BAYO OLADEJI,
GEORGE AGBA,
OLAOLU OLADIPO, and MIKE UBANI
The Presidency has dashed the hope of the people of Enugu and Kebbi
states to have representatives in the Federal Executive Council (FEC)
soon. Until June this year, Kebbi State was represented on the federal
cabinet by Dr. Haliru Mohammed Bello as defence minister while Enugu
State was represented by Prof. Barth Nnaji, who resigned in
controversial circumstance as minister of power in August 2012. Bello
was dropped alongside the late former National Security Adviser (NSA),
Gen. Andrew Owoye Azazi, who died in a helicopter crash in Bayelsa State
with Governor Patrick Yakowa of Kaduna State on December 15, 2012.
In an exclusive interview with LEADERSHIP SUNDAY, the Special Adviser
to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, said
President Jonathan was not in a hurry to make replacements for Bello and
Nnaji because the two ministers of state for power and defence were
performing. Abati added that the absence of the substantive ministers
had not created any vacuum in the running of the affairs of the two
critical ministries.
Prior to Abati’s clarifications, there were growing speculations in
both official and unofficial quarters that President Jonathan might
carry out a major cabinet shake-up in January next year because of the
persistent misgivings of Nigerians over the performance of most of his
ministers.
These speculations were fuelled by an emergency FEC meeting, which
the President summoned penultimate Tuesday, but later cancelled. It was
alleged that Jonathan’s action caused panic among the ministers.
While Dr. Abati agreed that some clarifications needed to be done so
that Nigerians would not be misinformed and misled, he however said
“there was no reason for any minister to panic about the emergency FEC
that you referred to. I just told you that the last few meetings in the
end of the year were devoted to a performance review.
As at two weeks ago, some ministers had already done their own
presentations: The ministers of agriculture, aviation, communication
technology and a roster was drawn up, all the way till January for
different ministries and their ministers to make presentation based on
what I defined earlier: to tell us what they were able to do, how much
they got and what challenges they faced. During that presentation, it
will be discussed by the entire cabinet. Other ministers will give
suggestions.
“President Jonathan made it clear when he said that performance
assessment was necessary for two reasons: one, to carry out an audit-a
clear review if you like - of what each ministry has been doing; and
two, to make government open, to create a necessary pool of knowledge
within government about how government is operating in different
departments and agencies.
In other words, if you are minister in charge of portfolio D,
whatever you are doing is not hidden from the minister in charge of
portfolio F because on a regular basis, Council (FEC) will meet and give
you an opportunity to report what you are doing. So, there is no room
for anybody trying to run a one man show. It is team work and I think
that that strategic approach to governance is very important.”
Abati continued: “So, all the ministers who were to come to that
emergency meeting knew that that it was called so that those who could
not make their presentation at the last Wednesday meeting and who had
been scheduled on the roster could then do so. But then you know as it
turned out there was a case of serendipity.
There was the helicopter accident and there were several developments
in the country; the whole country was in a very sad mood and even the
Wednesday meeting that followed that particular Tuesday was devoted to
the praying and mourning of the six that died in that helicopter crash.
And after the tribute session and the statements, the president asked
Council to adjourn to January 9.So, that is that.”
On the appointment of ministers of defence and power, Abati said it
was erroneous to think that because of the absence of substantive
ministers, there was a vacuum in the affected ministries.
According to him, President Jonathan was taking his time on the
appointment of the ministers because it goes beyond filling the quota of
certain states.
Abati said: “The thing to note is that when people ask that question,
they give the impression that maybe because those two ministries do not
have substantive ministers yet, there is a vacuum. But the truth is
that there is no vacuum in the real sense because the ministers of state
that are there are running those ministries well.
If there is any vacuum that people are looking for, they are probably
saying certain states are to get those positions or the quota and they
want it filled so that those states can benefit. All of that is coming
out of our federal character approach to appointments. But in terms of
the functioning of these ministries, nothing has been lost and nothing
has been sacrificed.
But I can assure you that the president in his own time will fill
those positions because it is not just that you fill positions. A lot
goes into it. I have not had the opportunity to appoint anybody, but
from watching the president at work, I know that you don’t just wake up
and appoint people into offices.
There is a lot that goes into it and once the time is ripe, you can
be assured that the president will do it. So, people should stop
putting him under pressure.
“Those ministries are functioning. If you look at power, since the
minister of state for power took over, that ministry has been
functioning. In fact, progress has even been made. If you look at
defence, the woman who is there has been running the ministry very well.
So, it is not as if because two slots have not been filled that
anything has happened and in any case, people must also realise that
ministerial positions are delegated positions.
Under a presidential system, all authorities draw from the top, at
least within the executive branch. So, the president delegates authority
to ministers and he can delegate authority to whoever he so wishes for
the smooth running of government because he is both head of state and
head of government.”
The Ministry of Defence is manned by Mrs. Olusola Obada while that of
power is under the supervision of Hajia Zainab Kuchi. Nnaji’s former
minister of state, Mr. Gauis Dickson acted in his stead but a minor
cabinet reshuffle by President Jonathan saw Dickson and Kuchi, who was
the minister of state in the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs.
There are, however, claims in government quarters that the apparent
failure of the president to appoint a defence minister might have been a
strategy to bring the security ball gazer directly under his watch.
Other sources alleged that President Jonathan wants to appoint a defence
minister outside Kebbi State and the North West zone where Bello hails
from.
In fact, the sources averred that the president whenever he is ready
might name a retired senior military officer from the South East as
defence minister and pick the minister of power from the North West.
But some opposition political parties have said the president’s
reluctance to fill the vacant ministerial posts “is symptomatic of an
administration not willing to move the country towards progress.”
The Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and the Action Congress of
Nigeria (ACN) told LEADERSHIP SUNDAY that the action of the presidency
was its usual way of addressing serious issues with levity, adding that
there was no reason for any Nigerian to lose sleep because the present
ministers were not working.
The National Publicity Secretary of CPC, Engr. Rotimi Fashakin,
stated that the seeming reluctance is symptomatic of the current
government’s “knee jack” approach to governance, which he noted had
permeated all facets of the country’s life since the Jonathan
administration came on board.
ACN’s National Publicity, Alhaji LaI Mohammed, could not be reached,
but a key leader of the party said though the party was not disposed to
getting involved in the controversy arising from the issues relating to
the vacuum, he however counselled that the government should make a
recourse to the country’s constitution to guide it on the matter.
The ACN chief also stated that the absence of these ministers had not
been noticeable, those that have been in office had not even made their
presence felt through quality service delivery to the people.
On the people of Enugu State’s endless wait for the president to
appoint a minister from the state, a top official of the state
government told LEADERSHIP SUNDAY that “we are awaiting the Federal
Government to appoint a representative from the state in FEC following
the resignation of Prof. Nnaji as minister of power.”
The official, who sought anonymity said that the “state government
had since recommended a replacement to President Jonathan,” adding that
“the president may be waiting for an appropriate time to send the
nominee to the National Assembly for confirmation.”
In the case of Kebbi State, the state government may have missed the
window of opportunity presented it by the president when the state
chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rejected the nomination of
Gen. Bitrus Ushe as defence minister. Since then, the presidency has
kept mute on the matter.
In the heat of the opposition to Ushe’s nomination, Alhaji Mansur
Shehu Dangaladima, the PDP chairman in Kebbi State, had told journalists
that the nominee was rejected by the party because he is not a native
of the state and a member of the PDP.
According to him, “we don’t know him (Ushe) in the state and in the
party. It was shocking to us when we discovered that Gen. Ushe is from
Niger State. His colleagues in the military have affirmed that he hails
from Niger State not Kebbi State.”
Leadership
