 Published
April 3rd, 2010
Immediately
following the proclamation of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan as
Acting President and Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian
Armed Forces by the National Assembly, the presidency was
inundated with calls for the dissolution of the Executive
Council of the Federation. These calls came from the
political community, socio-cultural organisations,
faith-based groups, and the civil society.
From all the comments that laced the demand for the
dissolution of the cabinet, one could easily pick out a
consensus opinion. There was an overwhelming need for the
acting president to put in place a cabinet that would work
as an indivisible team. The reason for this popular opinion
cannot be overemphasized.
Just before the dissolution of the last cabinet, it had
become very obvious that the Executive Council of the
Federation was divided along two camps. While one of the
factions was made up of President Yar’Adua’s sympathisers,
the other comprised of supporters of Acting President
Jonathan. Nigerians saw this ugly development as a huge
threat to the security, peace, unity, and progress of the
country. The already precarious political atmosphere was
made worse with wild rumours of coup plots. Nigeria’s
fragile democracy was indeed under a serious threat.
It is the opinion of this writer that many do not understand
the real meaning of loyalty in a constitutional democracy.
This was actually the main reason why the last cabinet
became polarised along two lines. Ordinarily, the loyalty of
members of the cabinet and every other public officer is
supposed to be directed to the federal republic of Nigeria
as clearly suggested in the National Pledge. Loyalty is not
supposed to be directed to the president or vice president.
Let’s consider the unambiguous wordings of the National
Pledge:
I pledge to Nigeria my country
To be faithful, loyal and honest
To serve Nigeria with all my strength
To defend her unity
And uphold her honour and glory
So help me God.
It is not stated anywhere that loyalty should be directed at
any one individual or office. The framers of the National
Anthem knew before hand the dangers associated with
misdirected loyalty. Unfortunately, our political actors
ignored the sound warnings.
Being a constitutional democracy, the vice president was not
empowered to perform certain official assignments. It was
for this very reason that the 2009 Supplementary Budget was
flown to Saudi Arabia for President Yar’Adua to endorse. It
was in the same vein that the retiring Chief Justice of the
Federation was asked to swear-in his successor. This was
novel in the history of Nigeria. The vice president could
not also swear-in federal Permanent Secretaries because of
lack of constitutional mandate. There were so many other
things the vice president could not do owing to
constitutional bottleneck. The country was almost grinding
to a halt. It was for all of these reasons that Nigerians
applauded the decision of the National Assembly to intervene
in the political crisis that arose from President Yar’Adua’s
refusal to invoke section 145 of the constitution of the
federal republic of Nigeria. It was quite evident from the
reactions of Nigerians that
majority of citizens and the international community were
desirous of peace and development in the country. News of
the dissolution of the Executive Council of the Federation
by Acting President Goodluck Jonathan on the 10th of March,
2010 was therefore received with great joy.
This writer would however note at this point that the
enthusiasm that greeted the dissolution of the cabinet by
Acting President Jonathan waned as soon as the presidency
sent the list of ministerial nominees to the National
Assembly for consideration and confirmation. Like in
previous cases, this was expected owing largely to a number
of factors that come to play during ministerial nominations.
Most important among them is the issue of political
exigency. It is strongly believed that federal ministers
play very important roles in the politics of their
respective home states. As such, major political actors
scheme to have their candidates make the ministerial list.
Sometimes, stakeholders even engage in smear campaigns or
propaganda against their suspected rivals.
The spirit of presidential democracy suggests that there
must be a cabinet so as to properly constitute the executive
arm of government. This idea is to help eliminate any
dictatorial element in a democratic political leadership.
Here in Nigeria, there is a whole lot of misunderstanding of
the role of ministers in a presidential democracy. This is
mainly as a result of the wrong opinion people hold about
political power. The cardinal aim of government is to better
the lots of man and society. This is achieved through the
articulation of sound ideas which are developed into policy
frameworks. The direction of government is usually reflected
in its policies. To provide for easy coordination and
monitoring, government policies are streamlined into fiscal
instruments also known as budget.
The major role of ministers is to articulate sound ideas
that will help achieve government’s objectives. It is
expected that after the signing of the appropriation bill
into law, each minister would work towards achieving a 100%
implementation of recurrent and capital proposals as they
relate with their respective ministries. Unfortunately, many
cabinet members are more interested in politicking than
executing their official briefs. There are no longer traces
of passion and patriotism among ministers. This is one
reason why many MDAs are unable to implement up to just 20%
of their sectional budget proposals. Many even fail to
exhaust their votes at the end of the financial year when
there are whole lot of work to be done. To check against
this negative attitude of cabinet members, the presidency
should take the issue of performance very seriously as
highlighted by Senate President David Mark recently. It is
the opinion of this writer that any minister
who is unable to execute a minimum of 85% of approved budget
proposals should be relieved of his or her post. The
presidency must however ensure that funds are approved and
made available to the various MDA’s as at when due. This
would however require improving the revenue generating
mechanisms of government. In order to achieve this
objective, government must show enough political will in the
battle against graft. Through this, enough financial
resources would be saved for its developmental agendas.
Furthermore, government must do well to invest massively in
the non-oil sector. This would help boost the nation’s
revenue strategy.
KALI GWEGWE
2, Greenvilla-Customs Link Road,
Biogbolo-Epie,
Yenagoa,
Bayelsa State.
0806 407 4810
kaligwegwe@yahoo.com
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