Key ministries like power, works, housing; information; finance, interior, sports etc to be affected
Nigerians express dismay over government’s non-performance in critical sectors
There are very strong indications that President Muhammadu Buhari will soon announce a cabinet reshuffle following criticisms by majority of Nigerians over non-performance in key ministries, Presidency sources have said.
A reliable source in the Presidency said Buhari was not pleased with the observations made by Nigerians on his performance so far in office and that he is poised to wield the big stick over some ministers.
The source said the president had decided to remove non-performing ministers in some key ministries and also deploy others who have performed below par.
According to Aljazirahnews among ministries speculated to be affected are Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, under the watch of Raji Fashola, Ministry of Finance, under Kemi Adeosun, Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism, under Lai Mohammed, Ministry of Petroleum under Ibe Kachikwu, Ministry of Interior, under Abdulrahman Dambazau and Minister of Sports, Solomon Dalung.
On May 29, a day generally set aside to celebrate democracy day in Nigeria and which marked the one-year anniversary of the present administration, Nigerians and several groups across the country had given the Buhari led government a low mark.
Many Nigerians had asserted that most of the ministers on the president’s team had performed woefully in their respective portfolios.
The former military leader was not spared by non-governmental organizations either.
It would be recalled that in a recent survey carried out by the Governance Advancement Initiative for Nigeria, GAIN, President Muhammadu Buhari’s popularity rating dropped by 30% since last year when he came into office after a grand swell of support from Nigerians.
Further findings by GAIN indicates that all may not be too well with the perception of the president as he marked one year in office on May 29.
According to the poll results, many Nigerians scored President Muhammadu Buhari low on jobs, economy, and power.
The February 2016 survey showed that the president’s approval rating dropped drastically from 63.4% in January to 32.8%, and more Nigerians held Buhari responsible for the dwindling economy for the first time.
79% of respondents rated the administration’s handling of recurring clashes between herdsmen and farmers poor. They also believed his response to the resurgence of Niger Delta militancy and the ongoing crackdown of the Biafra agitators has not been handled well
Recently, the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) released its Buharimeter Report, an innovative governance tracking tool, designed to monitor the level of progress in the fulfilment of the 222 tracked electoral promises made by Buhari to Nigerians prior the 2015 Presidential election. The report concluded as at December that PMB had only achieved one out of the 222 tracked promises, which constitutes 0.5 percent of the promises.
PMB poised to act
The source said that a select committee set up by the president to evaluate the performance of his ministers and the perception of Nigerians had already sent in their report to the president who is mulling the details.
The source said what may be hindering the removal of these ministers may be the president’s consideration of party stance on the reorganization as he believes the party should be hinted first and allowed to make an input.
“You know the president is an avowed repentant democrat and he wants everyone including the party members to be a part of the decision to remove these ministers as many of them came on board on party recommendations. But he is equally a man of his word and has a strong will. He will still go ahead and remove any minister he feels has not performed creditably well,’’ the source noted.
The president, it was gathered by Aljazirahnews is also shocked by allegations of corruption leveled against some key ministers of his administration and is contemplating shoving such aside in order to reinvent his administration’s image before Nigerians as an anti-corruption government.
He said the president was equally planning to remove controversial ministers whose utterances were not in sync with the vision of his administration.
“The president knows that he cannot afford to fail this time around. Nigerians are tired of excuses and want performance. He will not like to hold unto anyone who does not share his vision for Nigerians,’’ the source added.
The president it was learnt was also looking at the possibility of reshuffling by reposting certain ministers to areas where he knows they may fare better rather than sacking them and incurring the wrath of the party who backed their nomination in the first place.
“Many of them latched on the non-release of the budget as an excuse for their poor performance but the president is wise and knows that even with the recent passage of the budget they will still not perform even after a year. The president is not willing to wait that long.’’
The issue of power is believed to be very germane to the president in his move to reorganize his government as he believes he cannot afford to fail Nigerians in this area.
For several decades, the Nigerian power supply has been an ongoing issue. Over time, excessive amounts of time, effort, and most notably, money have been exhaustibly spent to secure an adequate power supply in Nigeria. However, unsuccessful governmental policies, among other failures, have fallen in the way of installing effective energy sources and power supply to the country. To date, there have been several major barriers to achieving an adequate power supply in Nigeria.
Out of the amount of power that is distributed to transmission companies, only about 50% of it gets to the consumers and this has killed many budding businesses.
Investigations reveal that Nigerians are of the opinion that there should be a total overhaul in this ministry that is central to the economy while a technocrat should be appointed.
For the ministry of information, it is believed that the president is not impressed with the minister’s handling of the flow of information and sensitization over key government policies that ought to have endeared the masses to it rather than antagonize them.
Key is the issue of the recent removal of petroleum subsidy and proposed removal of fertilizer subsidy which was not handled well by the information apparatus of the government
Also according to the source the president is not impressed with the inability of the ministry of interior to employ more measures at curbing the incessant herdsmen and farmers’ crisis that has erupted in many parts of the nation which had led to the criticism of the government’s response.
One key minister that may also be shown the way out is the minister of the finance, whose handling of the economy in the face of dwindling revenue and fall in oil price is not too impressive.
Even though the president believes that key economic portfolios are in the hands of the Southern appointees, while those of security and anti-graft are in the firm hands of the North, he still believes that he cannot afford to fail on the economic front even though he has performed creditably well in security and corruption fight. Hence he is currently amenable to removing the finance minister.
The poor handling of the sports sector may also lead to the ouster of the current minister or his deployment. For one, the factions that has emerged in the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF perhaps is a clear indication that the minister’s hold on his ministry is weak.
Equally, the crisis rocking the National Youth Council of Nigeria, NYCN where different factions are laying claim to the presidency, for many is a smack on the leadership capabilities of the minister and may serve as incentive for Buhari to show him the door.
It was learnt that competency and the need to appoint technocrats will be the criteria in the president’s reshuffling plan.
Speaking, a political analyst, based in Abuja, Rotimi Opeyeoluwa said that it was expedient for the president to do the needful as it is in his powers to hire and fire.
“Gone are the days when the expectations of Nigerians will continue to be dashed. We are still living in darkness. The government has to provide the light.”
He said that the president is in the best position to assess his ministers and if for any reason he feels they are failing, then they should be relieved.
He stressed that for the past one year, the achievements of the ministers have been modest but called for an increased tempo in service delivery so as to return the fruits of democracy to expectant Nigerians.
“The President and his ministers should move away from apportioning blames because Nigerians will soon run out of patience.”
He commended the President for the war against insurgency and the recorded victories but stressed that in the south east, kidnapping has been on the increase; in the south-south, it has been battle with the militants. In his assessment, however, nothing spectacular has been achieved in the ministries, but beyond these, he called on the entire cabinet to come alive.
In his analysis, a public affairs analyst, Isuma Isuma noted that many of the ministers in the last one year have not performed well.
He posited that the present administration was unprepared for the task of leading a nation as Nigeria and this has revealed itself in the president’s choice of his cabinet.
He further blamed the President’s lack of a working policy as part of the reasons that account for the said failure of the ministers.
“These are the worst set of ministers we have had since 1999; the Ministers have all flopped as a result of lack of policy direction.”
He pointed the need for the president to look at his drawing board, adding that if he had a blueprint mapped out, then directives could be given to the ministers, of which if they failed to carry out, he can ‘pull them out.’
However, he added that this was not to say that the ministers are exonerated from the complaint of poor performance as they have constitutional rights to engender policies in their ministries.
Aljazirahnews made efforts to get presidential spokesperson, Femi Adesina to comment on the expected reshuffling but it was abortive as at press time.
However, a source close to Adesina, who does not want his name mentioned said that while it was the president’s prerogative to hire and fire ministers, he had not yet ‘specifically’ indicated that he would do so adding that the president was always monitoring the performance of key ministries.
“It is possible that he intends to do so but as far as I can tell, he has not yet told anyone out rightly that he would do so. When he decides to do that I am sure nothing will stop him.’’ (Aljazirahnews)
