President Muhammadu Buhari may not appoint
ministers “ in the next two months” , The Nation learnt at
the weekend.
Three factors may account for the delay. They are :
• the President’ s plan to clear the “ rot ” inherited from
the Goodluck Jonathan administration ;
• the crisis in the National Assembly over the choice of
principal officers ; and
• the need to reduce ministries and parastatals .
But the reduction or merger of ministries or parastatals
will, however , not lead to retrenchment of workers .
A Presidency source , who had a confidential briefing
with some journalists in Abuja, said the mess Buhari
inherited was “ sickening ” .
The source said : “ You cannot even begin to imagine
the situation we have met on the ground.
” Almost everything is in a state of decay. There is
absolutely no way the new government can hope to
achieve anything long -lasting without first building a
new foundation. ”
The source said President Buhari ’ s plan of action could
be compared to that of “ a doctor who first has to
break a poorly set bone afresh, before resetting it to
allow for smooth and proper growth ” .
On the National Assembly crisis, the source said it was
“ yet one more excuse why forming a cabinet will be
impossible until further notice” .
He added : “ Look at how they are fighting among
themselves .
“ The Senate has now adjourned till July 21. That
means no one to scrutinize or approve any ministerial
list until the end of July . ”
When told that the National Assembly said it was ready
to cut short its break to consider any request from the
President, the source asked the reporters to await the
President’ s “ long-awaited ” intervention in the crisis
between the party and the National Assembly .
” The President wants to walk his talk on stable politics
and being a leader for all . He has a plan for the
National Assembly . ”
The source debunked the insinuations that the delay in
appointing ministers had stalled the government.
He said civil servants had been “ supervising the day-
to -day running of ministries and that permanent
secretaries of the various ministries have access to the
President” .
He added : “ All these reports and agitations are being
fuelled by politicians who want to put pressure on the
President.
“ They have tried doing it other ways and those haven’ t
worked. Now, they are trying to use the media . They
only want their cronies appointed to ministerial posts
anyhow and they are fuelling the agitation through
newspapers . ”
He advised the media not to fall for the “ old tricks and
shenanigans” of politicians .
Buhari is set to reduce or merge some ministries and
parastatals to make the size of the civil service
manageable for efficiency.
The exercise will, however , not lead to retrenchment of
workers .
The source added : “ The President plans to cut down
the number of ministries and parastatals .
“ He wants to cut down the cost of running government.
He wants to make sure that all the loopholes that
enable corruption to thrive are blocked . All these are
procedures that require time and careful planning . You
cannot do it in a rush .
“ Remember that he has to make sure that all this is
done without any job losses or mass retrenchments. All
this is not a day’s or one- month job. ”
He added that President Buhari could not realistically
have begun this process without first receiving the full
report of the transition committee and ascertaining
exactly the situation his government faced.
The spokesmen of the President, Mr. Femi Adesina
( Special Adviser on Media and Publicity ) and Mallam
Garba Shehu ( the Senior Special Assistant on Media
and Publicity) said this narrative as the “ nearest to the
truth than all that are being peddled by many others. ”
The President has been criticised in the past few
weeks for allegedly being slow in constituting his
cabinet.
Some critics accused Buhari of not planning enough to
hit the ground running since his election on March 28.
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