- Not ‘noise makers’, but policy geeks to give bureaucrats direction
The nation heaved a sigh of relief when President Muhammadu Buhari forwarded the list of his nominees as ministers to the Senate for approval.
However, long after the list had been in the possession of Senate President Bukola Saraki and its content declared, words of the President in France that ministers are mere noise makers, while bureaucrats run government departments continue to reverberate.
At a point, that declaration tended to overshadow the qualities of the 21 men and women that made the list. It did not matter to some Nigerians, including senators that on the list are former governors, former political party chairmen and ex-senators. They felt, by the statement of the president, ministers would not occupy a pride of place in the administration.
This would be unfortunate. Ministers are key officials of state who assist the Chief Executive in the formulation of policies and explaining the position of government to the populace. They sit in the Federal Executive Council and have a general overview of the philosophy of the government; and use that in performing the task of reorientation of lower officials and bureaucrats in their departments.
To claim, therefore, as the president did, that the work of governance is performed by the bureaucrats is misplaced. We believe it was Freudian slip, if jocularly made. It came in response to the pressure for ministers to be named in accordance with provisions of the constitution.
It is expected that those to be appointed ministers are men of integrity; qualified in their own rights to run the administration of the country. They are men and women of stature who have distinguished themselves in other spheres of life and might have contributed immensely to the making of the government. To dismiss them as noise-makers is to lower their esteem in the eyes of the public and the civil servants.
We expect so much from President Buhari and his team of ministers. During the election, the president and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) promised to give the entire gamut of public administration a facelift. He pledged himself to offer change. Many of those whose names have appeared on the list before the Senate were involved in the campaign.
There can be no excuse for failure. We hope the presidential slip would not lead to unnecessary competition and friction between the ministers and the top bureaucrats in the ministries, especially at a time that the president has also promised to restructure the ministries, departments and agencies. They have to work in harmony and it must be made clear that the ministers are the bosses.
We call on President Buhari to seize the opportunity offered by the administration of oaths on the new ministers to clear the air. The task ahead is quite enormous. All the ministries must begin to work towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals which the developed world has already achieved; and moved to attaining the newly launched Sustainable development Goals.
Aside probity that President Buhari promised in his inaugural speech, and to which the world has identified him, clearly formulated policies and efficiency are also expected in a bid to make the country a real giant of Africa.
The president’s denigrating remark must have informed the view of some senators that the minister-nominees are crooks. This was done without adducing a shred of evidence. Anyone found to be a crook among them should be dropped during the screening period that we expect to be thorough.
We support the Senate in committing itself to putting an end to the “bow and go” syndrome. But, as many as pass the test deserve honour. For too long cynicism has trailed the performance of every public official from the day he is sworn in.
President Buhari has a duty to end this. He needs to assure the country that he was able to come up with the best materials after four months of search, if an anticlimax. It is on this template that he stands any chance of declaring after four years that he has delivered.
