Six Technocrats To Join Buhari’s Cabinet For Legacy Projects
Haunted by criticisms from every quarter, the President Muhammadu Buhari Administration may soon wear a new look in the coming months as six technocrats are being prepared to join the cabinet that is currently seen as lacklustre.
The focus of the technocrats will specifically be, to plug revenue leakages in key agencies and mop up funds to assist in the payment of the country’s huge debt overhang, re-arrange some federal agencies that are currently failing in delivering on their mandates, and generally, put some bites into the current administration which many see as lacking in direction and could be without legacies when its tenure expires in 2023.
Some that are seen as progressives in the Buhari administration are worried about the mounting criticisms on many of its actions and policies especially the increasing debt overhang. The country’s external debt stands at $31.477 billion as at the second quarter of 2020 from $27.665 billion in the first quarter of 2020 according to data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Domestic debt as at half-year 2020 stands at N15.455 trillion
Electricity is still unstable despite the new reflective tariff that is now seen as a way for the power firms to get more money despite their inefficiencies. Many roads, both federal and states are still in deplorable conditions while huge government revenues by way of taxes are still with many government contractors who are in the habit of understating revenues in their books.
Insecurity is more worrisome in the country, especially with the missing arms and ammunition together with police uniforms that were looted from police stations by hoodlums who took advantage of the recent #EndSARS protests. The economy is still in an imbecilic state and only offering hunger that has now pushed many into crime while the increasing inflation, which currently stands at 13.39 per cent owing to the high price of food items, has beaten all to a pulp.
Bent on bringing in the new additions to assist in correcting some of these problems and bringing in a positive impact on the economy, the administration set up a committee for the work which has received the approval of President Muhammadu Buhari on the expectations of the six technocrats of which plugging revenue leakages is key.
InsideBusiness.ng recalls that the Federal Government had in September 2020, took concrete steps to curtail sharp practices in the revenue generated by some of its establishments and remitted into the Federation Account by deploying 10 revenue supervisors to monitor the books of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).
Others that are also currently being monitored are Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC), Nigeria Shippers Council, Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).
Nigeria’s Minister for Finance and Budget and Planning, Zainab Ahmed explained that the action was to achieve transparency and accountability of government revenue, improve revenue performance, and provide a sustainable source of funding for the government budget execution.
“This is the time to act”, said a member of the committee set up to shop for and screen the technocrats, who told InsideBusiness.NG that the devastating effect of the coronavirus pandemic has prevented meaningful work for the major part of this year while next year (2021) seems the only time remaining for the government to change the negative perception about it. The entire 2022 is expected to be for political campaigns en-route the 2023 general elections to usher in another administration and governance during such period, is always relegated to the backstage.
When contacted on the plans by the administration to carry out a minor cabinet reshuffling, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, said: “I really do not have information on this”.
Findings by InsideBusiness.NG, however, show that the new additions to the cabinet are currently under the lid as The Presidency tries to examine how the Nigerian Constitution will support the roles intended for the six to avoid a constitutional crisis.
Sources at The Presidency said President Buhari wants super ministerial positions for the six technocrats in a way to give them control over the entire sectors of the economy to be able to deliver on their mandates.
“The President favours having them as super ministers to which the current cabinet members will report so as to create harmony and synergy in government’s decision and policies in an ultimate goal to move the country forward”, says a source at the Aso Villa, Nigeria’s seat of power.
“The snag, however, is that the constitution does not support such structure where we can have super ministers and we are still looking at how the new additions will work together with the current cabinet”, the source explains further.
The Nigerian constitution is specific on the structure of the cabinet and which cannot be altered. Section 147 (1) notes that “There shall be such offices of Ministers of the Government of the Federation as may be established by the President. (2) 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. (3) 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.
According to Section 14 (3) “The composition of the Government of the Federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few State or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that Government or in any of its agencies”.
In the weeks to come, however, how the technocrats will work will soon become clearer as there are several meetings ongoing to finetune their roles in the government.
The idea of the technocrats was buoyed by the outcome of a review of the current crops of ministers which shows that many have political ambition after their service and such future ambitions, according to the committee have influenced their actions in office as many are found wanting in taking decisive actions.
Some of the ministers are seen as unfit for the roles given them while some have allegedly lost the steam to push the ministries and agencies under their control to work effectively to deliver on their mandates.
Reference was made of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRC), an agency under the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investments with strategic roles in the economy but which has strayed off its mandate and could no longer live up to expectation.
Findings at The Presidency also reveal that the six additions who had been interviewed are tested private sector operators with proven capabilities in their different fields and, when they are eventually cleared to work, will be expected to look into the books of ministries, department and agencies (MDAs) in a measure to recreate work ethics that have been missing in the federal civil service.
The committee that is working on this project, InsideBusinessNG was told, is bent on leaving lasting legacies for the Buhari administration and the new six technocrats are to lead the way on the projects that are in the pipeline to serve as a reference when the current administration expires in 2023.
“This administration wants to develop the oil and gas sector, develop the seaports and airports, make the roads better in addition to other plans for all the sector of the economy”, the source told InsideBusinessNG.
“We have also learned of ways to clean off the nation’s huge debt overhang” which, a member of the committee said is one of the major reasons that give comforts to the government about the incoming technocrats.”
Talks, this online medium learnt, are at an advanced stage with some South Africa firms to work with the federal government on all of the developmental programmes and the next stage is for the technocrats that will coordinate the government efforts to be in place, noted a key member of the committee that is working on the plan.
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