Nigeria News - AGAINST the run of play and away from the widely held view that he is not enamoured of a change in his cabinet, President Goodluck Jonathan, last Wednesday, sacked nine ministers in his cabinet. Those ministers affected are Ruqa’yyatu Rufa’i (Education); Ita Okon Ewa (Science and Technology); Olugbenga Ashiru (Foreign Affairs); Hadiza Mailafia (Environment); Olushola Obada (State, Defence); Shamsudeen Usman (National Planning); Bukar Tijani (State, Agriculture); Amal Pepple (Housing and Urban Development) and Zainab Kuchi (State, Power).

In a rather strange move given the ongoing security crisis in the country, Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, was announced as the overseer of the Ministry of Defence, while still functioning in Information Ministry. Again, the Minister of State for Education and member of the president’s kitchen cabinet, Nyesom Wike, was asked to take charge of the ministry. Minister of State, Foreign Affairs I, Professor Viola Onwuliri, was to oversee the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; while the Minister of Solid Minerals, Musa Sada, was to oversee the Ministry of Housing, Lands and Urban Development, etc. Minister of Agriculture, Akinwumi Adesina and his colleague in Power, Chinedu Nebo, were directed to take full charge of their ministries, pending the appointment of new ministers of state.

The news immediately spawned a medley of speculations regarding the impetus for the action, both at individual and corporate levels.

Interestingly, whether from the grapevine or from statements by officialdom, the 2015 general election and the resultant ongoing crisis in the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are acknowledged as providing the context for the president’s sudden action in axing the G9, a number of them being the acknowledged leading lights of his administration.

In this context, Maku’s statement that to the effect that what he understood the President doing was re-focusing his administration for greater performance is instructive. Naturally ruling out any political undertone in the sudden sack of G9, Maku sought refuge in the media:

“You know, even the press has been speculating cabinet reshuffle for a long time. I can’t remember how many times in the last one year that the press has been speculating that there would be cabinet reshuffle. In fact, some have been writing almost openly saying they want cabinet reshuffle. There is no government in the world where the leaders do not reshuffle their cabinets; there is none. And cabinet reshuffle is part of a systematic public administration and I believe what the President has done is simply to address the issues of re-tooling his government to achieve service delivery.” Maku said the President set targets for the next two years and he is adjusting his cabinet to realise the objectives of his transformation agenda.

President Goodluck Jonathan, last year, signed a performance bond with ministers, which stipulated an assessment yardstick in rating the performance of his administration. The G9 apparently failed in this regard. But then some of the ministers were given a “soft landing” because of their political ambitions. This is reportedly the case with the sacked Minister of Science and Technology, Prof Ita Ewah ,who is said to be eyeing the Akwa Ibom State Government House and frequenting the state to the consternation of his home rivals. The battle between the foreign/Abuja based politicians and their home-based counterparts has always been tense, accounting, for instance, for the frequent clashes between the members of the National Assembly and state governors. Nigeria News

Again, an allegation of corruption is in the equation, some of the G9 reportedly had petitions against them, as they were allegedly being investigated by the State Security Services (SSS) and had been promptedly referred to and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

While shocked analysts appeared to comfort themselves with platitudes (“Well, the president has the power to hire and fire...), the sack of Obada and Asiru in particular has triggered a form of public debate about the president’s action. In the case of Asiru, the case had frequently been made that he and Akinwumi Adesina, the Agric Minister, were easily the most plausible members of the federal cabinet.

Those who subscribe to this school of thought understandably see the Coordinating Minister of the economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a member of the reformer class in the president’s cabinet, as a capitalist, who is spearheading the deregulation of the petroleum industry in the country. Members of this school recall Ashiru’s firm handling of the visa bond crisis between the British and Nigerian governments as an evidence of his style. But then, Ashiru may be receptive of the ideas of the New PDP or he may have close associates who are. Or he may have been involved in unethical practices.

Indeed, on Thursday, Ashiru, addressing members of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), cited the United Nation’s World Investment Report that the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into Nigeria rose significantly to $8.9 billion at the end of 2012, far higher than the $6.1 billion realised by the country in 2010. He added that, at the end of 2012, Nigerians in the Diaspora contributed over $15 billion to the economy. The minister listed some foreign investments in Nigeria from Germany to include a financial inflow of €65 million for the 30 megawatts Kiri Dam project in Adamawa State, €50 million for the 20 megawatts Yola Solar power station and a €1.5 billion for the 450 megawatts Gombe coal to power station, among other foreign investments into Nigeria. He noted that there was an FDI Portfolio of $54 million from Mexico for the development of agriculture plantations for the cultivations of bananas, pineapple and other crops for export to EU markets.

The consternation over Obada’s case is at smallest three-fold: the serious significance for the Yoruba territory, which has often deplored its seen marginalisation in the present design of power; the significances for the ministry, and then the fact of gender. According to some analysts, the protection Ministry is so important that it should never be without a substantive minister even for one day, especially granted the precarious security situation in the homeland. The conceiving in the political around was that even if the leader liked to sack Obada, he should have worked on a replacement before announcing her removal. Those who pertains to this school of thought articulate grave reservations on if the new overseeing minister, Maku, could effectively combine his propaganda with organising (wo)men and components of the Armed Forces, a part where wrong conclusions or need of attention may turn around to have serious significances for the nation’s sovereignty. Said an analyst: “Are we saying there is no substantive Defence minister in the face of internal/external threats?’’

It will be recalled that, on February, managers of thought from the South-West geo-political suspect the management of leader Goodluck Jonathan of systematically omitting the Yoruba nation from the federation in terms of appointments without justification. At the conference were Bishop Bolanle Gbonigi; head Olu Falae; Senator Mojisoluwa Akinfenwa; previous Minister of wellbeing, lecturer Adenike Grange; lecturer Opeyemi Adekunle; member of the senate Femi Okurounmu; member of the senate Anthony Adefuye; member of the senate Bode Olajumoke; Chief Seinde Arogbofa; former Lagos State deputy administrator, Senator Kofoworola Bucknor-Akerele; Dr Kunle Olajide and Mr Dipo Jimilehin, amidst others.

talking under the aegis of the Yoruba harmony Forum (YUF), the leaders said the Yoruba did not warrant to be marginalised granted their massive vote that double-checked victory for the ruling party throughout the 2011 presidential election. YUF furthermore increased an eyebrow over a Yoruba ethnic cleansing agenda as evident in the sack of Yoruba children and daughters in government bureaus such as the Federal aerodromes administration of Nigeria (FAAN) and their replacement with 107 staffers from the South-East region.

“The Vice leader (North-West); Senate leader (North Central); Speaker (North-West); head Justice of the Federation (North-West); Deputy council President (South-East); Deputy Speaker (South-East); portraying President Court of Appeal (North-West); receptionist to the Government of the Federation (South-East); Chief of employees (South-South); National Security Adviser (North-West); Head of Service of the Federation (North-East).

“Minister of investment and Coordinating Minister of the finances (South-East); Governor of the Central Bank (North-West); Minister of Petroleum (South-South); GMD NNPC (North-West); Chairman, National assembly on Privatisation (North-West); Comptroller of culture (North-West); MD Nigerian docks administration (North-West); Minister, National Planning Commission (North-West); DG, Bureau of Public Procurement (South-East); portraying Comptroller of Immigration (North); Minister of Power (South-East),” the long register read in part.

In the declaration read by Chief Falae, the YUF said: “We have identified 36 ministries, departments and bureaus which substantially control the financial and financial main headings of the homeland. Of the 36 MDAs, only three are used by by the Yoruba who, we should always recall, constitute about 22 per cent of the community and are accepted leaders in education, investment, economics and the diverse professions.”

expressly on the security Ministry, the YUF queried: “The place of the Minister of security has been vacant for rather some time and the Minister of State for protection is a Yoruba woman, yet she has not been advised befitting for the substantive place. Is this because she is a woman, or because she is a Yoruba?”

While listing diverse situations of alleged ethnic cleansing of the Yoruba in the misfortune enquiry Bureau (AIB), the Ministry of Aviation, Nigerian Airspace administration bureau (NAMA) and the Nigeria Customs Service, the YUF asserted that the genocide against the Yoruba was especially poorer under the Aviation Minister, Mrs Stella Oduah.

With respect to the Ministry of Education, analysts discovered it somewhat easy to attributing the sack of the minister to either the lingering hit by constituents of the learned employees amalgamation of Universities (ASUU) or a move by the leader to upgrade the rank of Nyesom Wike, who had shown commitment to the President in the ongoing streams State urgent situation and the assault to checkmate Governor Rotimi Amaechi . afresh, the different managing groups set up by the leader to interface with ASUU, including the one directed by Benue administrator, Gabriel Suswam, were seen as verifying the President’s lack of trust in the ex education minister.

All said and finished, although, (2015) politics can barely be directed out of the latest cabinet shake-up, although the G9 can take consolation in the detail that public agency, or life in general, is a provisional assignment. The large-scale question continues: What function will the fall of the G9 play in Jonathan’s post-2015 fortunes?
Source>>>http://pressgist.com/nigeria-news-why-nine-ministers-were-sacked-by-goodluck-jonathan/

The movie titled 2015 as directed by ace producer GEJ is definitely gonna come in several parts. Typical of Nollywood. lets keep our fingers crossed and see how the whole script would play out. but one thing though, i doubt if the role of valiant as being played lately by the oga at the top would suffice to retain the baton, esp with the uproar and disaster rocking PDP one can only hope it gets better.

I see the G9 being key strategists of the new PDP faction.

K

I know that the minister of agric is goin no where that man and okonjo have been doing well.

When you call your pot empty can, children will pack sand with it. In 2011, the PDP hierarchy decided to zone the Speakership of House of Representatives to the South West. The South Western politicians, led by Tinubu, mobilized the legislators against their own sister and campaigned massively for Tambuwal, a Northwestern Rep. There were many muted reasons for this, but the most plausible was to stop a repeat of Bankole/OGB/OBJ face off. Today, Tambuwal is the Speaker and can negotiate better for the people that elected him, that is, if that is what he really wanted to do.

He who does not know where the rain start beating him will never know where it stops. It is not enough to engage in heavy propaganda war against the every other person, you should also question your leaders who sold out your alloted position on the alter of political expediency. You should start by asking how exactly you got to where you are.

However, I think it is a little too early to start all this propaganda, afterall, it took months before Nnaji was replaced with Nebo and nobody went to the press crying. Let the 9 ministers be replaced first and we will all look at the national representation.