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One year after, Nigeria worse off with Buhari’s ministers

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Today marks exactly one year that President Muhammadu Buhari swore in his ministers, months after he assumed office as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Though there was popular outcry over the delay of the president to name his cabinet, the official excuse was that he was assembling a crack team into his cabinet so as to properly deliver on the change his party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, promised Nigerians.

However, a year after the appointment and swearing in of the cabinet, there have been calls for the sack of some of the ministers and a cabinet shakeup in the face of daunting economic challenges.

Though the Presidency has not been forthcoming in acceding to this call, there is the belief in many quarters that the inability of the Buhari government to deliver on its promises is largely due to the composition of the President’s cabinet.

In view of the repeated calls for the sack of some ministers and a shakeup of the cabinet, Ripples Nigeria undertakes a review of the performance of the Buhari cabinet one year after to determine if the calls are justified or not.

However, while there are divergent views and reasons advanced for the cabinet sack ranging from personal, political and competence/performance, Ripples Nigeria presents a scorecard of some of the critical ministries  and prominent figures in the Buhari led administration.

Works, Power and Housing
The appointment of the former Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Raji Fashola as the Minister of Works, Power and Housing came to many as a surprise, not because of the person assigned to the offices but because many Nigerians felt it was too much for one person to handle.

However, the President appeared to have reposed so much faith in the ability of Fashola to deliver on the mandate he was given.
The confidence of Mr President in the former Lagos State Governor however appears to many Nigerians as misplaced because major indices in the three very important sectors of the economy he is saddled with seems not to have witnessed significant improvement one year after.

The power challenges continue, with Nigerians depending more on alternative energy, especially generators to power both their homes and businesses. This has no doubt contributed immensely to the high cost of goods and services in the country.

For the works sector, Minister Fashola seems to be lagging largely behind, as the state of roads in the country, especially interstate roads are nothing to write home about. Aside the Lagos Ibadan Express Road, which was kicked off by the Goodluck Jonathan administration, there is hardly any federal road in the country where serious repair or reconstruction work is going on.
This has led to massive loss of man hours as both public transport service and private vehicles waste several hours on the road because of bad and hardly motorable roads.

For the housing sector, it is best assumed that the ministry and Fashola are still on the drawing board. This much came to light months ago when the minister said the ministry is trying to come up with a national housing model that will deliver affordable housing to many Nigerians. It is also on record that the ministry, about a month ago organised a bidding process for companies in the building sector to participate in its mass housing projects.

It is however yet to be seen if the process will lead to a conclusive end that will deliver houses to Nigerians. It is also not clear if Nigerians appreciate the fact that the housing sector under Fashola is still on the drawing board a year after he took over and more than one and a half years after President Buhari assumed office.

Transportation
In looking at the transportation sector, it is pertinent to add the aviation sector, as the all important aviation industry is under the supervision of the Minister of Aviation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, who is no doubt an important member of the Buhari cabinet.

Under Amaechi, the transportation sector cannot be said to have achieved so much, as the only significant events that have taken place are the inauguration of the Port Harcourt -Enugu rail service and the Abuja -Kaduna standard Guage rail line. However, both projects bear the imprints of the Jonathan administration.

There is hope however, with the inclusion of the Lagos -Kano and the Lagos -Calabar rail lines in the 2016 budget.

Read also: Buhari swears in ministers, assigns portfolios

For the Aviation industry, Amaechi and the Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika, may have performed far below expectation in the estimation of Nigerians.

Under their watch, the number of foreign airlines plying Nigerian routes has reduced with more threatening to pull out. The reason for this may not be entirely the problem of the ministers but more of the economic situation in the country. However, it is instructive to note that happenings in the sector are entirely their headache.

However, there may be some cheering news from the sector with the planned release of $300 million from the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to foreign airlines out of their $600 million trapped in the apex bank. Also, the impending floating of a national carrier for the nation may also be cheering to people in the sector.
However, in the overall, the sector seemed to have underperformed in the last one year and in need of urgent overhaul.

Finance
The Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, is no doubt the most vilified in the Buhari cabinet with calls for her sack most deafening.
Adeosun’s place in the Buhari cabinet is not enviable at the moment, especially with the current economic downturn in the country, with allegations of incompetence and a lack of any sound economic plan and policy trailing her efforts.

The naira has also continually witnessed a free fall against major foreign currencies, probably the worst in the history of the country. The fall of the naira has also had spillover effect on the price of commodities and the continual closure of companies, especially manufacturing concerns over the non-availability of Forex for the procurement of vital raw materials and machinery.

Nigerians will no doubt be surprised if the minister survives any cabinet reshuffle the president may likely carry out in the near future.

Agriculture
One of the major promises the Buhari administration made to Nigerians is the diversification of the economy, especially through agriculture to stave off the effect of the declining price of crude oil in the international market.

Though Chief Audu Ogbeh, the current Minister of Agriculture, is seen by many as an experienced hand, having held the same portfolio in the Second Republic, his performance so far has left many Nigerians wondering what went amiss.

Nigerians were aghast when Chief Ogbeh informed them that the Federal Government would import special grass from Brazil as a way out of the constant faceoff between rampaging Fulani herdsmen and farmers in parts of the country. He was also quoted to have said that the price of rice, a staple food in the country, is high because Nigerians eat too much of it.

To crown the frustration of Nigerians, the prices of food items have hit the roof while farmers, who before now got farm inputs, especially fertilizers with so much ease, are not happy with the the present situation.

Foreign Affairs
The reign of Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama has not been as eventful as largely expected due to the lack of a defined foreign affairs policy by the Buhari administration just like in the economic front.

The Buhari administration made a major goof, when against popular expectations, the executive arm of government unilaterally enlisted the country in the Saudi Arabia led Islamic coalition against terrorism. This is despite the fact that Nigeria is a secular state whose constitution is against such.

To the discredit of the minister is his open endorsement of the Democratic Party candidate in the just concluded US presidential election, Hilary Clinton. Diplomatically, it was viewed as a major goof.

Even more disheartening is Onyeama’s clarification that his endorsement on behalf of the Federal Government was based on polls conducted by the media and other public opinion agencies before the election that eventually went the way of Donald Trump.

You may also like: Ekweremadu urges Buhari to remove ministers of Finance, Budget…

Labour and Employment
Dr Chris Ngige, the Minister of Labour and Employment has been having a running battle with employers in the country, especially in the banking sector.

The minister came under intense criticism when he declared that the federal government may sanction banks that sack their workers, including the withdrawal of their licences. For many, this was tactically wrong on the part of the minister, who should have been in the forefront of promoting employment and encouraging employers to keep their workforce in the face of recession.

The minister has also been unable to match action with the promise of the ruling APC, to massively create jobs for Nigerians. Instead millions of Nigerians have lost their jobs, increasing the nation’s unemployment rate and poverty in the land.

Budget and Planning
The year 2016 will be remembered for the furore that greeted the passing of the 2016 federal budget.

From the inability of the executive arm of government to send the year’s budget to the National Assembly, to its withdrawal due to discrepancies noticed in the document, and allegations of budget padding by ministries, departments and agencies, to revelations at the House of Representatives, the Minister of Budget and Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma, has had an uneventful first year in office.

Udoma has also had his fair share of blame for the inability of the Buhari administration to come out with a workable economic plan that will steer the nation out of recession into recovery.

However, the minister, apparently noticing the displeasure of Nigerians with the state of things, recently announced that the federal government is to assemble economic experts to help review its economic plan that will be published in December.

As the Buhari cabinet marks one year in office, the general consensus among analysts is that the country is no better, as the team seems to be still learning the ropes, and wobbling along, with no clearly defined objective or work plan as it is.

This is seen in the fact that most sectors are in a worse state than what was inherited from the previous administration.

It is also agreed among watchers that the Buhari cabinet is clearly in need of an overhaul if the administration hopes to deliver reasonable dividends to Nigerians, to give them reason to consider the party they represent any chance to continue managing the nation’s affairs in the next general elections.

By Timothy Enietan-Matthews ….

RipplesNigeria …without borders, without fears

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0 Comments

  1. Roland Uchendu Pele

    November 11, 2016 at 9:53 am

    To me, the only functional Minister, regardless of his many errors, is the Minister of Information, Alh. Lai Mohammed. For some reasons, I just prefer that a public official constantly relates to the public, and Lai has never failed in that.

  2. JOHNSON PETER

    November 11, 2016 at 10:07 am

    All buhari’s ministers are not effective. sincerely the likes of Fayemi and Adeosun are not meant to be in buhari’s cabinet. buhari needs to reshuffle his cabinets if he must succeed .

    • Nonso Ezeugo

      November 12, 2016 at 2:13 am

      Buhari like them that way so he should manage them because they are is fellow corrupted cabinets

  3. yanju omotodun

    November 11, 2016 at 10:18 am

    all these ministers are just there as figure head ministers . Buhari defines their roles, when they are to perform or not.

  4. me

    November 11, 2016 at 3:48 pm

    What a change !!!
    We can only hope it will not continue like this.

  5. Amaka Okoro

    November 12, 2016 at 2:24 am

    If buhari wants to achieve anything in this country buhari should change his cabinets and bring in a new cabinets that can make him achieve better things in this country

  6. Amarachi Okoye

    November 12, 2016 at 2:34 am

    This country is into bondage and buhari and his cabinets are the cause of the problem. When the leader is not active how do you expect the followers to be active. Buhari should please make use of a better cabinets not unwanted one

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