The delay by the President in appointing members of his cabinet is having a negative impact on the economy, experts have said.
As a result, they called on the President to quickly constitute his cabinet in order to achieve the objectives set out when he took the oath of office on May 29 for his second term.
Speaking on the economic implications of the delay in appointing ministers, a professor of Economics, Sheriffdeen Tella, stated that ministers should to be appointed in order to drive the economic programmes of the government.
He said, “Of course it (delay in appointing cabinet members) is slowing down action on the economy because a Permanent Secretary cannot play the role of a minister.
“A minister is supposed to actually carry out the party agenda. The Permanent Secretary is a technocrat and so the delay is actually slowing down action on the economy in all ramifications because the Permanent Secretary’s function is different from that of a minister.
“And when you don’t have a minister, it simply means the President is doing everything and the President cannot do everything effectively.
“So it has serious implications for the economy.”
Also speaking, a developmental economist, Odilim Enwagbara, noted that the cabinet delay was having a negative impact on the economy as there were agreements that permanent secretaries could not sign on behalf of the country.
He said, “The President won a re-election in February and five months after, he cannot constitute a cabinet. Such is not good for our economy. There are critical roles that ministers perform in the running of the government and without them, things will not move.
“There are certain agreements that Permanent Secretaries cannot sign. A one-man government is a dangerous government and that is not the way to go. We are beginning to experience what we went through in 2015 when it took the President about six months to form his cabinet.”
Commenting on the development, the Founder, Centre for Value in Leadership, Prof Pat Utomi, did not quite believe the delay in forming the cabinet would affect the economy.
He said people who did risk analysis should have factored in the fact that there could be a delayed period of the pattern experienced in the past.
He said what was more important was the leading consensus in Nigeria around where Nigerians wished the country to go, saying that was what people would look at and make a decision with it.
He said what would reduce uncertainty was more of a long -term view and perspective plan on issues.
He said the elite generally had a shared vision of what their country was going through and things that would make it continue to run.
He, however, stated that what was more problematic was that the country did not have the shared vision as people chose to run in different directions.
Utomi said, “Well, I really can’t say anything for a fact. People who do risk analysis, I think may already have factored in the fact that there could be a delayed period of that pattern in the past, so in their calculation that has been accounted for.
“There should be more long- term view and perspective plan on issues so that it will reduce uncertainty and, therefore, does not matter whether there is a cabinet or no cabinet. The elite generally have a shared vision of what their country is going through and that things will continue to run.
“That is what is more problematic in Nigeria. We don’t quite have the shared vision – people are going in different directions and all of that.”
Delay in forming cabinet not good for economy -LCCI
Speaking on the effect of the delay, the Director-General, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mr Muda Yusuf, stated that the delay was not good for the economy, noting that the delay had adverse implications for the economy and investments.
Yusuf, in a telephone interview with one of our correspondents on Saturday, explained that there were certain decisions beyond permanent secretaries in the respective ministries and that such could slow down the pace of government activities.
This, he said, was in addition to the weekly Federal Executive Council meeting that would not hold until ministers were appointed.
He said, “The delay contributes to the challenge of uncertainty that you have in the economy, and uncertainty can undermine investors’ confidence. When that happens, it has a negative impact on investments generally.
“So, from the point of view of investors’ confidence, it is not good for the economy, because when you have ministers in place, you have better clarity as to how the government wants to move forward, how it wants to function, implement its policies and such things. Therefore, that team is very important.
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“Then, there are things that the permanent secretaries in the ministries cannot handle if they don’t have ministers and some of those decisions could have implications for the economy and the investment environment. That is also an issue.
“Also, the absence of ministers means that you don’t have a Federal Executive Council, which meets once in a week to take very important decisions that affect the economy and certain aspects of budget implementation. You know that sometimes when talking about awarding major contracts, they take it to FEC and if you don’t have FEC in place, you may not move forward with such decisions. That is also taking its toll on the economy and it means those decisions and the projects cannot take place.”