The Ministers Nigerians Expect

As President Bola Ahmed Tinubu shortly constitutes his cabinet, many expect him to transcend petty political patronage and headhunt competent hands both globally and locally to aid in reinventing and healing a damaged, failing state, writes Louis Achi

Today marks President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s fifth week in office. One of his most important tasks as president is to constitute a governance cabinet. And he has about 30 days left to deal with that. The National Assembly made the 60-day ceiling decision within which a new president and governors must constitute their cabinets based on the fact that it took former President Muhammadu Buhari six months to appoint Ministers into his government – which nevertheless regrettably turned out to be an utterly underwhelming cabinet.

Further, today, the stakes are extremely high and Nigerians are mindful that a failure to achieve democratic stability, through a meritorious, transparent, inclusive governance process may imperil the country’s future as a coherent state.

As key cabinet members, ministers appointed by the president and confirmed by the federal legislature form part of the policy and decision making process that effectively drive governance.

It is then a given that the leadership of Ministries, Departments, Agencies and the uniformed Services that manage critical governance responsibilities under the executive must be men and women, not just of integrity, but personalities who will not shy away from directly processing the facts and taking hard decisions on which success often pivots.

Their appointment must be shorn of unseemly medieval clannishness. In this light, folks eventually vested with the responsibility of aiding the president to deliver genuine governance must approach their brief according to an understanding – according to a set of principles – that reflects a sense of the permanent destiny of the nation.

It is against this background that reports that President Tinubu is looking both within and outside the country’s shores to headhunt global experts to give meaning to the governance vision he enunciated is indeed heart-warming.

It can easily be recalled that in sharp contrast to ex-President Buhari’s cabinet appointees, several former cabinet members of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan like Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, Arunma Oteh, Dr. Mohammed Pate all got international appointments on merit and are doing well.

A source told THISDAY that Pate, a former Minister of State for Health, appointed in July 14, 2011, trailing his cutting-edge role as the executive director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency in Abuja, has turned down last week a lucrative offer to become Gavi’s next chief executive officer.  Pate had been approved by the Gavi Board back in February to become CEO.

According to Gavi, Dr. Pate told the global health organisation’s Board Chair and Vice Chair that he had taken an incredibly difficult decision to accept a request to return and contribute to his home country, Nigeria. Gavi has moved to appoint David Marlow, currently Gavi’s chief operating officer, to the position of interim chief executive officer, effective August 3, 2023 after Pate declined the offer.

Dr. Pate’s turning down of Gavi’s offer has stoked speculations that he could become the health minister in Tinubu’s cabinet. Significantly this scenario has upscaled feelers that Tinubu may adopt a different trajectory in headhunting his cabinet members.

Based in Geneva, Switzerland, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, is a public-private partnership that helps vaccinate half the world’s children against some of the world’s deadliest diseases. Gavi also plays a key role in improving global health security by supporting health systems as well as funding global stockpiles for Ebola, cholera, meningococcal and yellow fever vaccines, among others.

Pate is one out of the many competent hand locally and offshore who are potential ‘recruits’.

Today, about eight crucial sectors could catalyse national transformation or induce further socio-political and economic regression in the country. These include security, power, education, health, agriculture, employment and critical infrastructure development. Potential minders of these pivotal portfolios and more abound.

Leaving out top security appointments, there are 24 ministers to be appointed into Tinubu’s cabinet. Since there are 36 states, each state has to be represented by at least one member, hence Ministers of State.

It is beyond debate that the president enjoys the constitutional right of way to appoint his cabinet. But while everybody cannot be appointed, there certainly are many qualified and competent Nigerians to be considered. Former President Buhari also had a choice to pick from Nigeria’s best and brightest. But clearly, he picked politics over policy.

Notwithstanding that President Tinubu has to grapple with the federal character provisions, which require one minister from each of the 36 states, he could also strike a critical balance between technocrats and politicians. The main criterions for his choice of ministers need not be absolute loyalty to self or party. The emerging consensus is that he should pick policy over politics. But will he?

It cannot be swept under the carpet that the ‘spoil system’ is part and parcel of Nigeria’s presidential democracy. It is anchored on the quirky winners-take-all principle with the furtherance of the political leadership’s selfish agenda as its primary motivation. Firmly accommodated in this scheme of political and economic patronage are protégés, cronies and apologists. In the process, underserving nouveaux riches are created through appointments or contract awards.

Political leadership in which legitimate authority is vested superintend over its mandate by the force of its character over the system. The first victim of unduly pampering leeches and lackeys is the people’s commonwealth that is subsequently plundered. The second is the reputation of the government in power, typically in democratic governments. It does not matter the influence of cabals running governments within the government, the President is vicariously liable since the bucks stop with him.

Successive federal administrations had their peculiar records of deliberate empowerment of loyalists through privileged and sometimes criminal access to public resources. Fingers are often pointed at military regimes but civil administrations cannot claim sainthood either.

Cut to the bone, President Tinubu himself is no stranger to this dodgy reality. But today, as Nigeria teeters on the precipice of state failure measured by all socio-political, security and economic parameters, the Jagaban of Borgu cannot afford to play games with history.

Being Africa’s demographic and natural resources centre of gravity, Nigeria has a new opportunity to lead the journey of transformative change on the continent. She ought to provide the leadership to raise Africa to her next level. But then charity must begin at home.

Already, there are rumours that some persons are seriously lobbying and trying to bribe their way to becoming ministers. This has seriously been frowned upon, with many asking the president to personally scrutinise his ministerial nominees, an go for the best.

This is the challenge before President Tinubu.