to be seen.
The task cum challenge before the new cabinet is, to deliver the most dividends with the least resources as well as restore order, discipline into governance. This requires that they be committed to true service with no room for looting, misappropriation or misapplication of funds. And of course, they should lead by example. After all, the ruling party’s slogan is “change”, which means that things should be done differently. Will they make a difference? We are watching.
Ikeano can be reached on [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> +2348033077519