A former minister of communications, Adebayo Shittu, has said that President Bola Tinubu’s cabinet is not that “unwieldy” for a country with Nigeria’s population.
Shittu, whilst speaking on Politics Today on Channels Television, said ministers have been tasked with serving more than 200 million people.
The ex communications minister under the Muhammadu Buhari administration said that governance is evolving and entails the establishment of new ministries, noting that there is a need for people to be appointed to oversee the new ministries.
“There is no point saving a kobo, and in the process, you lose so much naira,” he said.
“Nigeria is made up of 200 million people. Ministers appointed are supposed to come and serve these 200 million people, and you would agree with me that the content of governance is ever expanding.
“Government is thinking ahead to bring in new ministries, new subject matters, and so on.
“As far as I’m concerned, having 50 ministers is not too many for this country.
“For instance, if you take the ministry of agric, it is one of the largest ministries we have. The agencies under the federal ministry of agriculture and ministry of education are certainly more than 50 in each case.
“So, if you have 50 agencies under a ministry, you expect one person to be able to adequately take care of the core content of the ministry itself and also be able to take care in a supervisory role, of the more than 50 agencies under them? That will certainly be too unwieldy.
“That is why, in some countries, you have a separate ministry of primary education, you also have a ministry of higher education, and so on.
“There is a need for us to be realistic and look for people who can adequately take on these ministries, both the real content of the ministry and the agencies under them.
“To the best of my knowledge, having 50 ministers is not too many for a huge county like Nigeria… for the enormous responsibilities that many of these ministries have to undertake.”
President Tinubu, in August 2023, swore in 45 ministers — the highest number of ministers since Nigeria returned to civilian rule in 1999.
He [Tinubu] also in October 2023, swore in three additional ministers, increasing the cabinet to 48.
But in December 2023, Simon Lalong resigned as minister of labour to pick up a seat in the senate, after a court of appeal judgment.
One month after Lalong’s resignation, Tinubu suspended Betta Edu as minister of humanitarian affairs and disaster management, amid alleged corruption.
For several months in 2024, the president’s cabinet had 46 ministers, following the resignation of Lalong and Edu’s suspension.
However, on Wednesday, the president implemented a reshuffling of his cabinet, which resulted into the “discharge” of five ministers, appointment of seven new ones, with 10 ministers assigned fresh portfolios.