More than three months after his historic inauguration, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has still yet to appoint a single minister. But maybe he should’t have a Cabinet. We may be better off without one.

This is admittedly not the popular view.

Buhari’s change mantra, his corruption-proof reputation, his military credentials in a time of insecurity, and his underdog triumph over an incumbent president through a credible electoral victory — the first ever in Nigeria’s history for a national opposition candidate — opened up the possibility of a radically different Nigeria. Expectations reached nearly messianic levels.

So given the noticeable absence of dramatic changes to the tedium of everyday life since Buhari’s inauguration, coupled with his seeming allergy to reassuring media spectacles and, to top it off, his unhurried approach to naming key appointees, it is hardly surprising that maigaskia (the honest guy) has gained the new title baba-go-slow (slow old man). And though he has promised to make all his appointments before the end of September, impatience continues to be expressed.

But here is the thing: The agitation, particularly over a Cabinet, may actually be needless. Why? Because the steady (though stealthy) progress marked without ministers in the past few months, raises the question of whether a full Cabinet is actually necessary for decent governance in Nigeria. And it appears it isn’t.

Consider a few of the administration’s key accomplishments so far. Arguably the number one pillar of Buhari’s agenda is his crusade against corruption. This is not startling considering the role his corruption-busting credentials played in winning him electoral support, but still, the past few months have seen a number of steps that bring hope.

Nigeria’s long dormant corruption fighting agencies have sprung into action with the trials of a number of high-profile former state governors. And in an ironic twist, even the leadership of the main anti-graft body, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), faces a probe for embezzling recovered loot.

Security overhaul

These headline-grabbing cases have, granted, not yet produced a conviction. But the new possibility of heads rolling for graft has sent shockwaves through the entire system, with news coming in of discreetly returned loot and of top civil servants trying to sell suspiciously owned Abuja real-estate in anticipation of probes.

Steady progress has similarly been made on security, the other key pillar of the administration agenda. New and more motivated security chiefs have been appointed, regional counterterrorism partners such as Cameroon, Niger, and Chad have been more actively engaged, and crucially, the operational hub of the military has been relocated to the far northeast where the rollback of the Boko Haram insurgency is in full swing.

The result of this has not been instantaneous serenity, as sporadic attacks continue particularly in urban areas in Nigeria’s northern states. But the morale boost that has resulted from having the topmost commanders at the warfront, a new inflow of military hardware, and signs of committed leadership from the top, is hard to understate.

And it’s not just on the usual talking points of the administration that progress has been made. Nigeria’s increased influence and leadership on key regional and continental issues is an understated but significant change.

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has taken on a visible role in this arena, with his stirring call at the UN Conference on Financing for Development this past July for the global community to address the troubling issue of tax evasion by multinational companies and illicit financial flows out of Africa.

The list goes on: Nigeria’s nearly moribund refineries — which hitherto made Africa’s largest exporter of crude a net importer of refined oil — are now working at nearly 80 per cent capacity.

The noticeable improvement in electricity provision has sparked a twitter trend (#Buharis100dayspics) in which Nigerians feign annoyance at coming home to find items frozen solid that home freezers had formerly only been able to keep moderately cool due to incessant power cuts.

Unorthodox economic policies

A longer list of examples of the steady progress being made is possible. But those cited hopefully serve to illustrate that decent governance is imaginable in Nigeria, particularly with regard to the issues that our previous administration — and its ministers — seemed to find most intractable. The fact that all of this has been achieved by the current administration despite the phantom Cabinet leads one to wonder why all the hysteria around ministerial appointments.

Some reasons for the clamour are clearly less justified that others. In the former category is the infatuation with horse-trading spectacles, analogous to the pre-season transfer drama in the popular English Premier League, which are great for media headlines and barber-shop conversations.

This dramatic aspect is enhanced by the requirement of ethnic balance in government, which perennially inspires accusations of ethnic marginalisation once positions are given.

One substantial concern has to do with the lack of a clear economic policy direction that the vacuum of leadership at the Ministry of Finance has created. A previously appointed Central Bank head whose economic views have inspired incredulity from knowledgeable observers has therefore been able to unilaterally pursue unorthodox economic policies to artificially prop up Nigeria’s devaluing currency, which wider consultation might have prevented.

Another key concern has to do with the question of how the cohesion of the ruling APC party will endure after it becomes clear how some of the spoils of its victory have been shared.

But these caveats hardly trump the achievements that have been recorded in the last clear-eyed business-oriented months of Cabinet-less governance.

It is widely recognised in most countries (I’m looking at you too, Kenya), as Nigeria’s ethnic balance watchdogs remind us, that ministers are often more representative of political constituencies and interests than they are of genuine technocratic imperatives.

In either case, they will no doubt soon be appointed along with their state-budget draining armies of assistants, special assistants, and very very special assistant.

We can then expect more motorcades for these officeholders with which they can run regular commuters off the roads and, if they are in the mood, tell them to “go to hell” as a Nigerian state governor recently advised a traveller abused by his convoy (sparking the online protest #impunityofalmakura).

In the meantime, enjoy the respite.

Sa’eed Husaini, from Jos, Nigeria, is a doctoral candidate at the University of Oxford. Twitter: @SaeeduH. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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