The hole in Jonathan’s govt

The hole in Jonathan’s govt
on december 06, 2013 at 7:05 am in politics
BY Ben Agande
Three months after the president sacked ten
ministers he is yet to replace them leaving a gap in
the running of government.
President Goodluck Jonathan shocked members of
the Federal Executive Council on September 10,
2013 when he announced the sack of ten members
of the cabinet.
The action of the president shook those affected as
they had no inkling of that such a plan was in the
offing.
Those who were hit by the presidential axe included
the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Olugbenga Ashiru,
Minister of National Planning, Dr. Shamshudeen
Usman, Minister of Education Professor Ruquyatu
Rufai; Minister of Environment, Hajia Hadiza
Mailafia;  Ms. Ama Pepple (Housing), Minister of
state for power Zainab Kuchi; Minister of State for
Defence, Erelu Olusula Obada, Minister of State for
Agriculture  Buka Tijani as well as  Minister of
Science and Technology- Professor Ita Bassey
Ewah.
Before then, President Jonathan had earlier
terminated the appointment of the minister for Youth
Affairs, Inuwa Abdulkadir while Dr. Muhammed
Pate, the Minister of State for Health voluntarily
resigned in order to resume at the Global Health
Institute, a US based Duke University.
In all, the Federal executive council is short by
twelve ministers as almost three months after the
ministers were sacked by President Jonathan, their
replacements have not been announced.
Although serving ministers were named to
supervise those ministries where the ministers
were sacked, it is obvious that the absence of
substantive ministers in those ministries has had
negative impact on the smooth operations of such
ministries because those drafted to supervise have
neither the experience nor the requisite time to
properly supervise.
Though the decision by president Goodluck
Jonathan to sack ten ministers in one fell swoop
came as a shock, not only to those affected, but
majority of Nigerians, the failure to replace them
almost three months after has sent tongues
wagging about the vacuum created by the
president’s action and the readiness of government
to ensure smooth running of the affairs of the
ministries.
But to many watchers of government, the inability of
the government to replace the sacked ministers did
not come as a surprise.
When the president unceremoniously relieved the
ministers of their appointments, several theories
were propounded as to the reason why the
ministers, some of whom were seen to be doing
well in their ministries were removed. Although no
reason was given by the presidency for the removal
of the ministers, many Nigerians believed that most
of them were removed because their governors
who nominated them were locked in a bitter political
struggle with President Jonathan.
Though the shock that trailed the removal of the ten
ministers has been put behind, there is a growing
concern that three months after their removal, their
replacements are no where in sight. The question
some commentators have asked is: why will the
president choose to operate without key ministers?
Investigations by Vanguard indicated that though the
president is disposed to ensuring that those who
may replace the sacked ministers are people with
impeccable character and personality, some of his
close advisers, whose pressure in the first place
made the president to remove some of the
ministers are pushing for people with political clout
that can countermand the growing influence of
those governors that are seen to be opposed to the
president.
The search has therefore been on for not only
people who will bring their experience to bear in the
discharge of government business through their
ministries but also people who can use their political
clout to properly position the president in good
footing for the 2015 elections when he makes up his
mind on whether he would contest or not.
Closely related to this is the seeming icy
relationship between the executive and the
legislature. The recent defection of five governors of
the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP to the
opposition All Progressive Congress, APC has
altered the composition of the Senate so
significantly that there is a real fear that any
nomination for ministerial position that is overtly
seen as being against the interest of some of the
governors would be resisted by senators in
opposition political parties.
The recent revelation by the president that he
cancelled the presentation of the 2014 budget
presentation on account of differentials in oil
benchmark between the House of Representatives
and the Senate has further accentuated the frosty
relationship between the legislature and the
executive.
The problem of the president is even compounded
by the vacancy in the office of the Special Adviser
to the President on National Assembly Matters.
The last holder of that office, Senator Joy Emodi
was removed from office despite a global
acknowledgment of her sterling role in bridging
differences between the National Assembly and the
presidency. Since her removal, the president has
found it difficult to present the budget even as
differences between the two arms of government
have also widened.
To many officials of government it is better for the
government to bid its time and present candidates
that would be acceptable to majority of the senators
rather than rushing to nominate candidates for
confirmation as ministers only for the presidency to
suffer the humiliation of having such nominees
rejected by the Senate.
No matter the temporary obstacles that stand on
the way of the president in nominating new
ministers, he does not have the luxury of allowing
the mpasse last ad infinitum because he is
constitutionally bound to ensure that at least each
state of the federation is represented at the federal
executive council.
According to the amended Section 147 of the 1999
Constitution which gives the President Powers to
appoint Ministers, “There shall be such offices of
Ministers of the Government of the Federation as
may be established by the President.
“Any appointment to the office of Minister of the
Government of the Federation shall, if the
nomination of any person to such office is
confirmed by the Senate, be made by the President,
“Any appointment under subsection(2) of this
section by the President shall be in conformity with
the provisions of Section 14(3) of this Constitution,
provided that in giving effect to the provisions
aforesaid the President shall appoint at least one
Minister from each state, who shall be an indigene
of such state.”
But while the intrigues continue on the appointment
of ministers to replace the ones sacked by the
president three months ago, activities in the
ministries whose ministers have been relieved of
appointment have continued at snail speed.
For instance, since the sack of the ministers in
September, there has never been any memo from
any of these ministries to the federal executive
council for approval of any project, an indication that
though these ministries may have ministers
supervising them, such ministers lack the requisite
power and authority to effectively carry out duties
assigned to them.
How the president is able to navigate these delicate
political waters without ruffling more feathers will
go a long way in determining how the ministers who
will eventually emerge would be perceived by both
the legislature and eventually Nigerians if their
nominations are confirmed.