Nigerian president has repeated twice that his government will have less than 36 ministers as some of the nominees will end up just as members of the cabinet without ministry.
The Punch newspaper reports that there are anxieties in the administration that the development may cause friction among the incoming ministers who may be seeing their colleagues without portfolios as lower to them.
The presidential source said that one of the ways President Buhari chose to address the situation was the two-day retreat provided for the incoming ministers last week.
The insider added that was why one of the retreat’s papers was dedicated to relationship among ministers on one hand and the ministers’ relationship with civil servants, particularly permanent secretaries on the other hand.
The paper was brought by Ebele Okeke, a former Head of Civil Service of the Federation.
She made it clear to those who might appear as ministers of state that they were nominated to help the functional ministers.
Okeke said this nevertheless; the ministers of state must be kept well-informed of their ministries’ policies and programmes.
“Ministers of state are appointed to assist ministers of cabinet rank in the discharge of the responsibilities assigned to them,” she said.
“The minister of state must be kept informed of the policy and activities of the ministry.
“The minister of state must not be impaired in discharging the responsibilities entrusted to his/her office.
“The authorisation of the minister of state to assume responsibility for certain subjects cannot relieve the minister of his/her ultimate responsibility for policy implementation or carrying out presidential directives. In the same vein, it does not relieve the Permanent Secretary of his/her responsibility for the organisation of the ministry.
“The minister of state is not subject to the direction of the permanent secretary and any conflicts between the duo must be referred to the minister for decision.
“When the minister is away from office, the permanent secretary will submit papers requiring ministerial attention to the minister of state.”
The retreat also cautioned ministers to enable mutual understanding and cooperation between their special/personal assistants and officials of the ministry.
It also advised ministers against making needless demands from permanent secretaries.
They were specifically notified against asking for “money to visit my constituency for the weekend.”
To provide a harmonious relationship, the ministers were asked to recognize that administration is a corporate business requiring complementary efforts, cooperation and understanding between ministers and career public servants.
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