The high number of persons nominated for ministerial appointments by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has continued to attract criticism from a cross section of Nigerians amid persistent calls for cutting the cost of governance in the country.
Tinubu, after a long wait, finally sent in batches the names of his ministerial nominees, totalling 47, to the Senate for screening and confirmation, raising concerns over the implications for the already high cost of governance.
On Thursday, a chieftain of the Labour Party (LP), Kenneth Okonkwo, slammed the Tinubu administration for the nominations, wondering why the administration considered setting up what he described as “the most bloated bureaucracy in the world” when, according to him, the country is heading towards being the poorest country in the world.
“What a regime? We are heading towards being the poorest country in the world, and this regime is considering setting up the most bloated bureaucracy in the world, which will lead to the highest cost of governance in the world. 47 ministers when the government is only compelled to have 37,” Okonkwo, who is also a veteran Nollywood actor, said in a post via his Twitter handle.
He said that the Nigerian people would be compelled to shoulder the additional cost of governance throughout inordinate taxation and other means.
“The money to be used to pay them will eventually be extorted from Nigerians through inordinate taxing and over-pricing of essential commodities and borrowing from outside sources because APC regimes produce nothing. I pity Nigerians under this clueless regime,” he tweeted.
