All ministers will have portfolios – Garba Shehu

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November 3, 2015 12:23 PM

Shehu made the comment to clarify remarks made by Buhari in India on Thursday, October 29, 2015, while speaking about his ministers.

The Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu has said that contrary to reports, all the president’s ministers will have portfolios.

“There used to be 42 ministers. I think we will be lucky if we can have half of that now because we cannot afford it. Others may not be substantive ministers but they will sit in the cabinet because that is what the constitution says and we cannot operate outside the constitution,” Buhari said after the India-Africa Summit in New Delhi.

However, according to Shehu, what the president meant was that some of his candidates would be ministers of state and not full ministers.

“You know we have a structure of government in place in this country whereby there are substantive ministers and ministers of state. What the president meant (in the interview granted) was that not all the ministers in his cabinet will have the full control of the ministries,” Shehu said in an interview with Daily Trust.

“You know it is not possible to have the number of ministries more than the number of ministers. Even former President Goodluck Jonathan had 28 ministries and 42 ministers. So, what the president meant was that some of his cabinet members would be ministers of state,” he added.

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It had earlier been reported that Buhari had plans to cut down the number of ministries in a bid to save cost.

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This is based on the recommendation of the All Progressives Congress (APC) transition committee which advised the president to reduce the ministries from 42 to 19.

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