Buhari Felt Nigerian Ministers Of State Should Only Be ‘Spare Tyres’ – Ex-Reforms DG Joe Abah

Dr. Joe Abah, who led the Bureau of Public Service Reforms from 2013 to 2017 under both Presidents Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari, recently discussed President Bola Tinubu’s decision to grant ministers of state more authority.

Naijaonpoint reports that Abah sees this as the realization of a reform effort he initiated a decade ago.

On Friday, Abah responded to a report by TheCable, which revealed that President Tinubu had authorized ministers of state to have full oversight of the agencies under them.

Abah explained that his team had crafted guidelines to outline the duties and responsibilities of both ministers and ministers of state, suggesting specific agencies for each role to supervise.

However, when Buhari assumed office in 2015, he held the view that ministers of state should function merely as “spare tyres.”

Consequently, documents related to agencies under ministers of state were often directed to senior ministers by the permanent secretaries, leading to conflicts as all ministers were officially sworn in as “Ministers of the Government of Nigeria.”

Posting on his X handle, Abah wrote, “It has taken 10 years for this reform work that I led in 2014 to bear fruit. We set out a division of roles and duties between Ministers and Ministers of State and suggested which agencies which Minister should supervise.

“President Buhari when he came into office in 2015 felt that Ministers of State should only be ‘spare tyres.’

“It led to all sorts of conflict because everyone was sworn in as ‘Minister of the Government of Nigeria’ before they were given portfolios.

“This has taken 10 years. Passport reform took 11 years before we started to see movement.

“Rationalising agencies in accordance with the Oronsaye Report has taken 12 years and we still haven’t started but we dey here. Some of us are in this for the long game.”