Some ministers won’t have portfolio, Buhari insists

President Muhammadu BUhari on Tuesday reaffirmed the stand he had taken in faraway India, that some ministerial nominees who have been confirmed by the Senate would not have portfolios in his cabinet.
Speaking when he received the list of confirmed ministerial nominees from Senator Saraki at a brief ceremony at the Presidential Villa yesterday, Buhari said:
“If I can remember, there must be a member from each of the 36 states. That was why I limited the number of my nominees to that number, 36. The Senate worked extremely hard, and they have passed all the nominees. I think there was some enthusiasm in some parts of the Presidency today that portfolios were to be given to the 36.
“The constitution certainly said there must be one member of the cabinet from each of the states, but the constitution did not say I must have 36 ministries.”
On assertions by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that his statements are likely to scare investors away from the country, the President said:
“I think that the economy as I have seen it now since my sitting here for the last four months, was so much battered. Although some people are saying I am giving bad publicity and scaring away investors. Any investor who is interested in investing in Nigeria will want to know more about the economy more than ourselves.
“But I am confirming to them that we are truthful, that we need them to come and help us help ourselves by getting in industries, manufacturing and services. They know our needs. The economy of human resources, I believe, will make them eventually come and help us. I assure you that we will follow the constitution and all the 36 will be sitting in the cabinet as the constitution stipulates.”

Read also: Saraki presents list of confirmed ministerial nominees to Buhari

Speaking to State House Correspondents after the meeting with the President, Saraki said the designation of ministers without portfolio was not something entirely new to the nation.
He said:
“Well I think before you had ministers of state in the past, I don’t think there is anything new, there were ministers for special duties which really didn’t have portfolios. I think the key issue is being in cabinet, is being part of the government and those that would have the responsibilities of ministering are those that at the end of the day would do that.
“We have the challenges of revenue drop, challenges in trying to boost revenue and create jobs and you know we have some of these issues which we really need to address.
“I think that it is time for us to address them and these are some of the issues we looked at as a Senate, that it is time for us to give support to the executive to move the country forward.”
Asked why he had to deliver the names personally to the President, Saraki said he had other issues besides presenting the list of ministers to the President. He, however, robustly denied engaging the President on his on-going trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal.

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