There are indications that the long-awaited cabinet reshuffle may be announced any moment as President Bola Tinubu on Monday, held closed door meeting with Hadiza Bala-Usman, Special Adviser to the President on Policy Coordination.
President Bola Tinubu
The Policy Coordination office was saddled with the responsibility of coming up with the criteria that would determine who to go and those who would be retained.
It will be recalled that the President had in November, 2023, saddled the office with the responsibility of overseeing the performance appraisal of the Ministers, at the end of their retreat.
The Minister had signed a “Performance Bond,” while the office of the Special Adviser to the President on Policy and Coordination, also developed a “citizens’ delivery tracker,” launched by the Federal Government that will come up with the empirical data to evaluate the performance of the cabinet members.
The policy coordination meeting with the President on Monday is seen as pivotal to the reshuffling, although details of the meeting were not made public.
The President, aside from reshuffling his current ministers, is also expected to appoint some other ministers to fill the offices vacated by Simon Lalong, former Minister of Labour and Employment, who was President Tinubu’s Presidential Campaign Director General.
Lalong resigned to take over his seat at the Senate to represent Plateau South Senatorial District in the National Assembly
The Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management has also been without a minister, following the scandals that rocked the ministry, leading to the suspension of Betta Edun, the substantive minister.
Although it is not clear if the President will still retain the ministry or merge the roles with those of the Ministry of Finance.
The ministry is however seen as strategic, as it develop humanitarian policies and provide effective coordination of national humanitarian interventions; ensures strategic disaster mitigation, preparedness and response; and manages the formulation and implementation of fair-focused social inclusion and protection programs in Nigeria.
Also expected to be announced, is the minister that will coordinate the newly created Ministry of Livestock Development.
It was gathered that aside from receiving briefings from Hadiza Bala-Usman, the President who was away from the country for two weeks as part of his annual leave, also got briefings from Zach Adedeji, the Special Adviser on Revenue and Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS).
It will be recalled that before he started his annual leave, the President had a meeting with the ministers and expressed his displeasure with the performance of some of them, according to Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy.
He revealed that the President expressed his displeasure, during the meeting of the Federal Executive Council and directed the ministers to engage more with members of the public on the achievements of his administration.
Onanuga noted that the Tinubu administration has achieved much in terms of policy initiatives, but added that the President was disappointed that much has not been put into the public domain.
“The President has directed the ministers to engage more with members of the public, especially on the achievements of the current administration.
Onanuga however could not say when the cabinet was going to be reshuffled, but stated that the President himself has given an indication of his plans to reshuffle the cabinet.
“I cannot say exactly when he will reshuffle his cabinet, but the President has indicated his intention to reshuffle his cabinet. Whether that will happen before the 1st October, Independence celebration, I cannot tell.
Checks indicate that the pressures from interest groups delayed the cabinet reshuffle as some pressure groups emerged to oppose the move.
Mustapha Audu, a Chieftain of the All Progressive Congress APC, while speaking on the issue, counselled the President to reshuffle his cabinet, adding that “50% of the Ministers are underperforming.
“A lot of non-performing members of the cabinet…More than 50% of the cabinet are non-performing. No one knows who they are, and it’s quite unfortunate. We expected so much more, so we expect that from Mr President.
“In reality, the truth about it is that Nigerians are not feeling the Renewed Hope agenda- that’s just the truth of it,” Audu stated.
“Two protests in the space of three months show us that we’re not actually performing as we promised Nigerians that we would. It’s not about having just people occupying positions. You need people with vision, people with understanding, people who know what to do and how to go about doing it,” he emphasized.
“Let’s hit the nail on the head, and let’s be direct. First of all, we expect a cabinet reshuffle, at the very least but some members of the Northern Elders Political Development Group, however, passed a vote of confidence on some of the Ministers, especially those from the northern part of the country,” he said.
The group is of the opinion that the cabinet reshuffle was unnecessary as according to them, the ministers have done well.
Adamu Giwa, the Secretary General of the group had given a pass mark to some of the ministers, including; Farouk Dangiwa Housing, Abubakar Atiku Budget and Economic Planning, Mohammed Matawalle Defense, as well as Christopher Musa, the Chief of Defence Staff.
The group insisted that “Tinubu Ministers have performed creditably well” and charged the President to “concentrate on the fight against insecurity and economic reforms.” (BusinessDay)