Cabinet List: Jonathan's Delay Stalls Governance At Federal And State Levels

Source: AUSTYN OGANNAH, THEWILL. - thewillnigeria.com
PRESIDENT GOODLUCK EBELE JONATHAN.
PRESIDENT GOODLUCK EBELE JONATHAN.

SAN FRANCISCO, June 14, (THEWILL) – The delay in the announcement of federal cabinet appointees and key Presidential aides by President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan is indeed stalling governance both at the State and Federal level, THEWILL can report.

President Goodluck Jonathan had promised to hit the ground as soon as he was sworn-in as President and Commander-in Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria on May 29, 2011. But since his inauguration, nothing serious has really happened in governance except for the appointments of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and the reinstatement of the National Security Adviser (NSA). The President has not even made up his mind on key appointees like his Chief of Staff, Principal Secretary and Spokesman. We hear he is still contemplating on whether to scrap the office of the Principal Secretary and create the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff as replacement. The speculations are just unending.

Some stakeholders have tied the President’s slow pace in making his Ministerial nominees public to his indecision on who to assign to key Ministries like Petroleum, Education, Defence, Works and Health amongst others, while some have linked the delay to pressures from influential persons wanting their candidates on the Ministerial ticket.

One top government aide, who asked not to be named blamed the delay on the three weeks recess taken by federal legislators but we queried the aide reminding him that legislators have had to reconvene in the past to pass important legislation in our national interest.

Sadly, the President’s delay is slowly grinding governance to a halt and frustrating some governors who have been ready with their commissioner-nominees for their respective states since last week.

State Governors out of courtesy and respect usually allow the President announce his Ministers and Cabinet members before they take their turn.

But some governors are reportedly becoming impatient and frustrated as they seem to be unable to jump start government Ministries and departments which is key to actualizing their campaign promises to voters. The delay is also opening them up to lobbyists and godfathers who want appointments for their lackeys.

A close aide to one of the re-elected governors from a state in the north vented his principal’s frustration with the President.

“We had expected the President to send the list of nominees to the National Assembly before he left for New York to attend the United Nations Summit on HIV/AIDS but he didn’t. Is it that he has not made up his mind on at least 10 persons?

“His pace is quite frustrating for us at the state level because we are ready to appoint our commissioners but cannot do so,” the aide told THEWILL on Sunday.

It is not only the governors that are grumbling over the lull in government activities. Some senior civil servants who spoke to THEWILL on the condition that their identities are kept private complained about the delay and the chaos associated with it.

“We don’t know who is really in-charge in our Ministries as some former Ministers are still performing Ministerial duties discreetly even though they were relieved of their appointments when the cabinet was dissolved,” one civil servant said Monday.

THEWILL gathered that former FCT Minister Bala Mohammed still signs off on Certificates of Occupancy and other important FCT documents with the date of signing backdated, while Dieziani Allison-Madueke’s huge influence still overshadows operations at the Petroleum Ministry, as she is still consulted on key day to day issues since her tenure as Petroleum Minister lapsed.

Seats usually occupied by cabinet members during the weekly FEC meetings are begging to be filled.

Also cashing in on President Jonathan’s inaction on cabinet membership is embattled former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Dimeji Bankole, who has asked a Federal High Court to quash all felony charges against him on the premise that “the Constitution only empowers the Attorney General of the Federation to issue a fiat to a private legal practitioner to institute or continue proceedings in the High Court.” In other words, Bankole is challenging the competence of EFCC’s Prosecutor, Mr. Festus Keyamo in the trial and wants to walk away from all the charges leveled against him.

Bankole is presently being tried alongside his deputy Usman Nafada for various alleged cases of theft and misappropriation of public funds to the tune of more than N50 billion naira.

Meanwhile, THEWILL learned Tuesday from a source that the President has sent a few names to the State Security Service (SSS) for screening and background checks.

We however hope that President Jonathan will act swiftly and not continue to dilly-dally on the matter as he has way more pressing issues like power, corruption, security, economy and jobs amongst others to address in his first four years.

We will hold the President to his words and campaign promises to the letter as we aggresively push to remake the Nigerian state and rid her of bad governance.

Enough of the excuses, the President should as a matter of urgency urge the Senate to reconvene immediately in order to vet new Ministerial appointees.