During the presidential campaigns, one constant promise of the All Progressives’ Congress (APC) and its candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari was that its government will hit the ground running and start the earnest work of pulling Nigerian from the brink of abyss and reforming it.
However, it has not turned out to be so, as not only has this government yet to release or formulate any new policy that signifies a change in direction in any area, it has been extremely slow in making new appointments of key officials who will either by themselves be in charge of policy formulation or give an indication of the direction the government intends to take.
For instance, until a fortnight ago, the Buhari administration had been operating without a Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), who is charged with the coordination of policy implementation of the government.
The President himself did not have a Chief of Staff until the same period; and given the fact his record against the Maitatsine insurgency and Chadian rebels as the Head of State and an army division commander in the 1980s inspired the electorate to believe he is the man to deal with the Boko Haram terrorist scourge in the North-East, it was also rather surprising that it took him a month and a half to appoint new service chiefs and a National Security Adviser.
But the most perplexing with regards to the lack of speed in his appointments is the lack of a cabinet. So far, permanent secretaries have been filling in for ministers, giving briefings and running the ministries.
This is very unfamiliar territory for these senior civil servants whose responsibilities traditionally is restricted to driving the implementation of the policies of the ministries. For example, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria is being forced due to the absence of a finance minister to mix his traditional role of being in charge of monetary policy with fiscal policy, and even going as far as being the one in charge of the bail-outs recently given to states.
A lot of reasons have been given for this decision, chief of which courtesy of an op-ed written by President Buhari himself in the Washington Post in July during his trip to the United States where he erroneously claimed that even President Obama took a few months to appoint his cabinet.
It is also common to see on social media many supporters of the government claim that the President wants to know the problems facing each ministry and sector from the civil servants that have been there for long, so as to avoid being misled by any minister.
No one has also been able to sufficiently explain why he has not made use of the 15 special adviser slots approved by the Senate since June 2nd, as only three special advisers have been appointed. At the very least, one would have expected that he would have appointed a Chief Economic Adviser while the month of September during which he has promised to nominate his ministers is awaited.
However, one thing is certain: this delay in appointing a cabinet is costing Nigeria a lot economically, as the whole world waits with bated breath as to the direction this administration will take regarding many crucial issues, such as whether naira will be devalued, or if fuel subsidy will continue.
For instance, a Bloomberg article earlier in the week linked some of the problems in the power industry to the absence of a minister to approve payments by the National Bulk Electricity Trader (NBET) to power generation firms.
While President Buhari has gotten most of his appointments right on the mark in terms of competence judging by the fact that the debate has centered mostly about their ethnicities, he needs to move faster in appointing a full cabinet.
This delay has already caused President Buhari plenty goodwill, as the hard decisions that will be necessary would have been easier swallowed in the early days of his administration. However, without a cabinet, these decisions have not been taken as those that would have given the advice are not in place.
The world will not wait for us, while we are still dilly-dallying on having in place the people who will take the decisions needed to get us forward. We must make hay while the sun shines.
September is finally here – President Buhari should not wait any longer.
