Forty-four days after the first Federal Executive Council meeting, which took place on August 28, Bola Ahmed Tinubu has not called the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, with stakeholders agitated on the impact, this could have on the governance of the country.
According to the Ministers’ Statutory Powers and Duties Act, the FEC’s constitutional function is to advise the president. On August 21, President Tinubu swore in and inaugurated 45 ministers who attended the first cabinet meeting, which was held on August 28 in the Council Chamber of the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
Balarabe Abbas Lawal (Kaduna), Jamila Bio Ibrahim (Kwara), and Ayodele Olawande (Ondo), the three ministers recently confirmed by the Senate, are also waiting to be sworn in; however, a source at the Presidency stated they would do so at the upcoming cabinet meeting.
Reacting to the development, the SSA on Print Media to Bola Tinubu, Abdulaziz Abdulaziz, said Bola Tinubu has a different idea of the functions of the FEC.
He said, “I think this is not an issue because there is no specific time for FEC meetings. Nobody said there are specific provisions for FEC meetings, and every government can work out things that will suit them. The most important thing is that ministers are working.
“In fact, the president has a different idea of the functions of the FEC because what we have seen, which a lot of experts have criticized, is how the FEC reacts to contract awarding, but that is not the principle of the FEC.
“He (the president) will hold the FEC, but those policy advisory and supervision kinds of functions are not the traditional way of coming every week to announce contract awards.
“There is more to FEC than contract awards, and the most important thing is that the cabinet is in check, ministers are busy working, and there is a consultation with the president. “A lack of FEC meetings doesn’t stop anything,” he said.