Not all nominees will be ministers – Buhari
Not all nominees will be ministers – Buhari
President Muhammadu Buhari has said that not all the ministerial nominees who scaled screening at the Senate will emerge as ministers overseeing ministries.
Buhari said some of them will only end up sitting on the Federal Executive Council in order to fulfil the constitutional requirement of having at least one minister from each state of the federation.
Buhari dropped these hints on Friday in an interview with the Nigerian Television Authority and Channels TV.
This was shortly before he departed New Delhi, India where he participated in the third summit of the India-Africa Forum.
He has since arrived in Nigeria.
Buhari told the two television stations: “There was no reduction (of ministers) to 36.
“What the constitution says, and we cannot work outside the constitution, is that there must be a cabinet representative from each state.
“Yes, there used to be 42 ministers.
“I think we will be lucky if we can have half of that now because we cannot afford it.
“Others may not be substantive ministers, but they will sit in the cabinet because that is what the constitution says and we cannot operate outside the constitution.”
Buhari also gave a hint that he would be reducing the number of federal ministries and by extension number of ministers.
In answer to a question on whether he will reduce the number of ministers, he said: “Of course.
“Unless you can volunteer to be paying them (ministers).”
Newsweb Express
