BAYO Onanuga, Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, has revealed the reason behind the sack of some ministers, which he said was based on Nigerians’ scorecard and empirical facts.
He also relayed the role the Special Adviser to the President on Policy and Coordination, Hadiza Bala Usman, played in the ministers’ dismissal from the cabinet.
Tinubu on Wednesday relieved Barr. Uju-Ken Ohanenye, former Minister of Women Affairs, Lola Ade-John, his counterparts ministry of Tourism, Prof. Tahir Mamman (SAN) who headed the Education ministry, Abdullahi Muhammad Gwarzo, Minister of State for Housing and Urban Development and Dr. Jamila Bio Ibrahim, previously the Minister of Youth Development of their portfolios.
The president’s action climaxed weeks of speculation and the imminent rejig that heightened after his return from France at the end of his vacation.
In an interview on ARISE TV, Onanuga said Tinubu acted on Nigerians’ perception.
According to him, Bala Usman was assigned to oversee a performance appraisal, which involved gathering public feedback on the ministers’ work.
The presidential aide further defended Tinubu’s decision to appoint seven new ministers to his cabinet.
He said the Nigerian government needs a lot of hands to tackle the problem that the country is facing.
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 added that the dismissals did not necessarily mean that the ministers were not meeting Tinubu’s expectations.
“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.