Former Minister Criticizes Tinubu’s Cabinet Reshuffle As Politically Motivated

A former Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu, has voiced his dissatisfaction with President Bola Tinubu’s recent cabinet reshuffle, labelling it as uninspiring and politically driven.

Shittu shared his views on Channels Television’s “Politics Today” program on Thursday, just a day after the President’s significant overhaul of the Federal Executive Council (FEC).

President Tinubu’s recent government reshuffle involved the dismissal of five ministers, the redeployment of ten, and the introduction of seven new ministerial nominations, currently pending Senate confirmation.

However, according to Shittu, these changes seem to prioritize political considerations over the infusion of expertise into the cabinet.

He said, “If you look at the changes we had yesterday (Wednesday), I doubt whether it is necessarily bringing in superior minds or better minds, in terms of governance, in terms of expectations, in terms of performance.

“As far as I am concerned, it is just a case of some Nigerians being asked to move on, some other Nigerians are being brought in, which does not necessarily mean that those who have been shoved aside are inferior to the new people being brought in.”

The President succumbed to the calls for him to shake up his cabinet on Wednesday, with the disengagement of five ministers, the reassignment of 10 others and seven fresh appointments.

However, Shittu, a minister during the administration of Tinubu’s predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari, said the cabinet shake-up was a mere political ritual to appease displeased citizens.

The former minister said, “More often than not, it is not everybody who is appointed as a minister that fits in.

“You’ll agree with me that because of the Nigerian factor, a lot of decisions have political colourations than meritocracy in determining who becomes a minister.”

Shittu said ministerial nominees must be thoroughly screened by the Senate as Nigerians don’t have the patience for trial-and-error ministers.

He said, “I would rather prefer that people are taken through a screening process to know their suitability.

“For instance, I make bold to say that today, we have an engineer as a minister of works. Any key watchers of events in the Ministry of Works would agree that the fact that the occupant of that position is a civil engineer impacts very positively on the assignment.

“If, for instance, I, as a lawyer, who has not had any training or any understanding of engineering, if I am to be posted to the works’ ministry, of course, it would take a lot of time to learn and Nigerians certainly don’t have too much time in such learning process.”