Skip to main content

Ministers panic over looming cabinet shake-up

President Goodluck Jonathan
               President Goodluck Jonathan
Ministers in the Federal Government have been panic-stricken since the news broke that President Goodluck Jonathan had concluded plans for a major shake-up in his cabinet, investigations by SUNDAY PUNCHhave revealed.

It was learnt on Friday that while some ministers would be shown the way out, some others will swap positions.
The anxiety among the ministers, it was further learnt, was heightened because they were not sure of the criteria that might be adopted to decide their fate.

Since the plan of the Presidency is to constitute “an election cabinet” ahead of the President’s declaration of interest in the 2015 election, political clouts of the ministers will likely be a major factor.
Performance will also play a role in the fate of the technocrats among them.

It was further learnt that the ministerial nominees that will make the list that will be forwarded to the Senate next week is a fraction of the vacancy currently in the cabinet.

There are currently 12 ministerial vacancies in the cabinet.

“The nominees have undergone security screening. Not all the vacancies will be filled with this list but a substantial amount of them will be filled,” a top Presidency source told THE MEDIA.
While justifying the plan to change the portfolios of some ministers, the source said the idea was to give the cabinet “a new look.”

He, however, did not name those who might be affected in the new arrangement.

Our correspondent learnt that ministers who have ambitions to contest elections will form a chunk of those that will be leaving the cabinet soon.

For instance, Minister of Police Affairs, Navy-Cpt. Caleb Olubolade (retd.), is eyeing the Peoples Democratic Party ticket for the Ekiti State governorship election holding later in the year.

Other ministers who are eyeing the governorship seats of their states are Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku (Nassarawa); Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Mr. Godsday Orubebe (Delta) and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Senator Bala Muhammed (Bauchi).

Reports also have it that the Supervising Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prof. Viola Onwuliri, who was deputy to former Governor Ikedi Ohakim of Imo State is also eyeing a senatorial seat.

Meanwhile, as Jonathan prepares to shuffle his cabinet, a Second Republic member of the House of Representatives, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, has called for the removal of at least five ministers.

Mohammed said, “The Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison- Madueke, lacks competence and political dexterity. Her inability to even get the Petroleum Industry Bill through the National Assembly is evident that she commands no respect.

“The second Minister who must go is the Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; she has not in any way managed our finance and she is simply being hyped by a section of the media.”

He also said the Ministers of Aviation, Stella Oduah; that of the Federal Capital Territory, Bala Mohammed, his counterpart in the Information Ministry, Labaran Maku and that of Justice, Mohammed Adoke, should also be dropped.

Speaking in a similar vein, the Executive Secretary of the Civil Societies Legislative and Advocacy Centre, Auwual Musa, said the planned cabinet shake-up was an opportunity for President Jonathan to redeem the image of his administration.

Musa said, “He can use this exercise to ease out all those ministers that have brought nothing but public opprobrium to his administration.

“For a start, he should do away with the Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah, who has been enmeshed in a series of corruption and academic fraud scandals.

“The Minister of Petroleum Resources Alison-Madueke and the Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo- Iweala, who has been making bogus claims about the state of the economy, should also not be spared.”

In an interview with one of our correspondents, a Lagos-based legal practitioner, Mr. Festus Keyamo, objected to the appointment of politicians as ministers.

He said, “It will be extremely wrong to bring in politicians at this time because they will do nothing than campaign. That will be extremely objectionable.

“If he (Jonathan) knows he wants to finish strong, inaugurating projects and moving the country forward, he needs capable hands at this time. Any government who wants to do well towards the end of its tenure should bring in pure professionals not politicians.”

He added, “Any minister, who has a political ambition, should be shown the way out of the cabinet now, no matter how close the person is to the President. You cannot be campaigning and at the same time be a minister.”

Keyamo said the criteria to sack non-performing ministers were at the discretion of the President.
He said, “Some ministers are making more noise than others, while some are quiet performers. The President has the yard- stick to determine those performing to his own taste.”

Also, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Yusuf Ali, advised the President to ensure only patriotic Nigerians were appointed as ministers in his next cabinet.

Ali said this in an interview with one of our correspondents. He said, “The President should appoint patriotic Nigerians, people who will really serve the people, not just themselves and their families.”

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Inside Africa

August 20,2013 Divided Egyptians united in grief Many people across Egypt have been burying their dead following the violence of recent weeks The recent violence in Egypt has claimed the lives of people on both sides of the country's political divide. But while the bloodshed is polarising the country further, grief is one thing uniting them, says the BBC's Ahmed Maher. Here in Alexandria, Egypt's second largest city, it was a tragedy that left the family of Ahmed Qadri devastated. Mr Qadri was shot twice in his chest and abdomen as security forces launched a brutal crackdown on the Brotherhood supporters camping outside Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque in Cairo on 14 August. A senior Muslim Brotherhood leader in his hometown, Mr Qadri is survived by a wife and three children. His 22-year-old eldest son, Fidaa, says he will not get over the death of his father for the rest of his life. Fighting back tears, Fidaa said he mad...
Post a Comment
Read more

News

August 19, 2013 We heard fire victims cry for help –Residents   Ekene   Neighbours of a family that perished in an inferno in a building located in Shagari Estate, Lagos State, said they heard the victims’ cries for help. PUNCH Metro had reported last week Thursday that a family of five lost their lives after  fire engulfed their three-bedroom apartment in the early hours of Wednesday. The victims of the fire were the mother, Mrs Anwuzia, the children, Ekene 16, and Emeka 17, an aunt, identified only as Philomena, and another yet-to-be- identified man. It was learnt that the father was not at home when the incident occurred. A friend of the children, who spoke to our correspondent on the condition of anonymity, said he was talking to one of the victims when the incident happened. He said, “Around 11.30pm that day, I was chatting with Ekene on the telephone and after sometime, she stopped responding. I was later told by another fr...
Post a Comment
Read more
My Level Has Changed. Ace comic actor, Hafiz Oyetoro spoke with GBENRO ADESINA about the challenges he faced before his breakthrough. How far have you gone with your Ph.D programme at the University of Ibadan (UI)? I am still on it. This is my second year. I am currently doing some field work. I hope to round off the field work by the end of this year. Afterwards, I will start writing. How are you combining it with your tight schedule? Everybody knows what he wants in life. You have to create time to do all the things you want to do and that is why everyone must be good in managing his or her time. Definitely, scale of preference will come in. No one has time to combine many necessary and important things but one has to create time to achieve one’s dream. You did an advert for Etisalat and all of a sudden, you switched over to MTN. Why did you switch from Etisalat to MTN? I will not want to say anything about that for now. Please, do not let us go there. It is no go ...
Post a Comment
Read more