The 1999 Constitution gives President Tinubu until Friday to appoint his ministers.
President Bola Tinubu has up till 28 July to send his ministerial nominees to the Senate for screening and confirmation in accordance with the provision of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
The constitution stipulates that the president and governors have a 60-day window to appoint ministers and commissioners from the date they are sworn in.
Section 42 of this Constitution as amended states that - (a) the nomination of any person to the office of a Minister for confirmation by the Senate shall be done within sixty days after the date the President has taken the oath of office;
(b) not less than ten per cent of persons appointed as Ministers shall be women:
Provided that the President may appoint a Minister at any other time during his tenure and such appointment shall be subject to confirmation by the Senate".
The document also provides that the president shall appoint at least a minister from each of the 36 states of the federation.
Mr Tinubu, inaugurated on 29 May, has yet to appoint the cabinet ministers 56 days after.
Speculations
However, there are speculations that Mr Tinubu may have submitted the ministerial list to the Senate last week, but the upper chamber is delaying the announcement because of some changes being effected on the list.
Reports say that one of the changes made was that of the former governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Ganduje, who was originally on the list but is now being considered for the chairmanship of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Mr Ganduje is being tipped to replace Abdullahi Adamu, who resigned last week alongside the party's National Secretary, Iyiola Omisore.
The president reportedly favours the former Kano governor over a former governor of Nasarawa State, Tanko Al-Makura, who had been positioned to take over from Mr Adamu. Mr Al-Makura was one of the party's chairmanship aspirants last year.
PREMIUM TIMES could not reach the Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, Chief Whip, Ali Ndume, Minority Leader, Oyewunmi Olalere, and the spokesperson, Yemi Adaramodu, for comments as their mobile telephone lines did not connect.
However, a senator from one of the South-west states, who does not want his name mentioned because he was not authorised to speak, told this newspaper on Monday that Mr Tinubu had earlier concluded drawing up the list of ministers and was at the point of sending the list when some senior members of the APC intervened and urged the president to drop and replace some nominees with their choices.
"It is the politics of APC. You know everybody will want to contribute one way or the other," the senator said.
"The list had already been compiled, we had sat down to deliberate on the modalities of the screening, but some stakeholders rejected some people on the list, which the president is still trying to amend. That is why the list is yet to be submitted."
The lawmaker, however, said he was "sure the Senate will conclude the screening and confirmation before going on vacation. Even if it requires extending the date, the Senate will do that."
Meanwhile, Mr Adaramodu told journalists last week that the president had not forwarded the list of the ministerial nominees to the Senate.
The Senate spokesperson spoke amidst concerns that the upper chamber may not have the time to screen the nominees before embarking on recess this week, thereby extending the period Nigerians will wait before ministers assume duty if cleared.
"No date has been announced for the commencement of the legislative annual recess, so the question of a shift does not arise. There is still ample time to present and screen ministerial nominees," Mr Adaramodu said.
"Let us be patient with the government so Nigerians can have the best. The National Assembly shall surely do the needful as appropriate, and Nigerians won't be disappointed."
Should the list arrive at the Senate this week, the upper chamber, which sits a week (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday) three times, may shift its recess and take some days off to screen the nominees before embarking on a vacation.
Chairman of the Transition Monitoring Group (TMG), Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, is worried that with the delay in appointing ministers, Mr Tinubu may not, after all, be different from his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari.
"Initially, many Nigerians thought there would be a departure from the past administration in putting a competent team, not political patronage, to be able to provide the needed leadership.
"But the problem is that the Tinubu administration is still looking at its cabinet based on politics of survival instead of a cabinet that will bring the needed development in Nigeria. That is why he is having political massage and political compromise, and that is not what Nigerians are looking for. They are looking for quality governance," he said.
Government of National Competence
About two weeks after his declaration as president-elect, Mr Tinubu had given insight into what his cabinet will look like.
In a statement on 16 March, the former Lagos State governor said he would form a "government of national competence," an indication that the cabinet would comprise mainly people who are competent to help him deliver his election promises. It also indicated that he would not restrict the appointment of cabinet ministers to political consideration, as was the practice by his predecessors.
"There has been talk of a government of national unity. My aim is higher than that. I seek a government of national competence. In selecting my government, I shall not be weighed down by considerations extraneous to ability and performance," Mr Tinubu said at the time.
The delay in announcing the cabinet ministers has led to the emergence of several lists of ministers, which the government itself disowned.
In the last few weeks, several lists of nominees have surfaced in the media. In some lists, names of political allies of the president and former governors featured prominently.
For instance, a list containing about 64 nominees that went viral in early July had Hassan Liman (SAN) as the attorney general, Augustine Avuru as petroleum minister, Aisha Ahmad as finance minister and Dapo Okubanjo as minister of state for finance.
Others listed are a former Edo governor and sitting senator, Adams Oshiomhole (Works), former NUC Executive Secretary, Peter Okebukola (Education), former Plateau governor, Simon Lalong (Transportation), former Kaduna governor, Nasir El-Rufai (Interior), former Rivers governor Nyesom Wike (Police Affairs), former Kano governor, Abdullahi Ganduje (Agriculture and Rural Development), former Ekiti governor, Kayode Fayemi (Foreign Affairs), Bankole Johnson (Health), and former Enugu governor, Chimaroke Nnamani (Science and Technology).
Also on the list are former Cross River governor (Environment), Festus Keyamo (Labour and Employment), former Osun governor, Gboyega Oyetola (Trade and Investments), Tanko Al-Makura (FCT), Bayo Onanuga (Information) and former Ebonyi governor, Martin Elechi (Commerce and Industry).
Apparently disturbed by the speculations, the president's spokesperson, Dele Alake, in a press briefing, urged Nigerians to disregard the lists.
"There is no iota of truth in all those things. When the President is good and ready, you will be the first to know his intentions," Mr Alake said earlier this month.
Toeing Buhari's path?
Upon assuming office in 2015, Mr Tinubu's predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari, appointed his ministers about six months after he was inaugurated.
On 6 October that year, the then Senate President, Bukola Saraki, read out a list of 21 ministerial nominees sent by the former president for confirmation.
However, Mr Buhari adjusted a little after his re-election in 2019 when he appointed his ministers about two months after. On 23 July 2019, the Senate, under the leadership of Ahmad Lawan, unveiled a list of 44 ministerial nominees comprising many of those in the previous cabinet. They were subsequently inaugurated on 21 August.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
The other appointments
Mr Tinubu has made some appointments since his inauguration, with the latest being that of 20 aides earlier this month.
Before then, he had made other appointments, including that of the secretary to the government of the federation, chief of staff and deputy chief of staff, on 2 June.
On 15 June, he appointed eight advisers, including Dele Alake, as special adviser on special duties, communications and strategy and Wale Edun as special adviser on monetary policies.
He, after that, on 19 June, appointed another set of people comprising the national security adviser, service chiefs, the inspector general of police and others.
Mr Tinubu also set up a committee on tax reforms headed by Fiscal Policy Partner and Africa Tax Leader at PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC), Taiwo Oyedele.
A toll on governance and economy
Mr Tinubu's delay in appointing his ministers has arguably taken a toll on governance and progress of the country's economy.
Mr Musa, the executive director of the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), says it is already affecting the nation's economy.
"Two months after, the Tinubu administration cannot assemble an economic management team, and so the economy is not looking good. So, what is the difference between Buhari and Tinubu? He has shown clearly that he is not different. It would have taken him more months to assemble his cabinet if the Constitution did not give him 60 days to do so.
"It is not the removal of the CBN Governor that is the issue. He may be seen to be dealing with perceived enemies. Let there be an economic management team in place to tackle the economic challenges. That is what Nigerians want."
