Tag: Niger Delta Ministry

Finally, after months of hesitation, President Bola Tinubu has reshuffled his cabinet. Five ministers are out, and seven, including two unfilled ministerial positions by Plateau and Cross River, are in. The reshuffle gratifies the ‘bloodfest’ some Nigerians have come to expect, the restless yearning for brutal change of personnel. Quantitatively, there has been little change from the previous cabinet: there are still nearly as many ministers as there were before the change. Indeed, with the Livestock ministry added, a fact interpreted as a placatory gesture towards the North, analysts appear convinced that cost cutting was not part of the agenda for the reshuffle. And with the scrapping of the Niger Delta ministry, the oil rivers are likely to become more incensed despite the argument that the development aspiration of the region would assume better and more rational management.

To a vast majority of Nigerians, the reshuffle was not far-reaching enough, notwithstanding the morbid excitement it elicited. They had expected a quantitative reduction in the number of ministries, in tandem with a reduction in the number of ministers and ministers of state. President Tinubu’s puristic approach to governance, which has seen him elevate efficiency and projected and calculated results above public perceptions and emotions, may continue to be controversial. He may in fact continue to be constrained by the political exigencies of appointing and keeping as many ministers as will satisfy his political base, while avoiding the ghastly cuts capable of alienating the powerful interests that propelled his election and might still drive it in the next two years should he indicate interest in a second term. Quite clearly, the kind of cuts analysts suggest are a rarity in any president’s first term, not to talk of a government yet to clock two years in office.

There are suggestions President Tinubu has an unwieldy cabinet at a time of scarcity and economic adversity. The only way to respond to such concerns, however, will be if the cabinet somehow manages to drive the most incredible feat of economic growth rarely seen in these parts. The president appears convinced that he now has in place a ministerial council that can deliver on his promise for a better life for Nigerians. He seems sure that in the months ahead, his administration will spur growth on a level that would see the economy raising productivity, reining in inflation, strengthening and stabilising the naira, and substantially reducing insecurity. It is unlikely Nigeria will return to its previous culture of largesse and entitlement, where freeloaders needlessly burden the system and compromise the wellbeing of future generations, but it will take a lot of convincing to sensitise the public against reliving the folly of the past.

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Whether the president likes it or not, the public perception about his reshuffle has not been ecstatic. He is to blame. Months into his administration, and apart from the initial bloating of the cabinet, it was clear he had burdened himself with a few ministerial misfits. Prompt remedial action to restore sanity would have obviated the need for last week’s ‘bloodfest’. Constant tinkering and substitutions are often necessary to renew and strengthen an administration. The president, however, waited until calls grew louder for a reshuffle. And by publicly emplacing a system that monitors and rates his cabinet members, it was unavoidable that speculations would be rife about impending movements in the cabinet. Since cabinet reshuffle has over the decades assumed a larger-than-life status in Nigeria, with many people looking forward to it, whether it makes sense or not, it is incumbent on the president to diminish its influence and role in governance.

President Tinubu has made a noteworthy attempt to restructure his administration. It is the right thing to do, for his previous cabinet did not quite give the impression that it was scientifically constituted to achieve great purposes beyond satisfying the political interests which enabled his election. The establishment of Regional Development ministry is probably the most impactful of the changes, with the minister formerly heading the Niger Delta ministry assigned that new omnibus portfolio. How the Niger Delta people misread the enlargement of this ministry is hard to fathom. All six regional development commissions are now grouped under one heading, obviously for administrative and efficiency reasons.

Cabinet reshuffle has become an entrenched culture. President Tinubu should, however, make it fairly routine, for no matter what he does with his cabinet, the public will either think the reshuffle has not gone far enough or gone too far. It is important to minimise expectations from a reshuffle because it is not a magic bullet to fix all administrative weaknesses or create utopia. Sometimes, as the confused reactions from the public often suggest, reshuffles even compound the crisis of governance. Nevertheless, the president now has a cabinet he appears to have some confidence in, and despite initial misgivings, he has managed to communicate his enthusiasm to many Nigerians. Let him run with it, for now, there will be no excuses, at least not in the next two years. But if he must reshuffle, future changes need to be undertaken fairly unobtrusively.