According to people with knowledge of the process, President Bola Tinubu is poised to announce a cabinet reorganization at any minute, THE BUREAU reported Thursday.
The President plans to reorganize his cabinet, which he appointed in August, according to the two reliable sources who spoke with THE BUREAU. This is because some of the appointments are “struggling in their portfolios and unprepared for the job.”
During a Cabinet Retreat at the Presidential Villa’s Conference Center in Abuja in November, President Tinubu issued a warning to cabinet members and other high-ranking appointments over underperformance.
During the three-day retreat, Tinubu said, “You will sign a bond with me. If you are performing, nothing to fear. If you miss the objective, if you don’t perform, you leave us.”
President Tinubu directed Hadiza Bala Usman, his Special Advisor on Policy Coordination, to revive the “Presidential Delivery Tracker” in order to monitor and document the performance of his cabinet members while redefining the administration’s focus areas.
THE BUREAU has discovered that the President might carry out the changes by utilizing the ongoing corruption controversy that is now associated with two ministers: Dr. Betta Edu, Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, and Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo.
President Tinubu removed Edu from office on Monday, but Tunji-Ojo has also been connected to New Planet Projects Ltd., a company that was paid N438 million in “consultancy fees” for the National Social Register contract—one of the contentious N3 billion contracts that Edu was granted.
THE BUREAU is unable to confirm right away which ministers will be removed from the cabinet, but according to one of the sources, “up to five could be dropped.”
A new minister is, however, anticipated to be named for the Ministry of Labour and Employment following the departure of Simon Bako Lalong, a former Plateau State Governor, who resigned from the office to become the Senator representing Plateau South Senatorial District in the National Assembly.
