President Buhari’s new cabinet is a reflection of the unfortunate degeneration of Nigeria’s political process to a criminal franchise of power purchase, through vote buying for self service via state capture, within the corrupt framework of an elaborate patronage system, which throws up dealers in electoral heist as leaders.
As one with absolutely no expectation of any form of improvement on his first term record, President Buhari’s latest cabinet misadventure was long foretold among many other expected assaults on the concept of good governance. Coming nearly two months after his inauguration, following immense pressure from supporters and opponents, President Buhari’s unimpressive list of recycled politician technocrats did not come as a surprise. I am not surprised that no youth was considered worthy enough to have a seat in the federal executive council (not even as the minister of youth affairs). I am also not surprised that only seven out of 43, which approximates to 15 per cent of nominees, are women. Am I equally surprised that the North-West geo-political zone of origin of President Buhari has two additional nominees, whereas the five other geopolitical zones have only one each? No. For a man who places high premium on personal loyalty and equates it to patriotism to the state, I am not surprised that President Buhari’s proposed cabinet is exclusively made of loyal partisans.
However, for those who have high expectations and are hence disappointed, it should have dawned on them that this latest development is indicative of an administration that is incapable of stirring the ship of the Nigerian state in the right direction of the – more than ever before – needed sustainable socio-economic development. By proposing perhaps the worst cabinet since the beginning of the Fourth Republic, President Buhari appears determined to reinforce the failure that was his first term, while compounding the problems of governance of the Nigerian state for another four years. For a country that is embroiled in insecurity, poverty and corruption, President Buhari’s ministerial nominees are clearly not fit for the purpose of tackling these fundamental problems. Scanning through the names of the nominees, none inspires renewed hope of the socio-economic resuscitation of the Nigerian state. Any consideration of the possibilities of improvement in education, health care, agriculture, housing, public infrastructure and transportation is dashed as none of these nominees gives confidence of such. Similarly, issues pertaining to the economy, foreign policy, defence and internal security are not likely to improve at the required pace, as most of these nominees have been integral parts of the leadership rot of the past. By proposing a cabinet that smacks of compensation for gladiators in the great political heist that was the 2019 general elections, President Buhari has deepened the patronage – at the expense of public treasury – and reward system for political participation.
President Buhari’s new cabinet is a reflection of the unfortunate degeneration of Nigeria’s political process to a criminal franchise of power purchase, through vote buying for self service via state capture, within the corrupt framework of an elaborate patronage system, which throws up dealers in electoral heist as leaders. This level of decadence in the polity has resulted in a clear detachment of the business of government from the needs of the generality of the governed. As profiteers of the public treasury, dealers as leaders will always deploy the devious ingenuity of cleverly disguising corrupt self-enrichment schemes as good governance policies and programmes, in the supposed interest of the public. This has inevitably resulted in a dysfunctional governance system that takes care of a privileged – to be in government – few and cares less about the underprivileged – outside of government – majority.
President Buhari has proved beyond reasonable doubt that he is not any different from his predecessors that he loves to blame with passion. What some people mistake for change is that whereas past Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leaders were honest about their dishonesty, the All Progressives Congress (APC)’s President Buhari is dishonest about his honesty.
With a poor non-inclusive governance structure that has rendered the productive economic base comatose, leaving politics as the only thriving industry, the rat race for power grab has intensified to a level of mortal combat, as every political gladiator tries to wriggle into any available space in government in order to secure a slice of the national cake.
As a self-professed man of integrity, President Buhari, who was largely expected to make a radical departure from this retrogressive path of state patronage as a reward for political participation, has so far not only failed to do so but is set to consolidate the ravaging scourge. If only President Buhari appreciates the reality that Nigeria’s elaborate state patronage system of reward for political participation has stolen its collective development, then he would have realised that his proposed cabinet is a recipe for increased insecurity, poverty and acute corruption. President Buhari has proved beyond reasonable doubt that he is not any different from his predecessors that he loves to blame with passion. What some people mistake for change is that whereas past Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leaders were honest about their dishonesty, the All Progressives Congress (APC)’s President Buhari is dishonest about his honesty. To further underscore his dishonest integrity, President Buhari has a penchant for preaching what he does not practice, just as he surrounds himself with corruption tainted individuals who are part of the past he delights in blaming for his present failures, while also manifesting an incredible stamina to condone their administrative malfeasance. If former President Goodluck Jonathan was accused of democratising corruption, then President Buhari can be said to have normalised corruption.
Putting politics ahead of governance at a time that is perhaps Nigeria’s most trying in recent history, by proposing an incompetent cabinet whose only qualification is partisan loyalty in the advancement of the president’s political interest, has far-reaching negative consequences for Nigeria and Nigerians in the next four years. As products of the corrupt and inept political establishment, this cabinet is certainly going to maintain the status quo of skewing government businesses towards personal aggrandisement, in furtherance of bolstering their political financial war chest, and thus driving the real task of governance into inertia.
The increase in the number of ministers from 36 to 43 at a time when it is more sensible to downsize government, in order to conserve scarce resources for more productive ventures, is a reflection of the current administration’s cluelessness about how to balance patronage and governance.
Having invested illicit funds obtained from systematic state capture since the return of the civil democratic rule in 1999 in procuring victory for the ruling APC in the 2019 elections, entrusting the leadership of government business to dealers in electoral heist, is only an invitation for them to recoup their investments in terms of naira and kobo. There will be a continuous depletion of Nigeria’s national cake by a political leadership that thrives on financial debauchery, without any effort to increase its size by baking fresh ones.
For a country that is grappling with a revenue crunch so severe that it can barely cater for its over 200 million people to be burdened by a gluttonous consumption political leadership, portends a worsening of the socio-economic conditions of the majority of Nigerians. President Buhari’s proposed cabinet is a recipe for increased corruption-induced general insecurity, poverty and misery, arising from continuous economic mismanagement. The elaborate state patronage system of reward for political participation has become unsustainable as the ranks of internally displaced politicians has crowded a polity with far less government jobs. The increase in the number of ministers from 36 to 43 at a time when it is more sensible to downsize government, in order to conserve scarce resources for more productive ventures, is a reflection of the current administration’s cluelessness about how to balance patronage and governance.
Looking at the forlorn faces of the mass of the rural poor who invested enormous emotional and physical support for President Buhari’s re-election bid, the most sustainable reward for their political participation is not state patronage of a privileged few but by an integrated strategy for inclusive socio-economic development of the Nigerian state, delivered through the instrument of a good governance structure. This proposed cabinet is inherently incapable of delivering good governance.
Majeed Dahiru, a public affairs analyst, writes from Abuja and can be reached through dahirumajeed@gmail.com.
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