That proposed cabinet shake-up

The reported plan by the Federal Government to reshuffle the Federal Executive Council (FEC) is desirable, as a periodic performance evaluation of public officials to deliver quality service to the people. Every executive council at the federal or states must be made to account for electoral promises as well as for resources appropriated to deliver services to the people within a particular threshold. It is recommended that the exercise should be carried out without bias or sentiments of godfatherism. Let square pegs stay in square holes.

At the inauguration of FEC in August 2023, President Bola Tinubu assured Nigerians that he had assembled a team of talented Nigerians to drive the Renewed Hope agenda of the government. He tasked them to “find a homegrown re-engineering of our finances, manage our resources and let the economy work for the people of this country.”

The President reminded them that “there are so many things some cynics will say are impossible, but in your dictionary of service, everything is possible and must be possible. We have talents; we have the level of intellectual capacity to turn this country around.”

One year later, Nigerians cannot say that the talents in this government have turned things around for them. After eight years of lacklustre performance by the Muhammadu Buhari-led government and the attendant economic hardship it delivered to citizens, expectations became very high for the Tinubu administration to renew their trust in the government.

In his 80-page policy document, a contract of sorts with the people, Tinubu anchored his intervention on the key issues of security, economy, agriculture, power, oil and gas, transportation and education. More than one year in office, there is more despondency in the streets than what this government inherited.

On security, for instance, while Tinubu promised to “establish a bold and assertive policy that will create the strong yet adaptive national security architecture and action to obliterate terror, kidnapping, banditry and all other forms of violent extremism from the face of our country,” the reality is that Nigerians have become more unsafe in their homes and farms, across all geo-political zones.

Terrorism and banditry in the North-West and North-Central have assumed epidemic proportions, forcing the Federal Government to order the Defence Chiefs to relocate to Sokoto. Nigerians had questioned the rationale behind the appointment of former governors of Zamfara and Jigawa States, Bello Matawalle and Mohammed Badru, as heads of the Defence Ministry, whereas the two are not known to have notable prior experience in security matters. They also did not record stellar performance in reining in terrorists and bandits under their watch as governors.

In the proposed shakeup, the President should shop for experts outside the political sphere. The tradition of seeking to reward politicians for their electoral value is self-serving and has little or no advantage for the country. Let it be known that without security, there will be no territories to administer and there may be no elections.

On citizens’ well-being, the President is reminded of what he promised in the manifesto he announced as a social contract with the people. He pledged to “train and give economic opportunity to the poorest and most vulnerable among us” adding: “We seek a Nigeria where no parent is compelled to send a child to bed hungry, worried whether tomorrow shall bring food.”

Nigerians have never succumbed to pangs of hunger the way they have been forced to in the last one year. The combined effect of insecurity and bad policies has affected farming populations adversely. Many have left the farms for Internally Displaced Persons’ camps, and others have to cities to make quick money riding motorcycles (Okada). We challenge the President to reorganise the Ministry of Agriculture to make it attractive and safe. Whoever is the minister should himself be a notable and experienced expert with field experience. Nigerians are tired of theoreticians and redundant politicians manning sensitive offices. The government should also make inputs affordable and available early before each planting season.

The promise by this administration to make electricity affordable and available to Nigerians has failed woefully. Tinubu promised to: “generate, transmit and distribute sufficient, affordable electricity to give our people the requisite power to enlighten their lives, their homes and their very dreams.”

Instead, Nigerians have experienced one year of the costliest public electricity in the entire history of the country. The minister in charge of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has not added one megawatt of power to the grid in one year. The entire population of over 200 million is still rationing less than 5,000 megawatts. The hike in tariff and segmentation (segregation) of consumers into bands is anti-people and anti-development. It is also escapist.

The excruciating and agonising experience of Nigerians at fuel stations since May 29, 2023, provides unassailable evidence of poor performance by this administration. Nigerians are paying heavily for petrol, a by-product of crude that is available in substantial quantity in the country. Mr. President who heads the Petroleum Ministry is unable to make fuel available and affordable to Nigerians.

President Tinubu should hands off the Petroleum Ministry as recommended in the 1999 Constitution. Every cabinet member must be cleared by the National Assembly (Senate) and be answerable to the people on request. He should allow professionals to independently administer oil and gas as provided in the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA). We demand that all personal interests of the President, his acolytes and politicians in oil and gas, be subjected to appropriate governance rules just of those of every Nigerian. The government must learn to do things decently and lawfully.

It is equally important that henceforth, all road contracts are subjected to extant procurement processes and laws. Cutting corners and the absence of transparency for which the Lagos-Calabar Highway contract has been widely criticised is not a mark of achievement or star performance. Willingness to surrender to principles of accountability and transparency must be taken into account in selecting men into high office, particularly for those with big budgets like Works and Defence.

Without trumpeting it, it is clear that this government has been unable to deliver the quality governance it promised. It is therefore not a surprise that there is a planned shake-up. The proposed reshufflement of the cabinet should be a holistic and collective exercise, with Mr President taking the larger blame. Also, lawmakers should live up to their responsibilities as representatives of the people by holding the executive to account. They have failed woefully in that assignment. We task them to be more critical in vetting nominees for cabinet positions.

Lastly, the Media and Civil Society should not relent in their monitoring and oversight roles, particularly in Appropriations (Budgets). It is a collective responsibility of all Nigerians to make the resources work for the people.