Necessary Revamp or Overblown Redundancies – Tinubu’s Cabinet Reshuffle

Following his election in 2023, it took Bola Tinubu just under three months to form a cabinet. It has taken him another fourteen months to mark his first cabinet reshuffle. In that time, there have been issues of wasteful purchases, and cabinet members involved in financial misappropriation. As a result, citizens have protested, ministers have become objects of ridicule and the government has been criticised for poor policy direction, abysmal program implementation and bad communications.?

A cabinet reshuffle was largely expected around 1 October, when senior aides confirmed that the president was going through the process. In the end, after an extended holiday, the president returned and used a federal executive council meeting to communicate these changes with Nigerians.?

Despite the drawn-out and protracted nature of the reshuffle, and the lofty expectations of replacing many non-performing and largely anonymous ministers, a handful of appointees have been discharged and there have been reassignments. For many Nigerians, the lack of clarity around the process and the continued bloating of the cabinet have muted optimism around the president’s intention as his administration huddles towards the midway point.?

What do the changes tell us?

In an announcement by the presidency, the president merged the Ministry of Niger Delta Development into a newly created Ministry of Regional Development to oversee other regional development commissions established by the National Assembly, with some waiting for presidential assent. Since the passage and presidential assent of the North West and South East Development Commission, there has been an increased push to establish regional commissions for all geopolitical zones. This ministry will oversee the administration of those passed, adding to a narrative that the government prefers to practise regionalism.?

The president also scrapped the Ministry of Sports Development and empowered the National Sports Commission to take charge of all the former ministry’s activities. He merged the Ministries of Tourism and Arts, Culture and Creative Economy thereby concentrating all powers of the defunct separate ministries under a sole Ministry of Arts, Culture, Tourism and Creative Economy.

Furthermore, the president appointed new Ministers for Humanitarian and Poverty Reduction, without concluding the investigation on the suspended minister, Betta Edu. The embattled minister for Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management was suspended amid allegations of a N585 million scandal and other offences. Following her summons by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and a six-month review, there was no communication regarding the investigation. At a time, there were insinuations that the minister had been reinstated and was silently heading the ministry while still suspended. The failure of a proper resolution to Betta Edu’s investigation, down to her non-inclusion among cabinet members formally dismissed, remains a failed test of the administration regarding accountability and transparency.

The creation of the Ministry of Livestock Development did not come as a surprise, considering that the president earlier inaugurated a Livestock Reform Committee and received a report from the Attahiru Jega-led committee which is expected to guide the activities of the newly created ministry. At a recent speech discussing plans for the sector, the president said his government would seek to enhance meat and dairy production and mitigate the violent clashes between herders and farmers. With plans to open up new opportunities in the livestock-farming value chain, and increase foreign direct investment potential, this shows a priority for the administration.

The ministers for Education, Tourism, Women Affairs, Youth Development and the junior Housing Minister were discharged. Their removal could be alluded to public dissatisfaction with their job delivery and ineffectiveness in communicating the administration’s accomplishments in relation to their various ministries.?

A major summary of this cabinet reshuffle is the retained size of Nigeria’s largest cabinet at 48. It is puzzling that amidst the turbulent economy leading to a global call for reasonable spending and streamlined government size, the president sacked five and replaced them with seven more persons, showing a stark contrast against that reality.?

The Hadiza Bala Usman Assessment

One of the pressing questions is the extent to which the ministerial assessment exercise, supervised by Hadiza-Bala Usman and the Central Delivery Coordination Unit, had on the appraisal process. Elaborately, the Federal Government drafted about 140 officials tagged the ministerial delivery officers to track and assess the performance of the federal ministries, departments, and agencies ahead of the first assessment exercise.?

In April, 2024, the Presidency unveiled a Citizens’ Delivery Tracker App to get a ‘strong feedback loop between citizens and government’ on the eight priority areas of the Bola Tinubu administration. The result of this publicly accessible feedback platform showed that Ministers of Power, Defence, Education, and Solid Minerals were rated poorly by Nigerians.?

The highly anticipated assessment report is expected to highlight the parameters across various ministries alongside the expected deliverables and how the ministers fared within the periods under review. Since all the Ministers signed a performance bond on assumption of office, there should be evident results of their achievements in office. However, with the cabinet reshuffle, there is still no report of this assessment, detailing how some cabinet members, who were poorly rated by Nigerians, remained in the cabinet.?

For instance, there appears to be no action against the Ministers of Power, Defence, Education, and Solid Minerals who were rated poorly by Nigerians in the Citizens’ Delivery Tracker Apps of the Federal Government. Therefore, this assessment and decisions made thereafter lack transparency and throw accountability under the bus as citizens and the assessment rating were not regarded. In assessing the ministers of state, their responsibilities and workload should be at par with the substantive ministers, ensuring that they are assessed on the same metrics as every other cabinet member.???

Hence, the basic justification for the increased numbers of ministers of state is to accommodate the large cabinet members, thereby reinforcing the argument of redundancy in tasks and performance.?

The Imbalance Distribution

One of the strongest criticisms against the recently rejigged 48-member cabinet is that some states have more representation than others. The first cabinet, although spread across all 36 states and the FCT, was not evenly distributed. Contrary to the expectation that the next reshuffling would ensure equitable distribution, the president worsened the imbalance.?

With the recent reshuffle, Ogun has three cabinet representatives, ten states have two representatives in the cabinet, while the remaining 24 states have the sole constitutional representative. Yet, despite the extended process, the dismissal of the education minister means Adamawa is now in the unenviable position of not having a sitting minister. The disproportion extends to geopolitical distribution, where the North West (13) has the highest number of representatives followed by the South West (10), and North Central (8) while the South-South (6), North East (6) and South East (5) have the lowest representation. A cynical view could tie the larger representation of the top two zones with the 2023 election results and their contribution to Tinubu’s victory.

The gender gap in Nigerian governance remains present. Of the 48 ministers, 40 are men while one-sixth (eight) are women. This huge gap fuels the age-long sentiment of women’s marginalisation within the Federal Government. As against the National Gender Policy (NGP) of 35% Affirmative Action, the cabinet reshuffle puts women representation (in the cabinet) at 17% while men have 83%.?

The implication of such uneven distribution fuels the growing resentment and age-long narrative that the Federal Government is biased, considering that the immediate past administration was accused of nepotism throughout its tenure. The recurring narrative is that the president’s appointments are lopsided, a similar criticism levelled against his predecessor.?

Conclusion

It is commendable that the president has attached designated portfolios to the ministers that were nominated for the Senate screening. This gives lawmakers and the public the requisite background of these prospective cabinet members— ensuring they have the experience and are fit for the tasks assigned.?

In another tone, the Tinubu administration needs to be more transparent and uphold accountability in issues of public interest. The accountability frameworks and the ministerial assessment should be available for public scrutiny with commensurate sanctions. For instance, based on public perception and some independent performance reviews, several ministers left untouched in this cabinet reshuffle would have been sacked giving way for fresh minds with laudable track records to come on board.?

Ultimately, the appointment, removal and reshuffling of the cabinet have more of a political undertone than being a governance-driven decision. The implication for the Tinubu government is that Nigerians are shown that politics supersedes governance and that irrespective of performance, individuals with more political relevance will be retained with no respect for citizens’ assessment. With the reality of things, the nation can not therefore afford an overblown cabinet with little to no accountability measures.

Aluko Ahmad ?is an Information Disorder analyst at the Centre for Democracy and Development.