For the first time in the six years of his administration, penultimate week, President Muhammadu Buhari sacked his power and agriculture ministers, a development that surprised many Nigerians.
Sacking or changing of ministers in successive administrations was not new. During the administration of Olusegun Obasanjo,Yar’adua and Jonathan, Nigerians witnessed cabinet changes frequently or with even some ministers shown the way out of their offices.
The sins of most of the sacked ministers hinged on poor performance and corruption. Other ministers who had
political misunderstanding with their state governors were not also spared.
However, looking at the high expectations that greeted the Buhari administration and the role of ministers in delivering democracy dividends, many Nigerians thought that their scorecard would be impressive to the satisfaction of all and sundry. Unfortunately, to the dismay of many Nigerians, since his coming into office, President Buhari has failed to scrutinise his cabinets’ performance, hence they came under severe criticism or attacks over poor performance from Nigerians. Do you know the buck always stopd on his table?
With the exception of Kemi Adeosu, former minister of finance, who bowed to pressure and resigned from government over allegation of NYSC certificate forgery, President Buhari has never effected any cabinet reshuffle as was the case in the previous administrations. Could this be an indication that Mr President is fully satisfied with the performances of his ministers?
NIf the answer is yes, why the sudden sack? Nigerians need to know whether the ministry of agriculture under the erstwhile minister, Sabo Nanono, has faired well within the two years he served or not. They also need to know what happened to our power sector in the last two years under Engineer Sale Mamman. Have Nigerians gotten the very best of them? What about the stable power supply and food value chains. Did they improved under their watch?
President Buhari is right to have done the needful by sacking them. Although, to their own credit, they must have recorded success, power and agriculture ministries have not delivered the policies expected of them.
Nigerians are yet to know the real reason behind the ministers’ sack. Was their sack based on incompetence or corruption? Whatever might have been the reasons, President Buhari should not hesitate to wield the big stick on his non-performing ministers. Many of his ministers have failed to align with his change agenda. The sacking of the ministers should serve as a wake up call to other ministers to brace up and help the administration to deliver on its campaign promises in the remaining years.
Ibrahim Mustapha,
Pambegua, Kaduna state
08169056963.
