With Uche Nnadozie
I don’t know if President Muhammadu Buhari cooks at all. You know he began quite early as a public servant rising to the position of military Head of State in his 40s. Prior to that time he had been everything- minister, governor, Divisional Army commander, among several others. Now he is president, I doubt if this president has time or create time to be in the kitchen. The kind of thing he eats too will determine the kind of pot they use in preparing it. Let me remind or in another case expose Mr. President to the new kind of pot used in preparing tough meals in a few minutes. It is also used to cook tough meat or bone and stuff like that. It is the pressure cooker. The president claims to be under tremendous pressure to announce his ministers, yet he takes his time. Then he needs a pressure cooker because that sort of cooking cracks any food put in it.
Ladies and gentlemen it is four months, two weeks and four days since the president was voted back into power at the highest level. I have seen people who say there is no big deal about the non appointment of ministers, however I defer. If I condoned the delay four years ago for various reasons, these reasons are no longer tenable. Long before the Election Day in February, President Buhari should have began to contemplate how he is going to run his government should he win the then coming election. Part of the contemplation will naturally include the personnel, speed, outlook, general optics, deliverables and timelines. Unfortunately it doesn’t appear he gave those a thought.
The president behaves as if he has all the time in the world. He behaves like four years is 100 years and it has began to give me bumps. Knowing that the executive is not the only arm of government available and knowing the interdependence of these arms in carrying out functions for the better governance of Nigeria, then the plan from the executive should be seamless. I am afraid to say for now it is not.
If the president cannot even as quickly as possible appoint his own ministers, how then is he going to deal with or find resolution to the myriad of problems bedeviling the country? Some of these problems are supposed to be addressed by his ministers and other officials. So when the president told the leadership of the National Assembly who paid him a visit over a dinner, the last thing I expected to hear was that he was under pressure to name his ministers: “Many at this dinner meeting are saying they want to see the list of the proposed cabinet so that they can go on leave peacefully.” He went on to add “I’m very much aware about it; I’m under tremendous pressure on it. But the last cabinet which I headed, most of them, the majority of them, I don’t know them.” Concluding his remark later, the president added the clincher: “But this time around I’m going to be quite me-me in the sense that I will pick people I personally know.” And I know that the president already know some of his former ministers especially those that will be back to the cabinet. Why not then just appoint those ones while searching for others?
I am not the president, I concede that. He sees more than me and as such should be able to make better decisions. But decisions should be fast and concise. If the president has determined to appoint only those he knows personally which will be difficult by the way, and then he should have made the job easier for himself since May 29 after his inauguration. First he should have announced the reappointment of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief of Staff to the president and vice president and several other aides which he just recently appointed. The president should have sent the names of his Special Advisers a week before handover. He should equally have sent the names of the returning ministers including the Finance Minister and Attorney General nominees to the Senate. By now what he will be doing is to of course get names from party members and leaders plus other pressure groups in order to give them a sense of belonging.
However, the government would have been running at least 60 percent throttle. Not the 10 percent it is presently running.
Finance, Trade and Investment, Power, Education, Agriculture, Foreign Affairs, Budget and Planning, Internal Affairs, Petroleum and Health ministers should have been appointed by now. They should have been at work from inception. The same way the Chief Economic Adviser should be at work. These officials should have unveiled their vision and timelines by now so that we can hold them accountable going forward.
Sometimes how things start determine how the journey will be. If we started with some measure of urgency we may end up with some active members of the cabinet. But when everything is laid back, such attitude may be pervasive going forward. The president’s statement of knowing people personally therefore is a cheeky way to buy more time since the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan had hinted the list of ministers will reach the senate during the week. It did not, now Lawan has been forced to eat his words. Being under pressure as the president has said does not show in his conduct. A pressure cooker is meant to quicken cooking. This president is under pressure yet as slow as a snail.
