President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) has for the umpteenth time defended his decision to delay appointment of ministers, saying most of the works in the ministries are being done by civil servants and technocrats.
He described the role of ministers as that of noise makers.
President Buhari made this assertion on Wednesday in an interview with French television station, France 24.
When asked if the absence of a Finance Minister was not affecting the Nigerian capital market and economy, he said: “No. It is what we know – and which we learnt from the western system. The civil service provides the continuity, the technocrat. And in any case, they are those that do most of the work.
“The ministers are there, I think, to make a lot of noise; for the politicians to make a lot of noise. But the work is being done by the technocrats. They are there; they have to provide the continuity, dig into the records and then guide us, [those of us] who are just coming in.
“They have been there, some of them for 15 years, some for 20 years. So I think this question of ministers is political. People from different constituencies want to see their people directly in government, and see what they can get out of it”.
President Buhari used the opportunity to reiterate his position that he would name his cabinet before the end of September.
“As for the cabinet, I said we will have one by the end of the month, and time flies. The end of the month is coming too quickly for my liking.
“Yeah, I will stick to it. I will send the names to the national assembly”, he said.
Reminded by his interviewer that “some have quipped that the country runs better without ministers”, the president said: “When you started introducing me, you said I was around 1983 to 1985.
“Even then we had ministers. So under this system, we have to have ministers; and we are going to have ministers”.
President Buhari on Wednesday departed France for Abuja after a 3-day official visit.
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