The Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari in his recent visit to Dehi the Indian Capital city, has revealed in his speech that there would be no jobs for some screened ministerial nominees, saying that although the constitution stipulates 36 ministers, the available ministries were not up to the number.
The Nigerian President he has also reiterated this on position on Tuesday November 2, 2015, while receiving the list of screened and confirmed Ministerial nominees which were about 36 in number from the Nigerian Senate President.This came as the senate president, Dr. Bukola Saraki said that the idea of having ministers without portfolio was not entirely novel in the Nigerian political system. Though the Nigerian President gave his support to the constitutionally mandatory 36 ministerial slots, he also reiterated that the economy was too battered to accommodate the number.
President Buhari confirmed this position which he had earlier revealed, when he received the second and last batch of the screened nominees from the senate president at the presidential villa in Abuja.
On The Constitutionality of Having Ministers Without Portfolios in Nigeria -
Chapter 6, Part 1, Section 147 Sub Sections (1) (2) & (3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) provides:
(1) There shall be such offices of Ministers of the Government of the Government of the Federation as may be established by the President.
(2) Any appointment to the office of Minister of the Government of the Federation, shall if the nomination of any person to such office is confirmed by the Senate, be made by the President.
(3) Any appointment under subsection (2) of this section by the President shall be in conformity with the Provision of Section 14 (3) of this Constitution: - provided that in giving effect to the provision aforesaid the President shall appoint at least one Minister from each state, who shall be an indigene of such state.
Section 14 (3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, provides thus;
(3)The composition of the Government of the Federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few State or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that Government or in any of its agencies.
From the combined provisions of Section 147 (1) (2) & (3) and Section 14 (3) of the Nigerian Constitution it seems like the Nigerian President is in conformity with the appointment of at least a Minister from each of the 36 states in Nigeria. The constitution is very silent as to whether or not the Ministers so appointed should have a definite portfolio or not. Therefore, it is safe to agree with the position of the Nigerian President as to Ministers not having a definite portfolio.
On the contrary, the practice most especially in the immediate past administration is to have both Senior and Junior Ministers in some of the Ministries. The Senior Minister is appointed as the Federal Minister over seeing such Ministries while the Junior Minister is appointed as a Minister for States over seeing the Ministry at the State level. it will be very safe and will promote better efficiency if the Nigerian President should continue with this practice for some of the Ministries that are very tasking instead of having some set of Ministers with no portfolio at all and with nothing to do.
However, on the question of the entire composition of the Government under the current Nigerian President it is left to be seen on the achievement of balance with regards to Federal Character even with the appointment of the Ministers, bearing in mind the mandatory compliance with Federal Character as stipulated by the Nigerian Constitution that there should the absence of a predominant ethnic group in the entire composition of the Government.
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