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Lagos — It’s taken nearly five months but Nigeria — Africa’s biggest economy, most populous nation and number one oil producer — may get a government this week. Final screening of 36 ministerial nominees is due to take place from tomorrow, ending a lengthy process that has earned President Muhammadu Buhari a less than flattering nickname.
Buhari, dubbed “Baba Go Slow” for the time it has taken him to appoint ministers since he took office in May, will then assign the candidates portfolios once they are approved. Since the first names were submitted to parliament on September 30, speculation has been rife about which post goes where. But some appointments look clearer than others.
Ibe Kachikwu, the new head of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), is a virtual certainty to serve as junior oil minister, after Buhari said he will personally oversee the ministry himself. Former army chief Abdulrahman Dambazau is in line for the defence portfolio, which has been dominated for the last six years by the Boko Haram insurgency in the northeast.
Former Ekiti state governor Kayode Fayemi has been tipped for foreign affairs. Since he was sworn in on May 29, Buhari has been running Nigeria with permanent secretaries (senior civil servants), laying himself open to charges of autocracy.
But the 72-year-old, who headed a military government in the 1980s, has blamed the late reception of handover notes from the previous administration for the time taken to make his nominations. Political commentator Chris Ngwodo suggested that as well as the “political back-and-forth” about potential nominees, he has also been looking at revamping failing government structures. — AFP
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