President Muhammadu Buhari is yet to transmit his list of ministerial nominees to the Senate as he had assured Nigerians that the names will be forwarded to for the Senate plenary by the end of September which fell on Wednesday.
The President’s silence implied that either the list is not ready or the President has no intention of appointing ministers yet, making enormous savings in salaries and allowances of the top political officeholders. But ceaseless complaints say that the absence of the official cabinet leaves the economy grovelling in the hands of well-informed but unassertive permanent secretaries at the various ministries.
Indeed, some argue that until the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Allocation Commission (RMFAC) fixes the salaries and allowances of all public officeholders to cut down the cost of governance, reduce the number of ministries, increase the capital budget and stop all “Illegal” allowances which political officeholders inflate their own remunerations with, there would be no cabinet ministers.
Still, Senator Dino Melaye, Chairman, Senate Ad hoc Committee on Publicity, told Senate correspondents at the end of plenary on Wednesday that the Senate was still waiting for the list from the President which would be communicated to the public any time it was sent to the legislators.
Melaye urged Nigerians to exercise more patience for the President: “We are still waiting for the ministerial list from Mr President. I want to advise that there is no need for agitation.
“September expires by 12 midnight today. I want to assure Nigerians that as soon as we get hold of this list, we will communicate to Nigerians through the press corps of the National Assembly.
“I want to assure Nigerians that we will attend to the ministerial list expeditiously but diligently. Due process will be followed. But I want to assure that the nominees will be properly screened and only those who meet constitutional and moral requirements will be cleared.’’
…PDP senators kick
Buhari had assured that the list of nominees as ministers would be submitted to the Red Chamber latest by September 30, for onward screening and possible confirmation.
But the Senate President Bukola Saraki, who announces correspondence from the President at the beginning of plenary before any other items in the day’s business is considered, did not announce any letter from the President during Wednesday’s session, indicating that there was no such list yet.
Consequently, during plenary, the Senate Minority Leader Godswill Akpabio demanded to know why the list was not read by the Senate President despite the expectation that it should have been received.
Akpabio (PDP, Akwa Ibom North West) raised a point of order under matters of urgent national importance to find out why the nation’s newspapers in the last couple of weeks have been awash with stories of ministerial appointments by the President, asking the Senate President why he received the list from Buhari but was hiding it from his colleagues.
Before Saraki could answer the question, Deputy Senate Leader Ibn Bala Na’Allah (APC, Kebbi South), raised another point of order, where he explained that the day was still young and that there was still hope that the President would transmit the ministerial list to the Senate before the close of the session.
He also said since the day ends at midnight, there was still hope that the list could come before then.
Needless to say, no list came till the session ended for the day.
…Buhari appoints self as Petroleum minister
President Muhammadu Buhari is to take personal charge of the country’s crucial oil portfolio, his spokesman said on Tuesday, as a deadline loomed for him to finally nominate his cabinet.
Reports from New York, where Buhari has been attending the UN General Assembly, quoted the President as saying he would be minister of petroleum resources, with a junior minister taking charge of day-to-day affairs in the sector.
“Confirmed. He said so,” his spokesman Femi Adesina told AFP in a text message, without giving further details.
Buhari, 72, took office on May 29 after a landmark election victory against Goodluck Jonathan — the first time an opposition candidate has unseated an incumbent in the country’s history.
The former military ruler has vowed that corruption and the corrupt will have no place in his government and vetting of potential candidates has been seen as delaying his appointment of a senior ministerial team.
Buhari has made tackling the rot in the oil sector a priority, as he seeks to cut endemic graft and put the country’s crippled, crude-dependent finances on a firmer footing.
Africa’s number one crude producer and the biggest economy has been hit badly by a slump in global crude prices since last year, squeezing government revenue.
Oil accounts for some 90 percent of the country’s foreign exchange earnings.
Buhari has vowed to recover “mind-boggling” sums of stolen oil cash, starting with a drastic overhaul of publicly-owned oil firm, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
NNPC has become a byword for corruption and last year was accused of failing to remit $20 billion in revenue to the central bank.
Buhari helped to establish NNPC in 1977 as oil minister under military ruler General Olusegun Obasanjo.
He was later in charge of the Petroleum Trust Fund during the time of General Sani Abacha in the 1990s.
Buhari’s caution in appointing ministers has seen him nicknamed “Baba Go Slow” in Nigeria, but he has promised to name his cabinet by Wednesday.
Appointments have to be approved by National Assembly, which resumed sitting on Tuesday.
A committee advising Buhari on policy before he took office has recommended he streamlines the number of ministries and ministers.
Meanwhile, according to the Senior Special Assistant (SSA) on Media and Publicity to the President, Mallam Garba Shehu, President Buhari on Wednesday, departed the United States for Abuja after a successful outing at the 70th session of the UN General Assembly in New York.