Ayo Olukotun
“This is to inform this Senate that the executive arm of government is working hard to get the list of the ministerial nominees to the Senate. I can imagine that before this week runs out, we could get the list”
–President of the Senate, Ahmed Lawan, Wednesday, July 10, 2019
The clue, given by Senate President Ahmed Lawan, quoted in the opening paragraph, that the ministerial list could be sent to the legislature, by Friday, has raised expectations, as well as doused criticisms of slow pace on the matter. Please note that the hint was contingent and not purposive; to the extent that it came as a response to a frantic plea by Senator Akpan, that if the list was not received in a fortnight, the Senate would go on its annual long recess, with possible collateral damage to the political and policy calendar. That a remark made in such casual, backhanded circumstances could climb to national visibility points to the anxious waiting on the matter and the gap in communication between the governed and the leadership. On a global canvas, to be sure, cabinets are proclaimed, within one to three weeks of a general election, as the recent cases of South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa and India’s Narendra Mordi show. Some countries have been known to appoint a new cabinet within 48 hours of a general election: That said, it should be noted that if indeed the list reaches the Senate today, this would be an improvement on 2015 when it took almost six months to produce a ministerial list.
President Muhammadu Buhari himself raised expectations a month or so back by saying that he was working to produce a first-class cabinet comprised mainly of experts who will deliver Nigeria from atrophy. This does not mean that he would not need to balance technocracy against the weighty consideration of the political, but it does suggest that it cannot be business as usual. If things were much better and looking up, then perhaps the expectations will decline to mere refurbishing because you do not fundamentally change a winning team. It will seem, however, that on this occasion, something of the Indian model which fundamentally threw up a new cabinet by easing out almost 30 old ministers, will be needed.
Mordi justified this on the grounds that India needed to grapple with problems of unemployment, economic decline among other woes which require those who can think outside the box. In the case of South Africa, Ramaphosa operated under the framework that a clean government needed to do away with ministers who had been tainted by corruption, although in practical essence he did not carry this admirable credo to its logical conclusion, because of party politics. Not having seen the President’s list, one can only speculate about the choices he has made and the underlying philosophy behind them. We have reason to suspect, however, that the list cannot be filled with also-rans or too many holdovers from the last cabinet. In other words, what is important at this point is not the length of time we have to wait for the list but the quality of the appointments.
Obviously, and in spite of the administration’s efforts, the job of the new ministers is cut out for them. Take for example, the Ministry of Finance. Considering the strategic nature of our challenges illustrated by a dizzying mark-up in our public debt profile and associated charges, it is important to have somebody in that portfolio who knows his onions, not just in that area but in the cognate departments of fuel subsidy, petroleum product pricing and lifting millions of Nigerians out of poverty which Buhari has made the signature tune of his second term.
Undoubtedly, such a technocrat will be well-versed in the politics of international economic relations, when it comes to dealing with International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and global creditor institutions. In the same vein, it will be helpful to give the all-important power department, not to a politician but to somebody who brings to the assignment, considerable knowledge regarding the generation, transmission and distribution of power. The sector, it is well-known, has been tormented by repeated grid collapses. A recent report revealed that the cumulative hours of supply of electricity reduced from 9.6 to 9.2 in the second quarter of 2019 lamenting, thereby, a situation in which the more money is invested in the sector the darker the country will appear to be. (see The PUNCH, Thursday, July 11, 2019).
Our frustrations in this sector have for long been the symbol of governmental inefficiency, with no government, so far, getting a grip on the problem; even the much-talked about Fashola magic wand of performance was humbled by the enormity and complexity of the power sector. So, this is a hydra begging to be slain, so that Nigerians can enjoy a modicum of power with spinoffs on the economy. It will be expected therefore, when the list is finally made available that requisite attention will be devoted to this sector.
Another reason why hopes have been raised concerning the list has to do with the vulnerabilities of social protection policy. This is an area that requires a holistic thinking, for it is connected to the poverty alleviation strategies proposed by government. The poor are the most depressed and vulnerable in society, a factor accentuated by the lack of safety nets and survival margins. This suggests that there would have to be thorough linkage between health, education, housing and social policy, to the extent that they all impinge on lifting millions of Nigerians out of poverty. It will be interesting to see how ministerial appointments in the affected ministries capture these underlying considerations, forge synergies and appoint ministers in who can bring innovative thinking and diligent application to bear on their assignments.
Important too, is the portfolio of the minister for internal affairs mainly because of our rising and spreading insecurity issues, in several cases taking on new, unforeseen dimensions. Only yesterday (Thursday), to take an example, the Owa Obokun of Ijesha Land, Adekunle Aromolaran, warned that his territory had become a site harbouring the influx of miners displaced from Zamfara State. Without doubt, this phenomenon is related to the recent incident of kidnapping in Yoruba land especially on the Akure-Ilesa and Ife-Ibadan roads. And this is just one frontier of the several that have been opened by criminals across the nation. This suggests that we require personnel who are always one step, at least, ahead of the crime surge and who realise that fires that are burning low today, if not put out, could very soon billow into fires capable of doing great devastation. Ministerial appointment as well as others should dovetail on the combination of brain power and fire power that can redeem the country from the unlovely strait in which it has been fixed by gangsters of various hues.
As several writers have pointed out, this is Buhari’s opportunity to move from politics to statesmanship, from randomness and policy-making on the hoof to the building of monuments, policy wise, that will both outlive him and turn Nigeria around. The ministerial list it is hoped will jumpstart this process.
[Punch]
