Ministers to be unveiled after Buhari’s US trip
- nationalpilot
- Jul 17, 2015
- 2 min read
New facts have emerged that the ministerial list being put together by President Muhammadu Buhari will be ready upon his return from the trip to the United States (US).
The president is billed to visit the US on July 21, following an invitation to the White House.
Sources said that though the president had kept the list close to his chest all along, he recently asked Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to work on some names, while a small team of his loyalists was also assembled at the weekend to look at some names.
It was gathered that issues of security and intra-All Progressives Congress (APC) politics had combined to delay the release of the list so far.
Sources had confirmed that the bad blood between President Buhari and the erstwhile set up at the Department of State Services (DSS), headed by Mr Ita Ekpeyong, caused the delay in the release of the names for the mandatory vetting of security agencies. Agencies, including the DSS and the police usually carry out forensic screening on individuals nominated for appointment into public offices, especially positions of ministers and ambassadors.
It was gathered that the president expects to receive recommendations from his close allies before he jets out to the US, while he intends to finalise his work on the list before the trip. The security agencies are to receive the list as soon as he returns from the US trip. A source close to the administration said that the president was concerned that the ministers and agencies were not running at full throttle yet, notwithstanding the public posturing about the current delay in appointing the ministers.
A source in the polity said on Tuesday that: “The president is aware that permanent secretaries are only used to taking orders and that capital projects cannot be executed with permanent secretaries in place. Much of the approvals are far beyond the approving capacities of the permanent secretaries, so invariably government programmes and projects are suffering. “The president would want all the contradictions in the political structure of his party resolved before nominations are ratified and even made public. That is the essence of this delay. We are close to the end of the contradictions now and I can tell you that in a short while the ministerial list would be made available to the Senate.”
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