“A Committee Of One.”

Rotimi Afolayan stands within the meeting room of the Federal Executive Council for that second or minute or hour just before the chaos starts. He has been doing this for over a year, but this feels like a beginning. The other council was one of hassles and fires and under the shadow of the fallen president; an unwieldy group of ministers striving for influence across a younger group of would-be rulers. No one expected Richard, now His Excellency, to run or even win the election. Now, it was thriving time.

The Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation had been busy putting the whole business of governance into an intelligible narrative from when the election victory was sure, he is the conductor of that orchestra and the one who turned all that rhetoric and poetry that Richard, His Excellency, was so fond of into actual direction and form and shape and effect.

Rotimi takes a deep breath, checks every folder again, checks the sound system, the projector, the screen, and all allied devices, twice.

Then he lets himself breath again.

It is still two hours to the start of the meeting, and he is now having coffee and talking to Chukwuma, just Chuks now:

-I think we are ready

-so why do you keep checking everything

-habit

-sure

-inflation still going up

-uhum

-those NBS figures are not so good

-I am sure you will fix it

-not my job

-I was kidding

-Ngozi is not worried

-then we are fine

-she is really rather more to the right of the spectrum, neo-classic

-okay

-I told Rich…the President, not to appoint her.

-and I am sure you will be proved right

-what else?

-you should have told him. He listens to you.

-ha. I keep telling you this, the man is a committee of one.

 

Dramatis Personae

Chukwuma Nwachukwu-Chief of Staff to the President

Rotimi Afolayan-Secretary to the Government of the Federation

Ngozi Nzeribe-Honourable Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Supervisory, for Economic Development, Innovation & Diversification

Anthony Nwabunor-Daily Chronicler

 

Daily Chronicler

Anthony Nwabunor

He is reluctant to go in, but he has already his credentials checked and confirmed and he is, still, the political correspondent for a major newspaper. He takes his seat at the back of the row.

They are about twenty other reporters in the room with him and he knows most of them. He shakes his head in one or two directions but does not talk. They say the first meeting of the Federal Executive Council has both run late and gone well. It is almost six in the evening, and they have been in there since just before noon, after all the festivities of swearing in and taking pictures had been exited. He had refused to come for that part.

Now, they were waiting for a single minister to come and say what was agreed upon and run down the questions. He is not in the mood for any of this. The show of government by pure speed is not to his liking and he is even more convinced that this will not lead anywhere good. The man was a mystery and now had a mandate. He makes a quiet bet with himself that the minister presenting will be the super one. The one who runs the engine. The holy one herself. That one.

She saunters in five minutes after, and he congratulates himself. She talks on and on about this project or this idea and he drinks it all in and looks at up her only when he wants to ask the only question, he came here for:

-what would you say to reports that you are the Super Minister of this cabinet?

 

Transcript Of FEC Press Conference

Minister Answering: Ngozi Nzeribe.

Council Chambers, Press Room, Aso Rock

Minister N.: There is no such thing as a Super Minister. There are Supervising Ministers because we will operate in clusters, but these are not hierarchical in nature, as we keep saying. It is responsibility and not power. There are no junior ministers in this cabinet. No one is inferior to anyone. We are simply here to play our part. I would think that the Daily Chronicle would not sink to innuendo and baseless insinuations to discredit a government that has only just begun a long process of reforming broken systems.

Daily C. Correspondent: to follow up, Madame Minister, about the nature of insinuations and baseless talk, a poll conducted by three reputable firms had roughly the same results: 78% of the citizens, baseless as their views may be, believe that you are the most powerful figure in government. These are not the views of my paper. This is the majority opinion of your citizens. They did not elect you and you are not directly accountable to them.

Minister N.: what is your question, please?

Daily C. Correspondent: considering this is a novel sort of cabinet and Nigerians are not used to this sort of shall we say, style, are you, as Supervising Minister of the…of a cluster that seems integral to a government that seems intent on spending out of recession, are you where the proverbial buck stops?

Minister N.: no, I am not.

Daily C. Correspondent: thank you, Honourable Minister.