President Buhari as Petroleum Minister: Nigeria as Laughing Stock By Polycaro Onwubiko

It is very sad that no conscious effort is being made to spare Nigeria and her people the odium of being a laughing stock by international community’s due to naïve and despicable actions, perceptions and interpretation of certain laws especially the provisions of the fundamentally flawed 1999 Constitution imposed on the country by the military regimes. In spite of the agitation to reinvent a realistic federal constitution similar to the 1960 and 1963 Republican Constitutions with recommendations of the 2014 national conference, the lopsided members of the 7th National Assembly resorted to panel beating the document.
One wonders why Nigerian leaders would cynically indulge in repulsive and despicable conducts that constitutes a blot on the country’s escutcheon.
 It is baffling to observe the trend of postulations of some political elites on critical public issues which leave much to be desired. One recalls with nostalgia when lawyers were the repository of knowledge as they discuss public issues. Barr. Sebastine Hon was quoted in The Nation, October, 9 2015 citing the provisions of the Nigerian constitution which purportedly enable President Buhari to double as petroleum minister. I felt sorry for this country which an aggrieved commentator had described as “apparently accursed”. The quoted provisions were superfluity because section 147[1] does not need any extrapolation as it makes it mandatory for the President to appoint ministers to be the chief executives of the ministers. Even where the President is at liberty to assign his vice a ministry, the imperative of efficiency and effectiveness in governance would not make him to assign petroleum ministry to him since he qualified as a lawyer and not a petroleum engineer. One of the banes of this apparently God forsaking country constrains its developmental aspirations has been putting round pegs in square holes ostensibly to satiate primordial cravings. There is no amount of juggling of sections 5[a] and 130[2] purportedly authorizing the President to double as minister could be countenanced; they are superfluous if nit over-lapping. Ministries are unique bureaucratic establishments with clear cut functions which require supervision and accountability by minister [commissioner in a state] and permanent secretary. Ministers hands are full as they attend federal executive council meetings where they brief the president on the goings-on in the ministries, holds press conferences, go on routine inspection of the offices and the branches, attends local and international conferences, seminars, workshops, chair personnel matters management meetings for promotions, disciplinary matters etc. In terms of checks and balances, they are beholding to the president and the National Assembly, they screen them for confirmation and regularly invite them or go to the ministries for over-sight functions.
There is virtually no need for the controversy sequel to a hint from the President that he would double as petroleum minister, while having a minister for state which he had earlier condemned as superfluous and would not feature in his government. What a contradiction? What intelligent Nigerians ought to advice the President is to stop making a jest of the presidency. Buhari as petroleum minister ostensibly to check sleaze in the oil ministry would amount to diverting attention and hide his probable bungling of the enormous responsibilities in the presidency. The President should please retract the intention as it would amount to a blot in the country’s escutcheon. But if he would go on with the monstrous aberration typical of Nigerian leaders who abhor constructive criticisms, it becomes a proof positive that he does not know his onerous responsibilities which [needless to extrapolate] are quite enervating, tasking and monstrously overwhelming and complex.
Some petty-minded commentators naively contend that President Buhari is honest and the only person that can ensure transparency in the oil sector as demonstrated when he was petroleum minister during Obasanjo military regime. The fact remains that military government is an aberration where a WAEC holders were made directors of finance in money spinning MDA’s, and degree holders in Islamic studies or history being made Governor of CBN or heads of ‘lucrative’ MDA’s. Nigerians could not have forgotten the alleged missing $2.8 billion when Buhari was petroleum minister and the muddle in the PTF contracts; the disappearance of $12 billion Gulf oil windfall during Gen. Ibrahim Babangida regime and slashing of over $2 billion at the eve of military handover in 1999. Fact remains that the monstrosities perpetrated during the best forgotten military era should not be cited as examples in democratic governance if Nigeria is to make progress and berth civilized governance.
President Obasanjo got away with the brazen impunity of not appointing petroleum minister and placed the sensitive oil and gas sector between his legs without accountability due to the fact that corruption was at its zenith during his imperial presidency. Recall that members of the national assembly were enmeshed in mindless sleaze, in addition to being conscious of their lives as the period witnessed series of unresolved high profile mysterious deaths.
 The searing fact is that military rulers got away with their devious exploits since they believe that they own Nigeria; but Nigerians would console themselves with the spiritual reality that they would render the account in the great beyond.
 PMB should dump whatever alleged covert agenda of the feudal caliphate and embark on restructuring the country in line with the Report of the 2014 National Conference to reinvent True Federalism and assuage the deep yearnings and aspirations of progressive ethnic federating units to enable them formulate their development paradigms in accordance to their worldview and sociological, economic and political perspectives. Fact remains that Buhari administration may not record significant strides without restructuring the polity to restore functional federalism, state police to stop the terrorism of the supposed Fulani herdsmen who brazenly leave the impression that their kith and kin own Nigeria.
He cannot double as petroleum minister because it is naïve, untidy, primitive perception of governance, unconstitutional and a replication of the brazen impunity of President Obasanjo who cannot be a role model in the art of governance. If he insists on doubling as oil minister while not a petroleum engineer; he cannot attend international conferences on oil and gas and therefore cannot speak the technical language of scientists. In presidential democracy, professionals head specialized public bureaucracies and Nigeria can no longer indulge in silly exploits to satiate tribal, religious and sundry primordial considerations for self-serving ends. Due to the enormity of pressures coterminous with presidential system of government, he   would not have time to honour the invitations of the legislators and the curiosity of the media whose job is to keep the public abreast of the developments in the sensitive sector of the economy, coupled with sundry matters since government has to become a serious business in Nigeria now.
More importantly, the next minister and even permanent secretary in the petroleum ministry must be petroleum engineers so as to enthrone the globally applied concept of “Line and Staff” in the deployment of workers so as to ascertain efficiency and effective performance in the specialized sector. In business management studies; it has been emphasized that for an organization to achieve its core mandate and objectives, the concept of “Line” and “Staff” functions must be applied to ensure efficiency and effectiveness. This theoretical concept postulates that organizations are identified by their clarified objectives and therefore must be manned according to specified academic qualifications relating to the goal behind the establishment. A management expert James A. F. Stoner of Fordham University in his book “Management” 2nd edition [1982] stated inter alia: “Every organization exists to achieve specific goals. The Line component may be defined as the part of  the organization that  is directly responsible for achieving these goals…For an example, a manufacturing company may limit Line functions to production and sales…when an organization is small, all positions may be Line roles; staff roles  added as the organization grows and it becomes useful to devote specialist time to assist Line members in doing their primary jobs…Staff refers to individuals or groups in an organization whose main functions are to provide service, advice or counsel to the Line, or perform an auditing or monitoring function. The concept of Staff includes all elements of the organization that are not classified as Line…An advisory functions are frequently located in legal, financial, and personnel departments”.
Nigeria must resolve to get things done in a proper way and stop impunity that create fertile ground for corruption and tardy pace of development.
Mr. Polycaro Onwubiko is an author and public affairs analyst, [email protected], Awka Anambra state

Photo of media team of Buhari