President Muhammadu Buhari says he is under tremendous pressure to name ministers for his second term in office.
Speaking after dinning with principal officers of the National Assembly on Thursday, July 11, 2019, Buhari said he did not know most of his ministers from his first term in office.
He added that most of them were nominated by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
“I am very much aware about it and I am under tremendous pressure on it,” he told state house correspondents.
“The last cabinet which I had, most of them, a majority of them I didn’t know. I had to accept their names and recommendation from the party. I worked with them for three and a half years.”
In his first term as president, Buhari took six months to name his cabinet, which economists say affected Nigeria’s economic stability, and resulted in capital flight in 2016.
Tunde Bakare, a staunch supporter of the president said the president took six months because state coffers were empty and there was no money to pay ministers.
Buhari appointed relatively lean cabinet ministers, with only 36 of them — the minimum permitted under the law.
With Nigeria in a better economic position than in 2015, the president is said to be considering more than 36 ministers for his second term in office.
Buhari said on Thursday night that he wants a team of ministers he can work with, hence the delay in appointment.
