The much awaited list of ministers finally surfaced last week. As is usual with such an exercise, plethora of reactions has trailed its release by President Muhammadu Buhari. While some have dismissed it as falling short of expectation, others feel it was to be expected. Yet, while most believe that the pedigree of the appointees will be needed to turn things around, others said that age should have played a role in the selection process.
Curiosity, strangely, is the position of some, who would want to wonder why some ministers returned and others didn’t. Reality though is that the list is as final as the senate screening, which is almost over. But was this what Nigerians really expected? Will these men and women deliver the expected goods? Is competence the basis for such appointments or must other considerations also come in? Are the appointments compensatory? Or are they solutions to the myriad of problems, bedeviling the country?
Tony Onyima, seasoned journalist and former Managing Director of The Sun newspaper, sums it up this way: “The ministerial list is a mixed grill of the good and the bad. PMB failed to deliver on his promise to give women more opportunities. Seven women in a 43-man list smacks of gender insensitivity. Worse still, six of the seven are from the North while only one is from the South.
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“Again, the president made a show of the Not too young to run act but the list didn’t demonstrate the intent of the law. The average age of the nominees is 54 years with 70 years, as the oldest. So, the list doesn’t offer any hope to the teeming youths. This is supposed to be a legacy team. With this team, PMB might not meet the expectations people have for his legacy.”
Ibim Seminitari, former acting Managing Director of Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, does not agree with this. “It is important that we remember that while ministers would help enunciate the administration’s policy, it is the civil servants, who have the responsibility for translating policy to action. So, it is a tag team. I believe that some of the names on the list offer some fresh perspective while others might have been reappointed because of how they performed in their various sectors,” she avers.
But she agrees with Onyima on the gender issue. “I am disappointed that we didn’t even meet the paltry 30 per cent minimum demand for inclusion of women and we also do not have a broad enough age spectrum. This does not make for inclusion, which will be sadly evident in the kinds of policy formulation and implementation that we see,” she added.
There is yet a different perspective. “The list weighs heavier on people of doubtful credibility with regard to their past record in governance and corrupt practices. It’s patently wrong to appoint, as public officers people who have pending cases of corruption and criminality in our law courts and those who mismanaged their previous offices,” John Otu, renowned columnist and a senior lecturer with a federal university said.
For Amari Omaka, a professor of environmental law and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, the list is made up of “recycled PDP ex-this and ex-that. What do you expect? If the fight against corruption must succeed, President Buhari must prove it with credible cabinet, not EFCC clients, as presently constituted to a large extent.”
With these varied reactions, which capture the mood of the nation, come the burning question on the lips of everybody, why were some people reappointed and others left out? Why did some very visible ministers people thought were doing well not come back? Ibe Kachiukwu, Audu Ogbe, Udoma Udoma and others didn’t make the list.
Seminitari believes that performance was key in deciding those who came back. “For instance, I believe that in the last four years, there was quite some activity and positive impact in the transportation sector; so, it is not strange that the minister of transportation was reappointed,” she said.
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Most agree with this view. Tony Ekoh Jnr, a pharmacist and politician cannot agree less. “You will recall that the president was quoted, as saying that he did not know some of his ministers before appointing them the last time. And that he would appoint only those he knows well. It stands to reason, therefore, that those he reappointed are those he knows very well, who also carried out their assignments creditably according to the mandates he gave them. Any other thing will be mere conjecture,” he said.
For Mohammed Bature, a social critic, some controversies that broke out in some ministries could have contributed. “Remember the N25 billion contract scandal between Kachikwu and Baru, then NNPC helmsman? The embarrassment of that scandal might have seen Kachikwu out of the new exco. For Audu Ogbe, the yam export scandal might have been his undoing. As for (Solomon) Dalung, he was behaving like a boy scout, who didn’t really know his job. Did you not hear him boasting just a few weeks ago that he must surely come back?”
Udoma on his part had made it clear he wouldl not be coming back to the cabinet for reasons he kept close to his chest.
Liberty Badmus, a social media personality and leader of one the major support groups for the president, BOSF, said the president had made his best choices and people should not be looking for reasons he did not reappoint or appoint anybody.
He said: “In the last four years, Nigerians have felt the hard but positive change brought about by the president. In consolidating, the next level should be productive and make every Nigerian happy with peace of mind in a glowing economy with stable electricity.”
