By Willy Eya
FORTY-EIGHT hours after President Muhammadu Buhari assigned portfolios to the new ministerial appointees, mixed reactions have continued to trail the exercise just as many prayed that the cabinet succeeds.
While some said Buhari’s new kids on the bloc would move the nation forward, others argued that some of the portfolios were like putting square pegs in round holes.
Speaking to Daily Sun yesterday, former secretary general of National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers of Nigeria (NUPENG), Frank Kokori said the delay in constituting the cabinet was ‘worth it after all’.
He expressed optimism that ‘with the calibre of people in the new cabinet, Nigeria would be better for it’ and dismissed complaints in some quarters about the merging of some ministries. Kokori explained that the responsibility is merely managerial and should not be a problem to anybody who knows his onions.
“Having ruled Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola, for instance, can conveniently manage three ministries. Yes, Works, Power and Housing are big ministries but Fashola is young and he is going to be only a manager.”
For Publicity Secretary of Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin, the development is a mixed bag “as some of the ministers are going to be round pegs in round holes and others as square pegs in round holes.”
He, however, noted that the challenge now is about the state of the nation’s economy, adding, “it is about diversifying the economy and you cannot diversify without restructuring the country. There is the challenge of declining price of oil, among others.”
An industrialist, Dr. Ezekiel Izuogu said distribution of portfolios was a welcome development and expressed optimism that the new team would succeed.
Maxi Okwu, a legal practitioner, expressed reservations with the merger of some ministries and urged the president to unbundle them.
He said the responsibility of managing Works, Housing and Power would be too much for Fashola and advised that a critical sector like power should be under a separate ministry.
Okwu, however, noted that the president has the constitutional rights to choose his ministers, saying the buck stops on his table.
For former deputy national president of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Abia Onyike, it is clear that the key ministries went to the North and South-West.
He bemoaned how the South-East lost out on key ministries with the exception of Enugu State which got the Foreign Affairs Ministry.
“This pattern of appointments reveals that Buhari is still rigidly committed to the statements he made in USA to the effect that he is only out to favour those who voted for him during the elections of March 28,” he said.
Founder of OOdua Peoples Congress (OPC), Dr. Fredrick Fasehun said Buhari as the chief executive officer has the right to choose whoever he wanted and that he wished all the ministers well.