President Bola Tinubu is set to reshuffle his cabinet soon, according to the presidency.
Bayo Onanuga, special adviser to the president on information and strategy, confirmed this on Wednesday while addressing state house correspondents.
He said President Tinubu has expressed his desire to make changes in his cabinet, though the exact timing is not yet certain.
“I don’t know whether he wants to do it before October 1, but he will surely do it,” Onanuga said.
Onanuga, however, made it clear that the president has not given any specific timeline for the reshuffle.
This news comes as the administration faces increasing pressure to deliver on its promises and address the growing concerns about performance within the government.
The president has tasked his ministers with actively communicating the administration’s achievements and milestones to the public.
Onanuga said Tinubu has urged his ministers to go out and speak about the successes of the government.
He noted that some ministers have been hesitant to speak publicly, which may have contributed to the perception that the president’s administration is not doing enough.
“Many Nigerians believe the president isn’t doing much, while the government is actually making significant strides,” Onanuga remarked.
This cabinet reshuffle, according to Onanuga, will be part of a broader strategy to better communicate the administration’s efforts to the people.
O’tega Ogra, senior special assistant to the president on digital and new media, also confirmed the planned reshuffle.
He said the decision will be based on performance reports that were submitted by Hadiza Bala-Usman, the president’s special adviser on policy coordination.
Bala-Usman is also in charge of the central delivery coordination unit, which measures the performance of ministers and top government officials.
“The president’s decision to reshuffle his cabinet is also based on empirical evidence,” Ogra explained.
Ogra pointed out that President Tinubu had made it clear during the ministerial retreat that the performance of his ministers would be regularly reviewed.
According to him, the reviews will play a critical role in determining which ministers stay and which will be replaced.
“He has gotten a couple of reports, and as Mr. Onanuga said, when he is ready to do that, he will,” Ogra added.
The decision to reshuffle the cabinet comes after several months of governance under President Tinubu.
Since August 2023, when the cabinet was inaugurated, there have been minimal changes.
However, with rising calls from within the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), many feel it is time for a reset.
Some APC leaders, speaking off the record, have expressed that the reshuffle is long overdue.
They believe that certain ministers have not lived up to expectations and that fresh faces are needed to reinvigorate the administration.
There has been growing concern both within and outside the government about the performance of some ministers.
This has led to calls for Tinubu to take decisive action and remove those who are underperforming.
In November 2023, during a three-day retreat for ministers and presidential aides, Tinubu announced that a central delivery coordination unit would be set up to track the performance of ministers.
The president was clear that any minister or top official who did not meet the administration’s goals would face removal.
“If you are performing, there is nothing to fear. If you miss the objective, we’ll review it,” Tinubu had said at the retreat.
“If there is no performance, you leave us. No one is an island, and the buck stops on my desk.”
