By Bode Olagoke
Abuja
In order to cut cost and ensure judicious spending of national income, the President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari, might have ruled out some offices like ministers of state as serious deliberation continue by the National Working Committee (NWC) of All Progressives Congress (APC).
Some dependable sources, who spoke with Blueprint on condition of anonymity, revealed that Buhari had made up his mind to do everything possible by setting up a manageable cabinet that would be efficient and cost effective.
The NWC of APC were in closed door meeting for several hours yesterday at the party national Secretariat to discussed how the ministerial positions would be shared among the states.
One of the sources told Blueprint that Buhari had made up his mind to merge some of the ministries, departments and agencies that were overlapping in duties without sacking a single officer.
Though, section 147 of the Nigerian constitution stipulates that “there shall be a minister from each state of the federation”, but the source insisted that political regions may now be considered instead of state by state.
When Blueprint, in an interview with Buhari asked on how he would compose his cabinet and the criteria, the President-elect acknowledged that “it is a difficult time for Nigerians as you all know.
“I have said it in the past that in the last 16 years, Nigeria has never realised the amount of revenue it received. A barrel of crude oil rose to about 140 dollars and has crashed to about 50 dollars now.
“During this 16 years, we know some big companies that employ a lot of Nigerians and give them training facilities like the Nigeria Airways, Nigeria Shipping Line, even the Nigeria Railways is managing to be on paper with some refurbished engines moving from Lagos to Ibadan and a few other places.
