by Alexander O. Onukwue

 

At the APC’s meeting on Monday, 30th October, President Muhammadu Buhari intimated that he plans to expand the Federal Executive Council. No specifics were provided from the statements by the President expressed to the National Executive Committee of the APC, only that “the compressed FEC will be expanded to bring in supporters with fresh ideas”.

This has led to the assumption that the President is indeed mulling over adding more Ministers to his cabinet. According to Sahara Reporters, there will be eight (8) new Ministers, one from each geo-political zone, and one each from Lagos and Kano States.

As presently constituted, the Federal Executive Council is made up of 36 ministers, including Buhari himself as the substantive Minister of Petroleum. The addition of 8 more persons to the cabinet will raise the number to 44, nearly a record number of ministers for any administration since 1999.

Predictably, the development has raised more than a few murmurs on social media. The dimensions of people’s disturbance are not so diverging, with most concerns revolving around one main question: why does the President think it necessary to add new ministers to his cabinet with less than 18 months to the next general elections in 2019?

The answer appears to be right in Buhari’s speech: to reward/placate the party’s aggrieved supporters. It was not coated nor spoken in a disguised form. President Buhari said the expansion was to add “supporters” to the Federal level, directly implying some kind of second batch of rewards for the loyalists and architects of the 2015 victory.

Another obvious but slightly different answer is that the party sees the addition of more persons to the cabinet as a sort of shoring-up-the-barracks mechanism, akin to adding more troops to a battle to withstand expected pressure from opponents. By seeking out one additional cabinet member representing each zone of the country, the President and APC by extension, wishes to, in readiness for 2019, provide a sturdier foundation for Change 2.0 campaigns. The new members of the cabinet, if they will be ministers, will presumably not be from the same Senatorial zones or Federal Constituencies as the existing ministers. Hence, this should give the party and the President more “federal appeal” in the constituencies of the about-to-be-nominated persons.

From a different perspective, Buhari’s expansion of the cabinet will be a precursor to an eventual shuffle of positions, making it softer for persons who will be kicked off the juicier positions to be eased out of core Aso Rock business. The President has shown severe reluctance towards out rightly changing any one of his ministers, despite the many scandals that stick to their shadows. Perhaps by increasing the number of cabinet members in the pool, there will be a dilution of sorts of the powers of the tight-grippers?

These are only guesses. It is not even confirmed that the expansion will necessarily be adding “Ministers” though it seems highly probable. One thing is sure: Nigerians are not tickled by the prospect of having more Ministers at this time, most of whom will be Ministers of State II anyway. Contrary to the President’s remarks, this does not convince as being “for the ultimate benefit of the people of Nigeria”.

It is, without doubt, APC first.