Tinubu’s Cabinet Rejig As Red Herring

 By Adekunle Adekoya

My fellow countrymen and women are incurable optimists. As the grind got harder and life became more brutish and nasty as a result of the economic policies the president chose to adopt and implement, most Nigerians continued to look at the brighter side of life, praying and hoping that things will get better.

*Tinubu
In the hope that things will get better, many started calling on the president to reshuffle his cabinet. To those making the calls, inactive ministers are somewhat responsible for the short end of the stick that government policies handed them.

It was a similar situation under Muhammadu Buhari, the taciturn Katsina general, who in his eight years could find just two of his ministers wanting. They were Saleh Mamman, who held the Power portfolio, and Mohammed Sanono, who was in Agric. By the way, Saleh Mamman is currently being prosecuted by the EFCC on issues concerning some N22 billion.

Perhaps to show that he is a listening leader, President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday announced the ouster of six ministers from his cabinet. As you may know, these are Professor Tahir Mamman (Education), Uju Kennedy Ohanenye (Women Affairs), Mohammad Gwarzo (State, Housing), Jamila Ibrahim (Youth Development), Lola Ade-John (Tourism) and the suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Betta Edu. Apart from Tahir Mamman, who we all came to know because of the 18-year age cap for university entry, and Betta Edu, the millenial who got enmeshed in a scandal in her ministry, I’m not sure the general public, aside from members of their family, even knew these people were in government.

In short, no initiatives at improving governance in the sectors they were heading were coming from them. There are many more members of this bloated cabinet that the public doesn’t know anything about. Let me give  a sampler: Have you heard of the following people in connection with governance in any form — Alhaji Mairiga Mahmud, Bello Goronyo,  Sa’Idu Alkali, Maigari Ahmadu, Shuaibu A. Audu, Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, Zephaniah Jisalo, and Joseph Utsev? Perhaps a search on the internet will help.

Well, their ouster from government may be justified to the president and those who called on him to do so, but I don’t see how the replacements can help improve life and living for Nigerians. First, the president fired six ministers and hired seven new ones. Seven ministers to replace six means an increase in cost of governance. The seven new ones are Bianca Ojukwu (State, Foreign Affairs); Dr Nentawe Yilwatda (replaces suspended Beta Edu as Minister of Humanitarian, Affairs and Poverty Reduction); Muhammadu Maigari Dingyadi (Labour and Employment): and Dr Jumoke Oduwole (Industry, Trade and Investment). 

Others are Idi Mukhtar Maiha (Livestock Development), Yusuf Abdullahi Ata (State, Housing and Urban Development); and Suwaiba Said Ahmad (State, Education). Given government’s performance since May 29, 2023 so far, I think the cabinet rejig enacted this week is a red herring, a calculated distraction using some lack-lustre ministers who failed the vibe checks of power potentates around the president to momentarily take our minds off stifling existential issues which government seems incompetent to deal with.

To put it in proper perspective, one thousand cabinet rejigs will neither bring down the price of petrol to an affordable N400, or that of a 50-kg bag of rice back to what it used to be, which was N8,000 BC. As government removed subsidy on petrol and floated the Naira, there is no spark from the fiscal end that can help ameliorate the rapidly deteriorating situation and bring succour to suffering Nigerians. Instead, what we have is resort to knee-jerk palliative measures which have had the kind of effect that an ordinary analgesic like paracetamol can have in treating a patient with carcinoma of the lungs, a type of cancer.

As we suffer deprivation, with our standards of living plummeting rapidly, the politicians, particularly those in government (elected and appointed) continue to live large, cocooned from the shocks that Tinubu’s policies have inflicted on us. I venture to say that those who joined in the calls for cabinet rejig, at least six months from now, will be looking for another set of scapegoats since there is not likely to be any improvement that can significantly impact our standard of living positively.

As we suffer, the World Bank and the IMF are clapping for Tinubu, even daring to advise that his reforms should be sustained for as long as possible. To the gnomes of the World Bank and IMF, it is possible to have an economy without people. The surprising thing is that the president and his men believe they are paddling the canoe in the right direction since the IMF and World Bank are egging them on. 

Nothing can be further from the truth. Let the President go back to the drawing board, take another hard look at his policies, and see how he can be of use in easing us out of misery, before things get out of hand. We elected him, not the gnomes of the IMF and World bank.

*Adekoya is a commentator on public issues