Ministers panic as calls for cabinet shake-up intensify

NEW TELEGRAPH

As the calls on President Bola Tinubu to rejig the cabinet intensify, there are insinuations that some ministers have begun to make surreptitious moves to retain their seats.

Over 15 months after taking over power by the President, there have been persistent calls on Tinubu to remove those ministers perceived as performing below bar in his cabinet. This is consequent upon the nation’s security and economic realities.

Even when the President has yet to show any sign of yielding to pressure, political watchers have begun to notice signs that some ministers were not taking the rumour of imminent cabinet reshuffle lightly.

Critics observed that though he wanted to speedily turn things around in a short time by expanding the number of cabinet members, very few of the appointed ministers are actually living to expectations.

A reliable source in the Presidency who would not want his name to appear in print said: “Hopes were high when the President announced members of his cabinet. But the reality now is that many of them are not really making significant impacts in the government and the call for rejigging of the cabinet is expected.

“While some of them are daily in the news for doing one thing or the other towards the delivery of the President’s Renewed Hope Agenda, others are just bench-warmers answering the designation of a Minister for next to nothing.”

Another source who also craved anonymity said: “Some of the ministers who have been identified as not performing optimally have begun serious lobbying, not to be affected by the dangling axe. But Asiwaju is not given to sentiments.

“He already has their dossiers and there are indications that he will act soon and swiftly too. The ministers may not be sacked for political and reasons of balancing, some of them would be moved to their areas of core competence. But it seems the President is not in a hurry to do this because of certain considerations.”

One other averred that, “most of them (Ministers) are jittery. They are lobbying those with the President’s ears to retain their jobs. You can see some of them stepping up their games, especially with the sack of some officials, including those in the security sector.

“Those who have yet to bring any spark in their beats are stepping up their games. But I can assure you that the President is currently reviewing their performance as being speculated. Recall that the President mandated all the ministers to engage the press and tell Nigerians what they had been able to do in their ministries ahead of the hunger protest. Not all of them had so much to say. This had been noted too.”