CABINET READY BY SEPTEMBER: Did President Buhari renege on his promise?

On the second day of President Muhammadu Buhari's trip to France which commenced on 14th September 2015, he granted an interview to Paris based international news and current affairs station, France 24. During the interview anchored by Francois Picardon on Sept 16, President Buhari re-emphasized his intention to keep to his promise of having his cabinet ready by September as contained in his Op-ed published in Washington Post during his US trip in July.

Buhari made the following statement during the interview, 'As for the cabinet I said we will have one by the end of the month, and time flies. But end of the month is coming too quickly for my liking.' Francois prods further by asking if he will be sticking to it, to which Buhari replies, 'Yes, I will stick to it (September timeline). I will send the names to the...constitutionally...Ministers...err...and some important appointment. I will have to send it to the National Assembly.' Listen from 6:30.

The interview goes on:

Francois: 'Some have quipped that the country runs better without Ministers.'

Buhari: 'Well, ermm, when you started introducing me you said I was around between 1983 to 1985, even then we had Ministers. So under this system we have to have Ministers, and we are going to have Ministers.'

Francois: 'Are markets being a bit spooked by the fact they, they don't have right now a Finance Minister? We've seen the bond market, the volatility right now when it comes to Nigeria. Is the delay starting to hurt a bit?'

Buhari: 'No, it's what we know and which we learnt from the Western system. The civil service provides the continuity, the technocrats. And in any case they are the ones that do most of the work. The Ministers are there, I think, to make a lot of noise. I think Politicians make a lot of noise, but the work is being done by technocrats.'

Buhari promised on 2 occasions, during his US and France trips, to have his cabinet ready by September, not a ministerial list. Buhari only submitted a 21 man ministerial list to the Senate on the last day of September, by 5pm on 30th Sept 2015. The constitution Section.147(3) stipulates that the President shall appoint one minister from each of the 36 states of the Federation, as such 15 more ministerial nominees are expected to be sent to the Senate to complete the cabinet.

The first step in the process of having a cabinet in place is the submission of the list of ministerial nominees to the Senate for screening and swearing in. The 2nd step of the process is the Senate screening and swearing in the successful nominees. While the 3rd and final step would be the President assigning portfolios to the duly sworn in Ministers (or Special Advisers) of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

At the moment the Senate has only acknowledged receipt of the incomplete ministerial nominees list from the President, and have informed the public that the names would be read out on the floor of the Senate during plenary on Tuesday, 6th October 2015 next week. Therefore, as at midnight 30th September, 2015 there was no sworn in Minister, there was no Minister of Finance or Attorney General of the Federation, there was no cabinet in place.

Summarily, a promise was not kept.