Less than two months to the start of his second term, the pressure is mounting on President Muhammadu Buhari as he weighs his options for a new cabinet that would help him take Nigeria to the next level, particularly in the areas of security, fight against corruption and revival of the economy. The President wants to start his second term on a clean slate, and he is contemplating sacking all but two of the incumbent ministers. Huhuonline.com has learnt from sources inside Aso Villa that only the junior oil minister, Ibe Kachikwu and Babatunde Fashola, who heads the new power, works and housing ministry will survive the axe.
To which end, the president is also said to be considering dissolving the cabinet next month to pave the way for the appointment of a new cabinet that is expected to be made up of brilliant and experienced technocrats with sound knowledge of the challenges in the various ministerial departments to which they would be assigned. Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to the President on media and publicity told Arise TV that the president is expected to officially dissolve his cabinet at the expiration of the first tenure on May 29.
“That mandate lapses on May 29, and shortly before May 29, the president is likely going to officially dissolve his government. That is the way it is usually done. He says thank you to everybody that he has called to work with him and then he dissolves that government officially. Then when he is inaugurated for a second time, he now reconstitute a government; he appoints his personal aides, he forms his cabinet, he appoints other people to fill other positions,” Adesina said.
Although the president has told his close aides that he is looking forward to injecting fresh blood and appointing more technocrats; that has not stopped many incumbent ministers from lobbying to return to office. Huhuonline.com gathered that most of the Ministers have abandoned their offices and their official duties and are now running around close associates of the president to help keep them in Buhari’s good books, for them to keep their plum jobs. Aso Villa sources also told Huhuonline.com that the lobbying has become so intense that Buhari and his close aides have begun to worry that critical issues of governance are being sacrificed on the altar of the personal ambition of cabinet ministers and the president is already compiling a list of such ministers, vowing to ensure that they do not make the next cabinet.
The two people who are close to the president and who have so far bore the brunt of the lobbying efforts are the president’s wife; first lady, Aisha Buhari and the president’s chief of staff, Malam Abba Kyari, who is leading the team that is putting together the kitchen cabinet. Presidential sources told Huhuonline.com that the First Lady has vowed to dislodge the cabal that took over the government and held her husband hostage in the last four years. Aisha Buhari has been very vocal in her criticism of the way her husband has allowed unelected officials to call the shots in the administration.
The First Lady was also quoted by sources as being piqued by the triumphalist attitude of APC chairman Adams Oshiomhole and his unguarded utterances to the effect that the APC will not share power with the opposition; and that it is a winner takes all system. Aisha Buhari was quoted by sources as embarrassing the president when she challenged the credibility of the elections. She has reportedly advised the president not to be carried away by the margin of victory in the election results as declared by INEC; saying a majority of the Nigerian people are disillusioned with the Buhari administration. She is trying to bring pressure to bear on her husband to ignore the hardliners within his own party and reach out and be president of all Nigerians.
Among the most notable decisions to be made involves Buhari himself. The president took charge of the ministry of petroleum, which for years has been associated with gross mismanagement and corruption on a grand scale. That Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil producer, must import refined petroleum is as a result of the failures of this ministry, which has resisted all attempts at meaningful reform over the years.
After gambling his reputation, Buhari cannot claim he has succeeded where others have failed, as he is yet to turn the petroleum ministry around, giving his failure to pass the petroleum bill. The president has reportedly told close aides that he will elevate junior minister, Ibe Kachikwu to be Petroleum Minister.
The influential finance portfolio will be reorganized and put in the hands of a renowned economist who will have the daunting task reviving the economy amidst collapsing oil prices that have slashed the government’s revenue, and stunted economic growth, with analysts predicting more turbulent times ahead. Turning the economy around, or at least mitigate the effects of the predicted recession will involve the new finance minister to work closely with the new minister of trade and investment, who will be shown the door. Buhari is said to be irked at the fact that the trade and investment minister has failed to sort out the damage caused by the massive $5.2bn fine handed to MTN Nigeria, which has deterred foreign investment.
Alongside the economy, the other major crisis facing Buhari’s new administration is the security situation; particularly, the fight against Islamist militant group Boko Haram. It is no surprise that Buhari, a military man himself, will chose another soldier as defence minister, but it is very unlikely he will pick a retired army general, given the army’s poor record against Boko Haram.
Besides Ibe Kachikwu, the other minister to watch is Babatunde Fashola, who heads the new power, works and housing ministry. Buhari is said to be impressed with Fashola’s performance despite having what most people consider as an impossible job to maintain and overhaul the country’s creaking infrastructure. Fashola is credited with huge improvements in public transport, roads, affordable housing and security. All other members of the cabinet will most likely be sacked if Buhari can get his way against the huge lobbying machine and other esoteric forces that are aligned against him as some Ministers are said to have solicited witch-doctors and men of god to intercede for them spiritually. Buhari’s next cabinet will be a statement from the new leader, and a sign that he is, at the very least, paying lip service to the promises he made in his victorious electoral campaign.
But the task will not be easy. Unlike in 2015 when it took Buhari almost six months to appoint his cabinet, the president is said to be determined to hit the ground running this time around. Buhari plans to send his list of ministers to the Senate immediately after the national assembly convenes and elects its principal officers on June 9. 2019, sources told Huhuonline.com. The president might be contemplating a clean sweep of his cabinet but some Ministers are even using their wives to lobby the first lady on their behalf. There are concerns that given the pedigree and political connections of some of the outgoing ministers, the president might not be able to withstand the pressure and might eventually return many of them.
“Choosing a cabinet in Nigeria is a complicated balancing act. One must juggle the need for skilled leaders with the requirement to repay political allies, while navigating the shifting alliances of internal party politics and eliminating accumulated deadwood. Then there’s the need to carefully maintain an ethnic and religious balance, and to make sure each of the country’s 36 states is somehow represented,” one presidential source told Huhuonline.com.
