...Cabinet rejig will be based on ministers’ performance – Presidency

...Political bigwigs, ministers intensify lobbying

Ahead of the planned cabinet shake-up by President Bola Tinubu, several ministers and their political godfathers have intensified lobbying to retain their positions, The PUNCH has learnt.

The Presidency on Wednesday stated that President Tinubu would soon rejig his cabinet, which confirmed Sunday PUNCH’s September 1 report that a cabinet shakeup was imminent.

This happened as presidential aides told The PUNCH that 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.

Our correspondents 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.

Sources disclosed that the President may announce the shake-up by October 1, but The PUNCH could not independently confirm the date.

However, addressing State House correspondents on Wednesday, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, and the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Digital/New Media, O’Tega Ogra, explained that the cabinet shake-up would be based on the empirical evidence from performance reports the President had received in the past months.

Onanuga said Tinubu had stated his intent to rejig his cabinet, confirming The PUNCH report of an impending cabinet rejig.

However, he added that there was no timeline for the impending reshuffle, but the President, he noted, had “expressed his desire” to do it.

He said, “Let me tell you, I don’t have any timeline. The President has expressed his desire to reshuffle his cabinet, and he will do it.

“I don’t know whether he’s going to do it before October 1, but he will surely do it. So, that’s what I will say. He has not given us any timeline when he wants to do it, but he will do it. He has expressed his plan that he wants to do it.”

Speaking on the performance of the present administration, Onanuga said, “The President has given an order to all his ministers at the last Federal Executive Council meeting to go out there and speak about the activities of his administration.

“Some of them have been media shy, television shy, radio shy, and he wants them to overcome all that and go out there and speak about what they have been doing because the feeling out there is that government is not doing enough and the government has been doing a lot. And it is up to them to go out there and blow their own trumpet. They should go out there and talk about what their ministries have been doing.”

Ogra said the decision would not be arbitrary but would be based on the performance reports presented by the Special Adviser to the President on Policy Coordination, Hadiza Bala-Usman, who heads the Central Delivery Coordination Unit.

“The President’s decision to reshuffle his cabinet is also based on empirical evidence. You know, he had said when he was speaking at the retreat for the ministers that they were going to have periodic reviews and the decisions that are extracted from these reviews will be used to make that final decision.

“I know he has gotten a couple of reports, and as Mr Onanuga said, when he is ready to do that, he will.”

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 told The PUNCH 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 Dr. Betta Edu, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.

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, nothing to fear,” the President stated. “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.” 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 Arise TV’s News Night 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 has also announced another round of protests in October.

Some of the ministers like Amb. 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.

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.

Atiku Bagudu (Minister of Budget and National Planning) negotiated the 2023 Supplementary Budget and the 2024 fiscal estimates and their amendment with the National Assembly. He also implemented over 500 selected FG 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 N7.3tn Ways and Means obligations and initiated strategic input programme to increase food supply and a pivot to CNG fuel for mass transit vehicles.

However, economic hardship persist as a result of government policies while he’s been criticised for slow rollout of social programmes despite increasing poverty.

Minister of Solid Minerals Dele Alake 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.

Doris Uzoka-Anite (Minister of Trade) paid 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.

Minister of Digital Econmy 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

Minister of Aviation Festus Keyamo initiated moves for return of Emirates Airlines to Nigeria 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 began 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

Power minister 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.

Health minister Prof 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.

FCT minister Nyesom Wike inaugurated commercial operations of Abuja metro rail system, resurfaced 135 roads and built several bridges in the city centre. He approved 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 LG 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.

Ekperikpe Ekpo, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), 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.

Punch