This archive report was first published on 2 August 2019.
Nigeria's Buhari Faces Flak Over Cabinet Picks ¶
Published on August 2, 2019
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has been criticized for his cabinet picks, with many questioning the choice of familiar faces and the lack of representation for women.
After two months of deliberation, Buhari finally settled on a list of 43 ministers, all of whom are from his All Progressives Congress (APC) party. The decision has been met with dismay, with many analysts saying it signals a lack of major reforms in the years ahead.
"One would have expected that the president would shop for more people with more expertise" to assuage worries about the future, said Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi, head of the Transition Monitoring Group. She doubted the ability of those chosen "to push the agenda for development for Nigeria".
Only seven of the ministers are women, a representation of 16.3 percent, which has been described as "abysmal" by 28-year-old female politician Ndi Kato. "We have an abundance of qualified women and we have been advocating throughout the process of selecting ministers. The disrespect of tossing out the requests of women like it doesn't matter is traumatic," she said.
Fourteen of the ministers in the new cabinet served Buhari during his first term from 2015 to 2019. Among those coming back are heavyweights like Babatunde Fashola, a former Lagos governor, transport minister Rotimi Amaechi, and finance minister Zanaib Ahmed.
"Rewarding APC powerbrokers will improve party cohesion in the second term but also risks eroding first-term gains in curbing patronage," said the Eurasia consultancy group in a note. The president appeared to be prioritizing APC unity and making up for 2015 when some leading backers in the party complained they had been overlooked.
Anti-graft crusaders also worried that the appointments did not look promising for attempts to seriously tackle Nigeria's endemic corruption. Rooting out graft was one of Buhari's big pledges in 2015, and he has promised to step it up this time round. However, critics have accused him of using the corruption crackdown to target his political opponents.
