- Why President opted for two-week leave, retreat in UK
- Some portfolios to be split, others merged into single unit
President Bola Tinubu is under intense pressure to reassess his cabinet and inject action-oriented ministers who can drive meaningful change.
Presidential spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, confirmed recently that the President would reshuffle the cabinet on or before the nation’s October 1st Independence Day.
However, the promised reorganization is yet to occur due to intense lobbying by formidable figures, including political, religious and traditional leaders who are said to be distracting the President from reshuffling his cabinet.
An anonymous source in the Presidency, said, “The original plan was for the President to announce his new cabinet on or before Independence Day. The President has consistently been tinkering with the list on his table. Each time you think he was done; there would be new development that would necessitate addition and subtraction of nominees on the list. Most times, these frequent changes of mind were caused by the activities of lobbyists.”
Another source disclosed that the President opted to depart for London for a two-week leave and retreat because he was being inundated by lobbyists, especially those seeking to be appointed ministers and other political bloc-leaders across the country seeking appointments for their protégés.
It was further learnt that apart from having some rest and routine medical treatment, the president may have travelled to London to focus more on the planned cabinet rejig without distraction.
“Lobbyists are leaving no stone unturned. Political, traditional and religious leaders across the country are involved in this horse trading.
That possibly was part of the reasons why the President opted to go to London for his two-week working leave, so that he would not be distracted.
“It will interest you that those perceived to be close to the President, including the First Lady, his children and close political allies, are under serious pressure from serving ministers and others seeking appointments to exert their influences on the President in their favour.
So, you find that several interests are involved. Now that he’s left for London, this intense pressure will, at least, abate,” he said.
Asked how many of the serving ministers he thought would be dropped by the President, the source said: “That would be difficult to answer.
This is because if I tell you he would drop anyone now, it would just be a mere guess. This is because performance alone won’t be the consideration. If it’s only by performance, about half of the Ministers would have to go.
“It will interest you that those perceived to be close to the President, including the First Lady, his children and close political allies, are under serious pressure from serving ministers and others seeking appointments to exert their influences on the President in their favour”
Credible sources confirmed that political considerations ahead of the 2027 Presidential election are germane to the decision of the President.
It was learnt that those mounting pressure on the President include those outside the ruling All Progressives Congress.
Some People’s Democratic Party members, who are close to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike and the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, are said to be also working on them to intercede for them before the president.
Ahead of the planned cabinet shake-up, several ministers and their political godfathers have also intensified lobbying to retain their positions.
Some ministers had started frantic lobbying to be in the President’s good books.
“Yes, that is a typical thing. Some of the ministers will be calling their godfathers to influence the President. It is a normal thing. But the President will still do what is on his mind for the country,” one of the aides said.
It was learnt that some ministers, who are afraid of being dropped from the federal cabinet and their godfathers, have intensified lobbying, seeking the intervention of the President’s allies and associates, including the Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, for a soft-landing.
Another top official said the CoS had expressed concern over the intense lobbying and pressure on Tinubu by those seeking assurances on the fate of their protégés in the Federal Executive Council.
The source stated, “Since reports filtered out that the President would soon reshuffle his cabinet, he has been under immense pressure from political godfathers and ministers who are afraid that they may be dropped from the cabinet.
“Due to the intense pressure, the CoS had to advise the President to take some days off in the United Kingdom after concluding the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Summit in China two weeks ago.
“Remember that for some days, Nigerians did not know about Tinubu’s whereabouts. After pictures of his meeting with King Charles surfaced online, people started speculating that he went to London for medical checks. The fact is that he was advised to spend a few days to allow the pressure and lobbying to subside.
“Anyway, it is not unusual for politicians to lobby on behalf of their wards but Nigerians are not satisfied with the performance of many of the ministers and the President would have no choice but to let them go. If you are not performing, you have to go, regardless of who your godfather is,” he added.
Tinubu has been facing increasing pressure from within and outside his party, the All Progressives Congress, to sack underperforming ministers in his cabinet.
There are strong indications that the President may scrap the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation as part of the cabinet rejig.
Another Presidency source said that the exercise would also see some portfolios split and others merged into a single entity, while some ministers would be relieved of their duties.
Although the President warned against underperformance about 10 months ago, the cabinet remained largely intact, save for the suspension of the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu.
The Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development was established in August 2019 by former President Muhammadu Buhari.
Buhari said its formation was part of his strategy to streamline and coordinate humanitarian interventions, disaster response, and social welfare programmes in the country.
Nigeria has been dealing with numerous crises such as internal conflicts, particularly from Boko Haram insurgencies, natural disasters, and a rising number of internally displaced persons.
The ministry was tasked with managing these matters, along with various social investment programmes such as the N-Power scheme, Conditional Cash Transfer and the Homegrown School Feeding Programme, amongst others.
While announcing his new ministers in August 2023, President Tinubu re-scoped the ministry to ‘Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.’
However, the ministry had been mired with various allegations of corruption, mismanagement and inefficiency, with most of these controversies centering on its first minister, Sadiya Farouq, who served from its inception until 2023.
Farouq’s successor, Edu, was also suspended for allegedly diverting N585m in ministry funds to a personal bank account.
While announcing her suspension January 7, the Presidency said Tinubu had tasked a panel, headed by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, to, among other functions, “conduct a comprehensive diagnostic on the financial architecture and framework of the social investment programmes to conclusively reform the relevant institutions and programmes in a determined bid to eliminate all institutional frailties for the exclusive benefit of disadvantaged households and win back lost public confidence in the initiative.”
Last November, after a three-day retreat for cabinet members and presidential aides, Tinubu announced that a Central Delivery Coordination Unit headed by Bala-Usman would measure the performance of ministers and other top government officials.
Their performance would determine who would leave or remain, Tinubu stated.
Early in his administration, after putting in place a cabinet, Tinubu set up a Result and Delivery Unit headed by Bala-Usman to measure the performance of each minister.
There are indications she has done it, and may continue to tweak the report until a reshuffle is done.
At the opening of a three-day cabinet retreat for ministers, presidential aides, permanent secretaries and top government functionaries on November 1, 2023, the President said the ministers in his cabinet would only retain their offices based on performance, which would be reviewed quarterly.
In commemoration of his first anniversary in office, President Tinubu directed his ministers to present their performance reports to Nigerians.
“If you are performing, you have 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.
“There are strong indications that the President may scrap the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation as part of the cabinet rejig”
On January 24, the agency in charge of the assessment, the Central Delivery Coordination Unit, trained at least 140 officials to track and assess the performance of federal ministries, departments and agencies ahead of the assessment.
Speaking on a live television programme in April, Bala-Usman affirmed that the unit had received performance reports from at least 20 of the 35 ministries.
She explained that the assessment reports would be a product of a joint effort of the ministers, citizens and industry experts.
Bala-Usman said, “Our submission is for the first quarter. So, the first quarter has just ended, and we have initiated the assessment process. The ministers have all been asked to submit their performance based on the deliverables.”
She asserted ministers would be assessed “based on what is out there in the public space. They would write to say, ‘Based on every deliverable you have given me, this is what I’ve done within the first quarter of the year.’”
Meanwhile, Nigerians have expressed increasing frustration and anger over what they perceive as poor performance by some government ministers.
The discontent stems from various issues, including economic challenges, corruption, unemployment, insecurity, and lack of infrastructural development.
Despite high hopes when the ministers were appointed, many Nigerians feel that the promises made during campaigns have not been fulfilled.
Nigerians also feel that the government has not delivered on promises to improve roads, electricity, healthcare, and education.
Other areas of concern include rising inflation, unemployment, and a stagnant economy which have left many Nigerians struggling to make ends meet.
Also, the continued threat from insurgent groups, bandits, and kidnappers has worsened, with many blaming the defence ministers for not doing enough to strengthen security forces or bring lasting solutions to the crisis.
The general hardships and frustration resulted in the #Endbadgovernance protests which rocked the country in August.
The group also organised another round of protests on October 1.
HOW THE MINISTERS STAND
Some of the ministers like Yusuf Tuggar (Foreign Affairs) recorded considerable success after over a year in office.
Tuggar was instrumental in strengthening Nigeria’s bilateral relations with key strategic partners, including countries in Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Americas.
Under his stewardship, Nigeria continued to play a significant role within the African Union, especially regarding peace and security efforts in conflict-affected regions such as the Sahel, West Africa, and the Horn of Africa.
He also appointed 12 consuls-general and five chargés d’affaires to represent the country in 14 countries on-appointment of new ambassadors 13 months after the former envoys were recalled has been questioned.
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, has been lauded for working on initiatives to combat fake news and promote factual reporting, as well as campaigns aimed at fostering national unity and reorienting the citizenry towards positive values.
He’s launched the Audience Measurement System and the National Value Charter but has been accused of not communicating government policies and programmes effectively.
The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Atiku Bagudu, negotiated the 2023 Supplementary Budget and the 2024 fiscal estimates and their amendment with the National Assembly.
He also implemented over 500 selected Federal Government projects implemented in 2023 Capital Appropriation were monitored to ensure accountability and value for money and reimbursed N438.3bn to the FCT and 34 states.
So far, 67,038 jobs have been created in the first phase of the 2023 implementation but his policies increased economic hardship.
Reduction of revenue-to-debt service ratio from 97% in 2023 to 68% in 2024 has been one of Wale Edun’s achievements as Minister of Finance. He also paid back N7.3trn Ways and Means obligations and initiated a strategic input programme to increase food supply and a pivot to CNG fuel for mass transit vehicles.
However, economic hardship persists as a result of government policies while he’s been criticised for slow rollout of social programmes despite increasing poverty.
The Minister of Solid Minerals, Dele Alake, has promoted the diversification of the economy through mining, commissioned the geological and mineral resource maps to guide investors on the locations of key minerals and created a long-term master plan to guide the solid minerals sector but he’s been unable to attract sufficient investors while stakeholders complain of his opaque policies.
The Minister of Trade and Investments, Doris Uzoka-Anite paid a N50,000 grant to small business owners and engaged with international partners/investors to promote Nigeria’s industrial and trade opportunities.
She also streamlined processes related to trade facilitation, reducing delays in customs and port operations. However, she’s yet to begin payment of loans to manufacturers and MSMEs.
The Minister of Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, has been instrumental in implementing Nigeria’s Start-up Act, ongoing training and placement of three million technical talents as well as working on initiatives to increase access to venture capital and funding for Nigerian tech startups
But under the minister’s watch, there’s been no progress on plans to increase internet access nationwide. He is also yet to set up OneGov, a one-stop shop for all government services, and investing in innovation hubs nationwide
The Minister of Aviation Festus Keyamo initiated moves and the return of Emirates Airlines to Nigeria after two years’ suspension and has supported indigenous airlines and others in the aviation sector to reduce capital flight.
He facilitated the commencement of Air Peace operations to the UK and has begun moves to build a second runway at the Abuja Airport. He also facilitated the payment of 45 months of minimum wage arrears owed NiMet workers
The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu successfully launched the long awaited Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition and installed systems used for controlling, monitoring, and analysing industrial devices and processes.
The Minister of Health, Muhammad Pate secured a $3bn pledge from foreign partners while over 10 million children received tetanus and diphtheria vaccines under his watch.
He also retrained 120,000 health workers, increased school admission quota by 100 per cent in health institutions and facilitated signing of Executive Order on healthcare products.
The FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, inaugurated commercial operations of the Abuja metro rail system, resurfaced 135 roads and built several bridges in the city centre.
He approved the promotion of over 8000 FCTA staff, and 1000 FCDA staff. He completed the construction of the Vice President’s official residence.
The Supreme Court judgment on Local Government financial autonomy happened under Justice Minister, Lateef Fagbemi. He also passed into law the 300 per cent judicial salary increment bill. He played key roles in the conviction of 125 Boko Haram terrorists and financiers in mass trial and the £2.1m corruption proceeds received from bailiwick of Jersey.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, unlocked $3bn investment in the gas sector by resolving issues relating to the execution of the Gas Sales and Purchase Agreement for the Brass Methanol Project.
He midwifed the reconstruction of the Midstream and Downstream Gas Infrastructure Fund council and guidelines and unveiled many gas projects since his appointment.
