Cabinet size nears 70 as Tinubu ignores calls for lean govt

THE GUARDIAN 

• Sends 19 new ministerial nominees to Senate • Alake seeks stiffer regulations for social media
• With 47 nominees, Tinubu sets new record for highest number of Ministers since 1999
• Bosun Tijani: Young founder of Nigeria’s biggest tech hub makes fresh list
• 20 SAs, SSAs to have cabinet status • Despite present sufferings, Tinubu’s policy approval rating is 2x Buhari’s

Despite persistent calls for a drastic reduction in the cost of governance amid dwindling revenue and burgeoning debt profile, President Bola Tinubu yesterday forwarded a fresh list of 19 ministerial nominees to the Senate for confirmation, taking the number of nominees to an unprecedented 47.

This is in addition to the earlier list of 20 Senior Special Assistants (SSAs), Special Assistants (SAs) and Personal Assistants (PAs) appointed by the President.

Recall that The Guardian had exclusively reported three weeks ago that barring last minute change, the cabinet will be as bloated as that of former President Muhammadu Buhari, but with major realignments in portfolios.

Though a 42-member cabinet was being expected because each state is constitutionally mandated to have a representative and as it was done by the last administration, an inclusion of six more Ministers representing each of the six geological zones, the shape of the new cabinet, as gathered, will also include the 20 Special Advisers, as SAs were expected to contribute to discussions at the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meetings.

But against current realities, especially rising hardship occasioned by the removal of petrol subsidy among other policies introduced by the new administration, President Tinubu yesterday unveiled the second batch of his Ministers, ballooning the yet-to-be inaugurated FEC to a near 70-member Cabinet.

This is shattering and surpassing all known records. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo began the fourth republic with 27 Ministers between 1999-2003 and in his second term (2003-2007), he had 30 Ministers. The late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua (2007-2010) inaugurated 39 Ministers, introducing the Minister of State nomenclature to accommodate all states of the federation and the Federal Cabinet Territory (FCT) in his cabinet.

Former President Jonathan (2011-2015) reduced his cabinet to 33 but a year to his re-election, in 2014, he reshuffled his cabinet and injected some politicians in what he termed ‘injury time addition’ to shore up his chances of winning the 2015 election. This took up the numbers of Ministers back to 37.

Former President Muhammadu Buhari (2015-2023) introduced the extra bonus of six geopolitical zones nominees to his cabinet to take the tally to 42.

But while President Tinubu, though urged to reduce his cabinet, was expected to still maintain the 42-man cabinet framework, no one anticipated it would be an expanded cabinet, principally made up of former governors and politicians who were being compensated for the roles they played in the February 25 presidential election…