ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the pattern of cabinet composition in postcolonial Nigeria by observing the cabinet dynamics of various governments through alternating regimes. Nigeria is the most populous country of Africa. Nigeria's federation is the remote by-product of the 1914 amalgamation of the Northern and Southern protectorates by British administrators. The Lyttleton constitution established the Federal Council of Ministers (FCM), consisting of the governor-general (G-G) with three officials: chief secretary, financial secretary and attorney general. The FEC, charged with internal and external policy making, has been assisted since decolonization by permanent secretaries and junior ministers. During decolonization, cabinet members were drawn mostly from the burgeoning political elite. Nigeria's experiences with parliamentary and presidential-parliamentary systems nicely illustrate the effects of government form on internal cabinet turnover. Electoral frauds, ethno-regional politics, corrupt and co-opting leadership schemes, together with the detrimental deployment of patronage in political interactions, render the rules guiding the selection of ministers less significant than in most other settings.
