Tinubu’s new ministerial appointments breach Federal Character Principle, says Ozekhome

• Ministers Need President’s Full Support To Deliver —Ojo
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Mike Ozekhome, has said that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu breached the Federal Character Principle with his new ministerial appointments.

Ozekhome, who spoke with The Guardian in a telephone interview, accused President Tinubu of sustaining the legacy of his predecessor in office, former president Muhammadu Buhari, with regard to non-compliance with the laws governing federal appointments to promote national unity and social justice.

He, however, commended the President for bringing all the development commissions in the country under one ministry.

His words: “My take on it is that the tokenism was too little and too late coming because many of the ministers have performed abysmally. Not only that, there appears to be serious issues concerning the appointment of some of the ministers in terms of Federal Character. Throughout the Buhari time, I critiqued Buhari for being prebendalistic, cronystic, sectionalistic and tribalistic in his appointments, which were tilted towards the North and towards Muslims. I do not think that President Tinubu has gone away from that method of appointments based on these same rejected factors.”

“If you look at the new appointments, three new ministers are directly from Ogun State, the same state that already produced the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun; meaning that in a country of 236 million people by United Nations  projection, a country that has 36 states and 774 local councils, Ogun State, which is actually one of the smallest states in Nigeria, has four ministers while some big ones may just have a minister of state.

“This action of Mr President is contrary to the provisions of Section 14 (1) and Section 14 (3) of the constitution. They are also contrary to the provisions of Section 153 of the constitution and Section 7 (1) of the Third Schedule, Part One, to the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria.

“All these sections deal with Federal Character and the need for Nigeria to be a state based on the principles of democracy and social justice; the need for the composition of the government of the federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs to be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria, thereby promoting national unity and also commanding national loyalty and ensuring that there shall be no predominant of persons from a few states or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in the government or in any of its agencies. The new appointment list has wantonly breached these sections.

“Not only that, what I saw is a situation where even the surgical operation done to the ministries did not have any major positive impact. It was more like cosmetic window dressing. It is only in the ministry of Niger Delta that I believe that the President did a good job when he decided to bring together the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), North East Development Commission, South East Development Commission and South West Development Commission under the Ministry of Regional Development. That means that all those parastatals which are themselves money guzzling and income draining pipes have been collapsed into just one ministry. Also, scrapping the ministry of sports and making sure that all its functions are transferred to the National Sports Commission is commendable.

“But all in all, there is really nothing to celebrate; Nigerians were expecting major changes. I believe that Nigerians have been disappointed. Nothing has changed. There is a difference between motion and progress.”

On his part, a public affairs analyst, Mr. Jide Ojo, said the impact of the new structure and members of the cabinet would largely depend on President Tinubu’s ability to give them the backing they need to succeed.

Ojo said: “In fairness to those who were sacked, I think we may not have been very fair to them given the fact that they were barely one year in office and to some people it’s like learning in school. Some may take a while to settle down while some may hit the ground running.

“To put the records straight, six ministers were sacked, not five; because Betta Edu has to be included in the list of those who were sacked. Up till last Wednesday, she was just on suspension and could have been recalled. Seven ministers were appointed, including the new Minister for Livestock Development.

“As to whether this would give a boost to the Renewed Hope Agenda of Mr. President, it all depends on the President himself. How much latitude will he give these ministers to work? Will he ensure that they are well resourced? You cannot make an omelet without breaking an egg. These people are not going to use their personal resources to fund the Key Performance Indicators (KPI) that he set for them. For instance, if a minister of works needs N1 trillion to make an impact and you give him N100 billion, he will just use that N100 billion and people will continue to complain that the roads are bad. Ditto the minister of health, minister of education and other ministries.

“The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) was going to go on strike before they bought time with this new committee that they set up to go and review the 2009 ASUU-FG Agreement. If you have the resources, there have been committees and reports on the ASUU situation. Even there was one 2022 report by the Prof. Nimi Briggs on the issue. So, to me, setting up another committee for three months is just buying time.

“Why I am making this allusion is that for there to be a boost and push in the Renewed Hope Agenda, the President must adequately ensure that these ministries and ministers are well resourced and there is transparency and accountability in his government. If there is a full complement of staff to these ministers, if funding is not an issue to them and the attention of the President is gotten by the ministers, I think they will perform.”