President Tinubu Plans Reshuffling Cabinet

Ahead of President Bola Tinubu‘s anticipated cabinet reorganization, several ministers have intensified their lobbying efforts to retain their positions.

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.

READ ALSO: No Going Back On Cabinet Reshuffle — Presidency

“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 shakeup 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.