Under Section 147 of the 1999 Constitution, the President is given the responsibility of nominating Ministers of the Government, these nominations are subject to confirmation by the Senate.
In appointing these Ministers, the President is legally bound under Section 14(3) of the Constitution to carry out the nomination in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty, thereby
ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few States or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that Government. Specifically, the Constitution requires the President to appoint at least one Minister from each State, who shall be an indigene of such State.
Some of you will recall that in 2015, after the inauguration of President Muhammadu Buhari as President, it took him about five months to appoint his Ministers. To prevent a delay such as this, in future, the 1999 Constitution was amended via the Alteration Act No.23 and this amendment mandated that the President to submit the names of persons nominated as Ministers within sixty days of taking the oath of office, for confirmation by the Senate.
The President is legally required under Section 148(2) of the Constitution to hold regular meetings with the Vice-President and all the Ministers. This group is the Federal Executive Council (FEC), and they tend to meet on a weekly basis. The majority of FEC decisions fall into four categories:
Policy decisions – these are decisions that are taken on Issues that involve setting important Directions or have significant public or political dimensions.
Statutory decisions – these decisions are constitutional, legal, or legislative in nature.
Financial decisions – are decisions taken on items with financial impacts., and
The 1999 Constitution in Section 151 permits the President to appoint any person as a Special Adviser to assist him in the performance of his functions. The number of such Advisers and their remuneration and allowances shall be as prescribed by law or by resolution of the National Assembly.
#6. Certain appointments not requiring Senate confirmation
In exercising his powers to appoint a person as Chairman or member of the Council of State or the National Defence Council or the National Security Council, the President shall not be required to obtain the confirmation of the Senate.
The powers of the President as the Commissioner-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federation includes the power to determine the operational use of the armed forces of the Federation.
This includes the power to appoint the Chief of Defence staff, the Chief of Army Staff, the Chief of Naval Staff, the Chief of Air Staff and heads of any other branches of the armed forces of the Federation as may be established by an Act of the National
The President shall cause to be prepared and laid before each House of the National Assembly at any time in each financial year estimates of the revenues and expenditure of the Federation for the next following financial year.
