The Federal Executive Council (FEC), also known as the Cabinet, is a crucial part of the executive branch of the Government of Nigeria. It serves as an advisory body to the President of Nigeria, who chairs the FEC, as outlined in the Ministers' Statutory Powers and Duties Act. Members of the cabinet are appointed by and report to the President, who has the authority to dismiss them.
According to the Nigerian Constitution, there must be at least one Cabinet member from each of the 36 states in Nigeria. The number of ministries is at the president's discretion, and at times, the President takes direct control of a key ministry such as Petroleum Resources.
Anytime now, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will unveil the list of persons who will serve as Honourable Ministers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. A privileged cast of men and women, who will be part of what is known as the Federal Executive Council (FEC).
Council Chambers, Presidential Villa, Abuja
The Federal Executive Council (FEC)
The FEC comprises the President, Vice President, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (who serves as the Council’s Secretary), and the Ministers of the Government. It also includes any other persons the President may ask or permit to attend, such as the Chief of Staff, National Security Adviser, and Special Advisers.
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Section 147 of the 1999 Constitution states that “There shall be such offices of Ministers of the Government of the Federation as may be established by the President” and “the President shall appoint at least one Minister from each State, who shall be an indigene of such State.”
A new Constitutional amendment signed into law by former President Buhari in March 2023 now mandates the President of Nigeria to submit names of nominees for Ministerial positions within 60 days of being sworn-in.
Section 148 notes that “The President may, in his discretion, assign to the Vice-President or any Minister of the Government of the Federation responsibility for any business of the Government of the Federation, including the administration of any department of government” and “The President shall hold regular meetings with the Vice-President and all the Ministers of the Government of the Federation…”
The Federal Executive Council was established by Decree No. 1 of 1966, under the Constitution decree enacted following the 1966 Nigerian coup d'état which brought Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi to power. This decree granted the Federal Military Government (FMG) unrestricted legislative powers across all parts of the country.
The Supreme Military Council could delegate powers to a Federal Executive Council, predominantly composed of civilian Commissioners. A major structural change occurred following the coup of 29 July 1975, which led to the dissolution of key government organs including the Supreme Military Council (SMC), the Federal Executive Council, and the various State Executive Councils.
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Structure and Function of Ministries
The ministries and parastatals are staffed by career civil servants, each headed by a Permanent Secretary, a senior civil servant appointed by the Head of the Civil Service. The Permanent Secretary is accountable to a Minister, who sits in the Cabinet and reports to the President.
The heads of the executive ministries are nominated by the President and then presented to the Senate. Section 147 (6) of the Nigerian constitution gives the Senate 21 days to complete the screening for confirmation or rejection by a simple majority.
According to Section 147 (5) of the constitution the only qualification for one to be appointed as Minister is that the person must be “qualified for election into the House of Representatives”.
The SMC appointed the 25-member Federal Executive Council (FEC) on August 6, 1975.
Ministerial Roles and Responsibilities
The primary mandate of a Minister is to make policies and set a vision and direction for the areas covered by the Ministry. Ministerial work involves policy design, creation, review, communication, and oversight of implementation. Think of a Minister more as the guy in the control tower (directing and ensuring safe landings and take-offs of various flights (parastatals, policies, programs and projects), and with a bird’s eye view of all comings and goings), than a guy in a cockpit, who’s more narrowly-focused, and has to do the actual landing and taking-off.
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Ministerial work is “big-picture”, more strategic than tactical; more political, administrative, and relational, than technical or operational.
As Minister of Power, you’re a boss alright, but you’re co-existing with many other equally (or even more) powerful folks: the National Assembly (where you’ll have one powerful oversight Committee in each of the Chambers), Labour Unions (who can and will hold you hostage), other Government institutions (like the Bureau of Public Procurement, whose Certificates you require) and the ICRC, whose approvals are required for anything contractual that involves partnership with the private sector.
You will be judged by a lot of things that are not necessarily within your power-like labour strikes. You will learn that the Minister of Power has little power to pay or raise salaries or allowances to/for workers, or to promise them anything at all-anything you do has to be with the backing and approval of the President-which then has to be followed up with convincing the Finance Ministry to prioritise (among several equally-important competing demands) finding the money and actually fulfilling any promises made… you get the drift. You may also need to get along with the Minister in charge of Labour matters, who may be the one designated to lead or co-lead negotiations with organised labor.
What is needed most importantly is for you to be a fast learner, a seer-of-the-big-full-picture, and a competent consumer and synthesizer of vast amounts of complex information being made available to you by these aides and by stakeholders.
You see, those skills-managing people and communicating (which includes expectation management, and proactive effort)-cannot be outsourced. And those things will end up being the most important work you will have to focus on as a Minister of the Federal Republic.
Ministers Report For Duty After Swearing In Ceremony
Turf Wars and Power Dynamics
Not all Nigerian Ministries are created equal, going by how they are regarded by (especially) politicians. They are inevitably ranked in terms of the power they wield, the financial resources they control (size of annual budget), and the agencies they oversee. Ministries like Finance, Works, Aviation, Water Resources, Justice, Interior, Agriculture are among the ones that’d be termed ‘Tier 1’ or, more colloquially, “juicy”.
Naturally, there will be turf wars and power tussles between Ministers and Ministers of State. Also, if there are Special Advisers with portfolios that have overlapping grounds with Ministries (like a Special Adviser on Education existing alongside a Minister of Education), expect turf wars as well, and the scale of these tussles will depend on the personalities of the occupants, and the amount of power/ego/money at stake, per scenario.
Each Ministry statutorily has a Permanent Secretary (P.S.), who, according to retired Permanent Secretary, Tunji Olaopa, functions as “Chief Policy Adviser, Chief Administrative or Operations officer and the Accounting Officer”, while the Minister is the “Political Head.”
Some Permanent Secretaries tend to be very powerful, with more clout (perceived or real) than their Ministers, and the Ministers therefore have to tread carefully. In Barrister Keyamo’s analysis of the situation, he highlights the fact that the balance of power between Ministers of State and Permanent Secretaries tends to tilt in favour of the latter. The Permanent Secretaries choose one ‘master’, and it’s not the junior one.
Ministerial Screening and Public Perception
The unveiling of Ministers is not so much a public announcement by the President as it is the transmission of names to the National Assembly, for confirmation hearings. It is this transmission that then makes it to the media, as the list of Ministerial nominees.
These hearings tend to be among the most interesting highlights of our democracy. This is typically the first glimpse Nigerians will get into the personalities of their Ministers: eloquence, stage confidence, sense of humour, etc.
One downside to the screening is that the names are submitted without portfolios, which means that the Senators cannot ask specific questions in line with a known portfolio. Instead, they have to make guesses - someone’s a pilot, so let’s ask him aviation questions, four people are lawyers, so we’ll ask them questions about being Attorney General, and of course, she’s a doctor, so, Minister of Health.
Recent Appointments and Team Composition in the Ministry of Power
The Ministry expressed confidence that the commissioning of this exceptional ministerial team will significantly, “bolster its capacity to address the challenges and opportunities in the power sector.
The appointed team members bring a wealth of expertise and diverse backgrounds, enabling them to contribute effectively to the ministry’s goals. The technical support and project coordination team will assist the Minister in carrying out his responsibilities effectively. It will provide support to the Minister of Power in the areas of Policy and Regulation Research and Analysis, Briefing and Documentation, Project tracking, coordination and harmonisation, Technical Expertise, Crisis Management, International Cooperation, Monitoring and Evaluation.
The team will be led by Chief Technical Assistant (CTA), Adedayo Olowoniyi, a seasoned professional with proven success conceptualizing strategies and directing multicultural teams to streamline operations, improve fiscal health, and propel business growth across Africa. He has over 10 years experience as CEO of multinational companies in Africa, and 15 years experience in the power sector in Africa. He possesses in-depth knowledge and understanding of the power sector in Sub- Saharan Africa and its challenges.
The Stakeholder coordination team, headed by Senior Special Assistant (SSA), Stakeholders Management, Hon Rotimi Ajanaku has the primary responsibility to manage and facilitate effective communication and collaboration between the Minister and various technical and political stakeholders in the power sector. Rotimi, a Law graduate is a skilled stakeholder engagement specialist with a strong background in public relations and diplomacy.
The media advisory team to be headed by Bolaji Tunji as Special Adviser (SA), Strategic Communications and Media Relations to the Minister will provide strategic guidance and support in managing media relations, public communications, and reputation management. Prior to this appointment, Tunji had served as Special Adviser, Communication and Strategy to Senator Abiola Ajimobi, Governor of Oyo State, Nigeria, until May 29, 2019. An astute journalist with wide network in the media industry, he set up and was pioneer Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of New Telegraph newspaper, a national publication.
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