President Bola Tinubu has indicated plans to sack some cabinet members and reshuffle others to ministries where they can better function effectively for the country.
As gathered, the move will be centered on the empirical evidence provided in the performance reports received by the president in the past months.
It was learnt that during reshuffling, some portfolios will be divided and others merged into a single entity to reduce the cost of governance.
The move may result in the appointment of a new minister for the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation after the suspension of Dr. Betta Edu.
The moves were made public by the president’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, and the Senior Special Assistant on Digital/New Media, O’Tega Ogra, on Wednesday while briefing State House Correspondents inside the Villa.
Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Mr. Bayo Onanuga, and the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Digital/New Media, Mr. O’Tega Ogra, revealed this to State House Correspondents during a joint briefing at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja, on Wednesday.
Onanuga said although there is no timeline for the impending reshuffle, the president has “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.”
On his part, Ogra said the decision would not be arbitrary but would be based on performance reports presented by the Special Adviser to the President on Policy Coordination, Hadiza Bala-Usman, who also 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.
