ABSTRACT
As President, Alhaji Shehu Shagari faced a disheartening task in forming his Federal Administration. His party, NPN, had no majority in either House of the National Assembly, and controlled only seven of the nineteen states; so he had to seek allies in other parties. Many of his own party “stalwarts” were expecting jobs, and in making appointments, whether of Ministers, who were all drawn from outside the legislature, or members of public bodies, he had to respect the claims of all parts of his vast country. The Senate, moreover, had to approve most of the important appointments. The NPN was able to come to an arrangement with Dr Azikiwe’s NPP, which offered a prospect of a working majority in the National Assembly for the President’s measures, and the support of a majority of the States for the Federal Government. In return the NPP was allocated certain Ministerial and other appointments. But as well as Ministers and junior Ministers, the President had to appoint his Special Advisers allowed by the constitution; the civil service heads of Ministries — the Permanent Secretaries; the Head of the Civil Service; and the Secretary to the Government, a new but very important appointment, who is, but need not be, a civil servant. In the end the Administration was complete before the National Assembly went into its 1979 Christmas recess.
