According to Bayo Onanuga, President Bola Tinubu’s Special Advisor on Information and Strategy, the dismissal of some ministers was predicated on factual data and the Nigerians’ scorecard.
Additionally, he explained how Hadiza Bala Usman, the Special Adviser to the President on Policy and Coordination, contributed to the ministers’ removal from the cabinet.
Barr. Uju-Ken Ohanenye, former Women Affairs Minister Lola Ade-John, his counterparts in the Tourism Ministry, Education Ministry head Prof. Tahir Mamman (SAN), Housing and Urban Development Minister Abdullahi Muhammad Gwarzo, and Youth Development Minister Dr. Jamila Bio Ibrahim were relieved of their portfolios by Tinubu on Wednesday.
Following his return from his vacation in France, weeks of speculation and the impending reorganisation intensified, culminating in the president’s decision.
According to Onanuga, Tinubu changed the perspective of Nigerians in an interview with ARISE TV.
He said that Bala Usman was tasked with supervising a performance review that included getting input from the general public on the ministers’ work.
The presidential assistant went on to defend Tinubu’s choice to fill his cabinet with seven new ministers.
He claimed that in order to address the issues the nation is experiencing, the Nigerian government needs a lot of help.
He said, “When the ministers were sworn in, the President actually told them that as the president, he has the power to hire and fire, and that he would not hesitate to remove ministers who could not perform.
“There was a retreat in October last year where he also repeated the same warning about his plan to always try to rejig his cabinet in case some are not performing well.
“It was not just something that was done whimsically, I think Hadiza Bala Usman, Special Adviser on Policy and Coordination in fact brought technology into it by asking Nigerians to score the minister. So, whoever was removed was based on some empirical facts and their public perception. Nigerians actually did the scorecard and the President acted on the results.”
Onanuga went on to say that the ministers’ dismissals did not always indicate that they were falling short of Tinubu’s demands.
“But the expectation of the public. Some weeks ago at the cabinet meeting, the President actually challenged the ministers to go out and tell Nigerians what they have been doing for the past one year or so.
“According to the president, the perception outside there by the people is that the people feel that the government is not performing, and the government believes that the government is performing, but the ministers were not going out to really project government the appropriate way”, he submitted.
