IN November 2015, while inaugurating members of his cabinet on assuming office, President Muhammadu Buhari set a goal to be achieved under four years. He unveiled what amounted to a template with which Nigerians should assess his administration. The benchmark was unambiguous as the president said each of the 36 ministers should be prepared to key into his vision to herald a new order. Therefore, President Buhari said the score sheet of his administration by May 29, 2019 must convince the electorate that the mandate given to the All Progressives Congress-led administration was not misplaced. “Today we have reached another milestone in the evolution of our new government which Nigerians overwhelmingly voted into office in the March 28, 2015 general election. Today, we witness the swearing-in of new ministers of the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” he had enthused.
The president went further by expressing the hope that the ministers would be on the same page with him and his deputy, Professor Yem Osinabjo by laying their hands on the plough without looking back. It was for the reason, coupled with his desire to avoid certain pitfalls of the past that caused the delay in constituting the cabinet. His words: “I have been mindful of the need to constitute a cabinet that will best deliver our expectations of a better country than we inherited. We want to work towards a prosperous nation respected for the right reasons, and whose citizens can hold up their heads anywhere in the world. And we are optimistic that bringing this set of ministers into the service of our country today is a step in the right direction, a timely move towards realizing our positive goals for our country.”
With those explanations as background, the president went into specifics concerning his three-pronged road map he premised his electioneering. The agenda included war on corruption, fight against insecurity, revamping and diversifying the economy. He elaborated that his overall goal was to achieve self-sufficiency in food production, robust economy based on diversification and moral rearmament. The cardinal objective, according to him, necessitated his decision to form an all-inclusive cabinet comprising those individuals that properly fit into his agenda. “Since we assumed office in May, I have been mindful of the need to ensure that the appointment of new ministers translates into putting round pegs in round holes while showing sensitivity to our diversity as a people and our various positions as groups of stakeholders in our country. I have also been conscious of the need not to repeat such mistakes of the past where the right people were allocated the wrong portfolios, which translated into their performing poorly to our collective detriment despite their obvious capabilities,” President Buhari emphasised. Consequently, he declared that the pruned number of members of the cabinet was ostensibly based on his mission, with a promise that “overall, our economy is poised for sustained job creation, poverty reduction and inclusive growth.”
Nigerians should also recall that the president noted the place of public trust and confidence in government and that he was determined to consolidate on the trust that was slowly but steadily being built between his government and the people after he assumed office in May 2015. A highly elated president had said: “Now, when the government speaks, the people listen; and when the people’s expectations are not met, they appreciate that it is not for lack of commitment or trying on the part of government. In effect, government business is now being conducted with transparency and cynicism is waning as a result.”
It is debatable if such scenario still exists today. Nigerians can tell the story better on the impact of the administration on their individual and collective lives at the end of the first stanza of the Buhari government on May 2019 and the beginning of the second phase of another four years. The people can speak on the extent the appointment of the immediate past ministers translated “into putting round pegs in round holes.” The people can tell if the ministers indeed deployed their expertise and experience to bring about the paradigm shift or otherwise as envisioned and enunciated by President Buhari while inaugurating his last cabinet four years ago. The score card of the individual ministers, especially on the interventions of the government, superintended by the ministers in critical sectors speak loudly about the success or otherwise of those initiatives. Issues concerning the security of lives and properties, energy, food security, unemployment and general empowerment of the citizenry are everything but curious. The scorecards of a number of them is seemingly at variance with the promise of President Buhari in his speech when he inaugurated the last ministers. He had said: “While working hard to maximise revenue from oil in the face of a sharp decline in the price for the commodity, we are determined to diversify the economy in agriculture to enhance employment and explore solid minerals as a major revenue earner. The primary aim is to achieve self-sufficiency in the production of such staples as rice and wheat and to become a major consumer and exporter of both items as well as solid minerals. We intend to pursue policies that will generate massive employment for millions of our youth.”
With such failed promises and dashed hopes, from which point will the new ministers soon to be sworn in take off? Will most of them be starting from a clean slate? Is the narrative by the President bound to change when the new ministers are inaugurated, based on the facts and figures on the performance of members of the last cabinet and the contemporary realities in the country?
Allocation of portfolios
The public expectations now is about how the President Buhari allocates portfolios to the new ministers since he ignored the advice by the National Assembly that he accompanied the list of ministerial nominees with assigned portfolios. Speculations and permutations are being made by individuals and groups on the likely portfolios to be assigned each ministers based on their pedigree and antecedents in public institutions and the private sector. Some of the speculations are that Honourable Rotimi Amaechi might return to the Federal Ministry of Transport; while Mr Babatunde Fashola might not be saddled with three ministries collapsed into one that earned him the tag of a super minister in the last dispensation. The assumption is that the immediate past governor of Osun State, Mr Rauf Aregbesola may step into a strategic portfolio like the Federal Ministry of Works. More importantly, there is much public curiousity and interest on who the president will be saddled with security, education, health, interior, attorney general minister of Justice of the Federation, agriculture and rural development, budget and national planning, finance, petroleum, aviation, industry, trade and investment, as well as water resources.
The last cabinet was driven by the change agenda of the APC-led federal administration. But the Change mantra has since metamorphosed into the philosophy of the Next Level, a euphemism for consolidation. Nigerians await the criteria to be spelt out by the president to assess the new ministers during their tenure.
As Nigerians await the allocation of portfolios to the ministers, it is apparent that the cabal that dictate the pace in the last dispensation will have gone back to the drawing board to strategise.