It’s a little over 30 days in the saddle as President of Nigeria, and Muhammadu Buhari, has so far, lived up to his reputation of being incorruptible, erudite and disciplined, but at the same time, has left millions of Nigerians confused on the composition of his cabinet, owing to his delay in making key appointments.

From May 29 up until today, June 30, Buhari’s administration has more or less been a smooth solo-sailing affair, with the President making moves and promises in the right direction, but failing to appoint ministers to implement the tasks.

It is notable that in 30 days, Buhari has managed to get the commitment of foreign nations in the war against Boko Haram, made progress in his bid to recover some of the monies looted from the Nation’s coffers, made substantial progress in the cleaning up of the oil sector rot- however, Nigerians want one thing more than any achievements recorded so far- the appointment of officials into his cabinet.

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Cabinet composition/Ministers list

Many Nigerians cannot seem to see past that as Buhari has been labelled slow for not following precedence in his appointment-making process.

Obasanjo constituted his cabinet in July, the late Musa Yar’Adua constituted his cabinet on July 26, 2007 Jonathan would meet an existing government in place but would form his cabinet in a matter of days.

So why has Buhari failed to appoint his ministers?

His media team and the man himself, have given various reasons, which echoed the same sentiments, over the inaction in the appointment-making department.

In a recent interview with Thisday owned ARISE TV, the President blamed the delay in appointing ministers on the lateness in getting handover notes from former President Jonathan’s transition committee.

Buhari had said: “I don’t know why people are so anxious for the ministers. But eventually we will have them. The main reason is that I had a transition committee, which I agreed with former President Goodluck Jonathan that the ministers of the outgone government should handover their notes and documents to this transition committee so that we could be prepared.”

“The ministers knew that they were going but the technocrats, permanent secretaries and so on, knew they will remain. So if anything goes wrong, they will be invited to explain. Unfortunately, the outgone government did not cooperate, so what the committee did was to divide itself into about five sub-committees, and I (only) got the report, I think, three days ago.”

“I was waiting for that report because I would like to know what positions there are in the government, especially in terms of the finance and petroleum portfolios. So I’m not in a hurry to get ministers.”

Similarly, the President’s senior special assistant on Media & Publicity, Garba Shehu, released a statement, in defence of his boss and his decision not to make appointments just yet.

“The President did say he would hit the ground running, but he has not been given the chance to hit the ground running because the administration that he succeeded — the Jonathan administration — did not deliver the handover notes until two or three days to the inauguration, meaning that these handover notes were submitted at a time when everyone had been consumed by (inauguration) activities.”

“Unfortunately, there was no time to look at them until after the President had been inaugurated. The President was left in the dark. He had to understand what the situation was and what was on the ground.”

“That was why he set up a different transition committee. It was only this week that the committee, led by Dr. Ahmed Joda, scrutinised the handover notes and handed over the report to him (Buhari).”

“To be fair to him, he would have hit the ground running if the previous government had handed over the notes early. However, the Jonathan government did not even permit any minister to interact in any way with the Buhari Transition Committee. Evidently, we had our hands tied behind our backs until we took over. Thus, there is nothing shady about it.”

Major economic/ oil sector moves

The economy of Nigeria suffered a huge blow towards the twilight of the administration of President Jonathan, as a result of the crash in global oil prices and the dwindling value of the naira against the dollars.

In essence, Jonathan left the economy in a comatose state, the excess crude account nearly empty and the treasury looking like a ghost town.

While Buhari has lamented these situation, his media handlers have revealed that he is making plans for the economic revival of the country and the coming of foreign investment.

The President was said to have used the platform provided by the G7 nations as well as the United States of America, in making moves on the recovery of the stolen billions of dollars by some Nigerians.

In Buhari’s 30 days of leading Nigeria, some of the refineries that have been left for dead, are coming back alive, with some said to be re-opening in July.

The board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation was recently dissolved and the President also gave the directive that all revenue generating agencies such as the NNPC, Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG)- should pay all their revenues into the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CFR).

The Central Bank of Nigeria has also limited the importers of some produce from accessing the forex market to bring in commodities that can be easily produced in the country, some of which are; rice, cement, textiles, tomato paste.

It is a decision that obviously came from above and its ultimate aim is to help local businesses to thrive and create employment in the country.

 

Verdict

While many Nigerians are justifiably frustrated over President Buhari’s refusal to emulate his predecessors in the business of appointing members of his cabinet- it should also be remembered that this is a man who hardly follows precedence, rather he chooses to make his own path and be his own man.

After all, he is the same man who ditched his guests to go and pray, during his presidential inauguration luncheon.

Has he made strides in the right direction? It appears so.

Should he be judged too quickly and too harshly just yet? We beg to disagree.

President Buhari is seemingly proactive in tackling the mountain of challenges bedevilling us as a nation, however, 30 days is too short to effectively assess his impact.