Nigerians eager for for President Muhammadu Buhari to announce his cabinet members still have some waiting to do as Buhari may wait until late August or early September before making the announcement.
According to The Punch Newspaper, Buhari has made up his mind not to form a cabinet until the “rot left behind by the past administration” is cleared.
“Mr. President is reluctant to build on a rotten foundation he inherited from the Peoples Democratic Party administration. You cannot even begin to imagine the situation we have met on the ground; almost everything is in a state of decay.
“There is absolutely no way the new government can hope to achieve anything long-lasting without first building a new foundation,” a source close to the Presidency said.
According to the source, clearing the PDP rot will take more than a month. The source also added that those eager for the president to announce a cabinet are job-seeking politicians.
“They have tried doing it other ways and those haven’t worked. They only want their cronies appointed to ministerial posts anyhow and they are fuelling the agitation,” the source said.
He also said Buhari was taking his time to know the ministries that would survive government’s planned pruning and the desire to cut cost of governance.
According to the source, what the President is doing is similar to how an orthopedic doctor first has to break a poorly set bones before resetting to allow for proper growth.
Over the past week, Buhari has come under criticism because he has yet to appoint his cabinet members, despite having more than three months since his election, including a month since his inauguration.
The President was sworn in on May 29, exactly one month ago today.
Responding to the criticism, the source pointed out that it would be impossible to appoint ministers to portfolios without first knowing which portfolios exist and which will be abolished.
He said, “The President plans to cut down the number of ministries and parastatals. He wants to cut down the cost of running government. He wants to make sure that all the loopholes that enable corruption to thrive are blocked. All these are procedures that require time and careful planning. You cannot do it in a rush.
“Remember that he has to make sure that all this is done without any job losses or mass retrenchments. All this is not a day’s or one-month job.”
“When contacted on Sunday, Garba Shehu said the information at the disposal of PUNCH was “not far from the truth””
