Tinubu may soon reshuffle cabinet amidst perceived underperformance of some ministers

There are indications that the long-awaited cabinet reshuffle may be announced any moment, as President Bola Tinubu Monday held closed door meeting with Hadiza Bala-Usman, Special Adviser to the President on Policy & Coordination.

The Policy Coordination office was saddled with the responsibility of coming up with the criteria that would determine who to go and those who would be retained.

Recall that the President had in November, 2023, saddled the office with the responsibility of overseeing the performance appraisal of the Ministers, at the end of their retreat.

The Minister had signed a “ Performance Bond”, while the office of the Special Adviser to the President on Policy and Coordination also developed a “ citizens’ delivery tracker”, launched by the federal government that will come up with the empirical data to evaluate the performance of the cabinet members.

The Coordinator’s meeting with the President on Monday is seen as pivotal to the reshuffling, although details of the meeting were not made public.

The President, aside from reshuffling his current set of ministers, is also expected to appoint some other ministers to fill the offices vacated by Simon Lalong, former Minister of Labour and Employment, who was President Tinubu’s Presidential Campaign Director General DG.

Lalong resigned to take over his seat at the Senate to represent Plateau South Senatorial District, in the National Assembly

The Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management has also been without a Minister, following the scandals that rocked the Ministry, leading to the suspension of Betta Edu, the substantive Minister.

Also expected to be announced, is the Minister that will coordinate the newly created Ministry of Livestock Development.

It would be recalled that before he started his annual leave, the President had a meeting with the ministers and expressed his displeasure with the performance of some of them, according to Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy.

He revealed that the President expressed his displeasure, during the meeting of the Federal Executive Council FEC, and directed the ministers to engage more with members of the public on the achievements of his administration.

Onanuga noted that the Tinubu administration has achieved much in terms of policy initiatives, but added that the President was disappointed that much has been put into the public domain.

“The President has directed the Ministers to engage more with members of the public, especially on the achievements of the current administration.

“I cannot say exactly when he will reshuffle his cabinet, but the President has indicated his intention to reshuffle his cabinet. “Whether that will happen before the 1st October, Independence celebration, I cannot tell.

Mustapha Audu, a Chieftain of the All Progressive Congress APC, while speaking on the issue, counselled the President to reshuffle his cabinet, adding that “50% of the Ministers are underperforming”

“A lot of non-performing members of the cabinet…More than 50% of the cabinet are non-performing. No one knows who they are, and it’s quite unfortunate. We expected so much more, so we expect that from Mr President.”

“In reality, the truth about it is that Nigerians are not feeling the Renewed Hope agenda- that’s just the truth of it,” Audu stated. “Two protests in the space of three months shows us that we’re not actually performing as we promised Nigerians that we would.”

“It’s not about having just people occupying positions. You need people with vision, people with understanding, people who know what to do and how to go about doing it,” he emphasized.

“Let’s hit the nail on the head, and let’s be direct. First of all, we expect a cabinet reshuffle, at the very least

But some members of the Northern Elders Political Development Group, have passed a vote of confidence on some of the Ministers, especially those from the northern part of the country.

The group are of the opinion that the cabinet reshuffle was unnecessary as according to them, the Ministers have done well.

Adamu Giwa, the Secretary General of the group had given a pass mark to some of the Ministers, including; Farouk Dangiwa Housing, Abubakar Atiku Budget and Economic Planning, Mohammed Matawalle Defense, as well as Christopher Musa, the Chief of Defence Staff.

The group insisted that “ Tinubu Ministers have performed creditably well” and charged the President to “concentrate on the fight against insecurity and economic reforms”.