By Miracle Ogunde
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has stated why he would not reduce his cabinet size despite calls from different quarters to do so inorder as to reduce governance cost.
According to him, the country’s population of over 200 million requires a substantial number of officials to manage its affairs.
The President also said that he has fulfilled Nigeria’s financial obligations without touching remittance by Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, or exploring Ways and Means from the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.
Tinubu disclosed these in his first Presidential Media Chat on Monday night.
He explained that the current structure was designed to ensure efficient governance for a large nation like Nigeria.
He added that efficiency was the driving force behind the cabinet’s formation, and he was not willing to shrink its size.
“I’m not prepared to bring down the number of my cabinet. I saw the need for them when I created the portfolio.
“Nigeria is a large country. If you are to entertain over 200 million persons, calculate how many stewards will be required,” the President said.
This comes amid calls for the president to downsize his cabinet, which includes over 50 ministers.
Fielding questions from journalists during the media chat, President Tinubu reiterated that the tax reform bills currently at the National Assembly have come to stay, while expressing no regrets for removing fuel subsidy in June 2023.
On meeting the country’s financial obligations, Tinubu explained that he was able to achieve the feat without falling back to the old order.
“Push me to my brag mode, in the last three months, I’ve not taken a penny from NNPC before I meet my other obligations. To me, that is excellent.
“Without going into Ways and Means, I’ve met all obligations,” he boasted
He also said he should grade himself if he did his homework right.
“In 2015, the money supply was about N19tn, and in 2023, it was N54tn. That’s a huge increase, a very huge increase. And then a substantial amount of that was through ways and means.
“So, essentially, the printing of money resulted in a huge amount of money chasing the same amount of goods or a relative amount of goods. I think that context is very important to have,” Tinubu said.
The Central Bank Governor, CBN, Olayemi Cardoso, had in September 2024, blamed his embattled predecessor, Godwin Emefiele for harming the Nigerian economy through the excess printing of money and the pumping of liquidity into the system.
However, Ways and Means is the offering of short-term financing by the apex bank to the Federal Government to cover its budget shortfalls.
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