Jonathan’s cabinet bloated – NLC, TUC, opposition parties

Labour unions, opposition parties and non-governmental organisations on Thursday flayed President Goodluck Jonathan’s new cabinet and his decision to create additional ministries.

The Nigeria Labour Congress, the Trade Union Congress, Campaign for Democracy, the Congress for Progress Change and the All Nigeria People’s Party described the size of the cabinet and the creation of more ministries as a “perpetuation of a culture of waste”.



The Acting General Secretary of the NLC, Mr. Owei Lakemfa, said, “The President said he would have preferred a smaller cabinet but he was constrained because he had to pick a minister from each of the 36 states.

“If he was truly constrained, he would have picked 36 ministers. What we are having now is bureaucracy upon bureaucracy, and each of these ministers will have a convoy and a retinue of aides and they will (also) travel. This is just a waste of our resources.”

Lakemfa and the President General of the TUC, Mr. Peter Esele, said in two separate telephone interviews with our correspondents that the size of the executive council of the federation was the harbinger of bad governance.

The Senate has so far cleared 32 ministerial nominees for the President. He also submitted the names of an additional eight nominees to the Senate on Thursday, thus making the number of ministers 40. The Senate has also given the President the go-ahead to appoint 20 special advisers. The President, sources said, would still send the names of nominees next week.

Lakemfa said the Federal Government should be more concerned about the need to reduce the number of ministries than the creation of additional ones.

He said that the number of ministerial nominees sent to the Senate for confirmation by the President showed that he was not keen on reducing the cost of governance.

“The situation is not different in the states where some governors have so many aides. All these do not translate to good governance. We should be reducing the number of ministries and not creating new ones. What we are witnessing is a waste of our natural resources in terms of oil and our income.”

Similarly, the President General of the TUC called for the amendment of the part of the constitution that stipulates that each states of the federation should contribute to the Executive Council of the Federation, saying the provision was wrong.

The President had at the valedictory meeting of the Presidential Advisory Council explained why he could not reduce the size of the cabinet. Jonathan, who was responding to PAC’s advice that he should do so, said the 1999 Constitution required every state to be represented in the federal cabinet.

According to Section 147 (3) of the constitution, “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 Esele said that it was not a desire to adhere to the constitution that was behind the appointment but a need to create jobs for those he described as political jobbers.

“There is no need for creating more ministries and even the part of the constitution that makes it compulsory for all states to contribute to the President’s cabinet should be amended. The ones that are around are in a mess; Nigerians are not getting the expected value from them.

“We should stop creating jobs for the boys. This is not the transformation we are expecting from President Goodluck Jonathan. I think it is high time we stopped creating jobs for the boys.”

Also, the National Publicity Secretary of All Nigerian Peoples Party, Mr. Emma Enekwu, said there was no need for the creation of more ministries.

He said Nigerians had expected President Jonathan to reduce the number of existing ministries.

He said, “It is not economically viable at all. Creating more ministries for what? Do not forget that all over the world, people have been talking about cutting down the cost of governance. Why are we trying to increase it in Nigeria?

“Creating new ministries is not the best thing for the country. Although it will create more jobs for the people, but it will lead to the depletion of government fund, which we all have been condemning in the past. The action, if carried out, is condemnable and we should all ask the President to rescind it.”

The Congress for Progressive Change said the decision of President Jonathan to create an additional ministry was the beginning of the country’s “season of anomie.”

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He said, “It is not economically viable at all. Creating more ministries for what? Do not forget that all over the world, people have been talking about cutting down the cost of governance, why are we trying to increase it in Nigeria?

“Creating new ministries is not the best thing for the country. Though it will create more jobs for the people, but it will lead to the depletion of government fund, which we all have been condemning in the past. The action, if carried out, is condemnable and we should all ask the President to rescind it.”

The Congress for Progressive Change said the decision of President Goodluck Jonathan to create an additional ministry was the beginning of the country’s “season of anomie,”

The party also said it was only a means to create jobs for the boys. The CPC said it was an indication that the government was not ready to listen to the advice of the former minister of finance and Managing Director of the World Bank, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Nweala, who had told the Senate during her screening as a ministerial nominees that the cost of governance was too high.

On Wednesday, the Senate, while screening the Managing Director of the World Bank, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, for a ministerial appointment, had asked for her views on the President’s plan to a Ministry of Information Technology. The former minister, however, did not answer the question, but she did observe that the current budget amounted to Nigeria living beyond her means. The appointments came amidst growing concern about the high recurrent expenditures, which Okonjo-Iweala put at 74 per cent of the 2011 budget.

CPC National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Rotimi Fashakin, said the party was not surprised that Jonathan was creating new ministries that would further increase the cost of governance.

“This is a reckless government that is fast destroying the hopes of Nigerians. The Peoples Democratic Party is not really ready to assuage the feelings of Nigerians. How can you assembly the team that destroyed the aspiration of the people and looted the excess crude account? It shows that they are not serious,” he said.

Fashakin added that Jonathan had decided to create more ministries in order to provide jobs for cronies.

“It’s a season of anything goes, coming only a day after a seasoned economist had commented on the high cost of governance. Nigeria’s presidential system is the most expense in the world. They are just creating jobs for the boys. They are just creating ministries to incorporate the other appendages of the PDP that call themselves political parties. The Action Congress of Nigeria, the Labour Party and the rest of them are just extensions of the PDP,” Fashakin said.

Speaking in the same vein, the President of the Civil Liberties Organisation, Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, said the creation of additional ministry did not make sense. Odumakin said additional ministries would be additional burden on the economy.

“All these bogus things we like are impediments to the wheel of progress. It’s just jobs for the boys, and it’s only going to bleed the country,” she said.

Okei-Odumakin said rather than create more ministries the way forward was for the government to be responsive and responsible. She said the situation would not have been so bad if the government, since the YarAdua-Jonathan era had been active and some of the ministries had been productive.

“What we have in government are people who are not really productive. We have to review the process because the solutions they have proffered have been cosmetic. We have to start from the scratch and ensure that these anomalies are corrected,” she said


But the Action Congress of Nigeria, National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed said that the additional ministry could be created, if it would lead to efficiency of governance. He added that it was only uncalled for if the motive was “job for the boys.”

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