A cross section of Nigerians have called upon President Muhammadu Buhari to expedite action in kick-starting his second tenure by appointing his cabinet without further delay.
The president was sworn in for another four-year term on May 29 but has yet to name any ministers, aides and other members of his cabinet.
LEADERSHIP Weekend recalls that the president took nearly six months to announce his ministers during the start of his first tenure in 2015, which raised a few eyebrows in the polity at the time.
Yesterday, some citizens of Katsina State demanded that President Buhari constitute his cabinet as quickly as possible as he had assured Nigerians.
Several eminent persons and many professionals, who spoke to LEADERSHIP Weekend in Katsina, insisted that the President does not have so much time as Nigerians are suffering insecurity and a lot of other issues that need to be addressed. Barr.
Usman Dalhatu Batagarawa, a former member of the Katsina State House of Assembly and a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC),
said:
“What we are expecting from the President is a change of tactics as he has promised to perform better.” In Maiduguri, a legal practitioner, Labaran Mohammed Umar said the time for the president to appoint members of his cabinet is now .
Labaran noted that Nigerians could understand the president in 2015 for delaying his appointments since he was believed to be studying the prevailing situation at the time, but now that he has been in power for the past four years, the president has no excuse for delaying his appointments this time.
“Actually, it is important for President Muhammadu Buhari to appoint his cabinet now since he has taken oath of office .
He may have had an excuse before because he was assessing the situation, but that is then case now,” he said. On his part, the sole administrator of the Borno State Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (BOCCIMA), Alhaji Ahmed Ashemi, said that recalling what President Buhari did in 2015, one will not be surprised if he again delays in making his appointments. Ashemi noted that the country had suffered so much in the past four years due to the nature of the appointments and expressed the hope that the president would this time around inject fresh blood with new ideas to rejuvenate governance.
Another person to speak on the issue is the former governor of the old Ondo State, Bamidele Olumilua, who expressed confidence that the president would constitute his cabinet in good time. Pa Olumilua posited that now that President Buhari knows the system better, he would not delay in appointing his ministers and others that would work with him. The elder statesman, who noted that the President had demonstrated the will to rid the country of corruption in his first term in office, urged Nigerians to exercise patience with him.
Speaking with LEADERSHIP Weekend in Ikere Ekiti, the former governor said Nigeria at this time needs people who are truly willing and prepared to serve in such leadership positions.
Also speaking, an Abuja-based legal practitioner, Cletus Nworgu, advised the president to quickly appoint his ministers to avoid creating gaps in governance like what happened in his first tenure. Nworgu noted that one of the reasons why the President Buhari’s first tenure did not record much in terms of achievements was because he appointed his ministers very late. He noted that the permanent secretaries, who were in charge of the ministries then, did not help matters, as many of them did not do the right things in their ministries.
“I will advise President Muhammadu Buhari not to waste time in appointing his ministers to man the ministries.
This is because any delay in their appointment, like what happened in the first tenure, could spell doom for the incoming administration.
” Another Abuja resident, Abdulahi Tanko said that early appointment of ministers by the president would save the administration millions of naira from some greedy permanent secretaries and other top civil servants.
Tanko noted that some civil servants are even more corrupt than politicians, adding that both the politicians and the civil servants act as checks and balances when it comes to fighting corruption in the system. “If you allow the civil servants to manage the affairs in the ministries for too long, anything could happen.
They could take the advantage of this window period to cart away many things as they understand the system even better than the politicians,” he said.
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