There are increasing calls by Nigerians for the All Progressives Congress-led government of president Bola Tinubu to show underperforming ministers in his cabinet the exit door, and this is coming against the backdrop of the administration clocking one year in office last week.
Nigerians making the calls have also urged Tinubu not to go the way of his predecessor and former President, Muhammadu Buhari, who was accused of clutching tightly to mediocre ministers in his then cabinet like excess baggage he should have gotten rid of.
Tinubu took over an economically and socially battered nation from Buhari on May 29, 2023, and gradually started appointing state-nominated individuals as ministers. But a year on, some of them have struggled to find their feet in Nigeria’s unforgiving political terrain.
And even though Tinubu pointed out that the ministers were selected based on their track records of excellence in both the public and private sectors and that they would perform optimally at the national level, some Nigerians have insisted that so far, some of them are a huge letdown.
And worryingly, too, for these Nigerians is the realisation that the Commander-in-Chief, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, has not walked his talk with regard to wanting to sack underperforming ministers.
To this day, practically all the ministers who should have been found wanting have managed to dodge the sack, even though the President has consistently been saying that he will fire any of them whose performance in office is underwhelming.
For instance, during their inauguration way back on August 21, 2023, Tinubu told the Ministers that they could not afford to disappoint Nigerians, who expect them to actualize the Renewed Hope manifesto of the administration, and that he would not hesitate to take necessary remedial measures if they failed in their respective duties.
One week later, on August 28, 2023, during their maiden Federal Executive Council meeting, the president reminded the Ministers – in the form of a warning – that they risk sack if they did not perform.
He also urged the ministers to serve with integrity, dignity and deliver on their respective mandates, stressing that he would hold them to the high standards of the expectations of Nigerians.
After those initial warnings, Tinubu would, once again, wield powers to lay off any fumbling minister, when, during the opening of a three-day cabinet retreat with them in November 2023, he said non- performing ministers would “leave” his cabinet.
“A great Nigeria is possible and a greater Nigeria will come under your commitment, guidance and resolute determination to give the country a direction.
“…If you are performing, there is nothing to fear. If you miss the objective, we’ll review it. If no performance, you leave us. No one is an island and the buck stops on my desk,” the President said at the time.
Lastly, while hosting members of the Arewa Consultative Forum at the Presidential Villa in Abuja last Thursday, the President, one more time, re-echoed his resolve to let go of any Minister who fails Nigerians.
At the meeting, Tinubu thanked cabinet members for their efforts but he was very emphatic when he stated that he would relieve any of them of their duties anytime he felt that they were failing Nigerians.
The President’s resolve, in the meantime, to continue working with all the present crop of Ministers may have rubbished suggestions by some Nigerians that six months was enough for him to sack unproductive Ministers.
One such Nigerian, Smart Adeyemi, a former lawmaker who represented Kogi West in the ninth Senate, said that Tinubu would terminate the appointment of any minister who fails to perform in six months.
“A cabinet reshuffle or overhaul is long overdue as well – either is welcomed. I pray the Buhari syndrome does not come into this government and make them forget that they have to reshape every Minister for the best”
“What Nigerians should know about President Bola Tinubu today, including those who are ministers, is that from his track record, once you don’t perform in six months, he shows you the way out,” Adeyemi noted during an interview in October last year.
Adeyemi thought that Tinubu would throw Ministers who were failures out, most likely in November when the administration would be six months old, but the President did not do that.
Nevertheless, the call to sack underperforming Ministers is already being championed by even Civil Society
Organisations, which have joined the bandwagon of those calling on the President to act fast.
And not just the CSOs, a distinguished Nigerian and legal powerhouse, Itse Sagay, has also offered his thoughts on the situation.
Remarkably, Sagay said he was not aware of any underperforming minister but explained that he was aware of individuals who, according to him, were trying to instigate the government to create hardship and sufferings for Nigerians.
He picked out the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, who hiked electricity tariff, and the Chairman of
The Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele, who said there was a need to increase Value-Added Tax, as individuals who should leave Tinubu’s government.
On Adelabu, Sagay said with a tone laced with sarcasm, “I think he has over-performed. He is taking pleasure in inflicting pain on Nigerians. That is why I said he has over-performed.
“That one just woke up one day and increased the cost of electricity tariff for a certain category of Nigerians by over 300 percent. This has never been done anywhere in the history of the world. It is a record.
“Everywhere in the world, in the entire developed and civilized world, you increase by 5 or 10 percent. And if it goes beyond 10 percent, there will be public outcry. How can Adelabu do it by over 300 percent?”
And then regarding Oyedele, the Professor of Law said, “And then there is another clown of a chairman who is saying that our VAT rate, which is currently 7.5 percent, is one of the smallest in Africa.
“He is trying to prod the government to increase VAT again.”
In addition, Sagay said that if there were Ministers he could recommend that they continue in office, the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, and the Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo, would fit the bill.
He said, “I am not a very digital person, but anybody saying that the Minister of Interior, Tunji-Ojo, has achieved considerable improvements in various areas, including passport processing, I would join them because it is almost unanimous.
“I would also like to commend Festus Keyamo who is doing a lot in the aviation sector.
“He has eliminated the fraud that was instituted against us by the former aviation Minister who brought in an Ethiopian Airline aircraft and told us that it was Nigeria Air.”
Sagay also encouraged Keyamo, who he said has been doing a lot of work on the various institutions under him, by trying to eliminate waste and fraud, to still pursue the dream of a national carrier.
A political analyst, Taiwo Eyemire, in his own assessment said, “It is regrettable that it is only in Nigeria a Minister who is doing next to nothing will summon the courage to stay on in office.
“To honourably resign is not in their vocabulary. They will not want to do so because of the perks of office and freebies they get. Tinubu must step in and help Ministers like that out.
“A cabinet reshuffle or overhaul is long overdue as well – either is welcomed. I pray the Buhari syndrome does not come into this government and make them forget that they have to reshape every Minister for the best.
“And mind you it will be a travesty of Renewed Hope if the redundant ones among the Ministers today are slapped with another term to continue their off-target performance.”
“So, I agree with those who have been reminding the government that some of our Ministers have overstayed their welcome.”
