Pressure mounts on Jonathan to reconstitute cabinet

President Goodluck Jonathan
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Strong indications emerged on Friday that President Goodluck Jonathan is under pressure to reconstitute  the Federal Executive Council.

Top Ijaw personalities from Ondo, Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers and Akwa Ibom converged on the Bayelsa State capital and took a decision that it was time for the President to take a critical look at his cabinet and make the requisite changes.

The meeting, called by Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa, was attended by a former chairman of the defunct Oil Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission, Chief Albert Horsfall; former governor of the old Rivers State, Alfred Diete-Spiff; and former Bayelsa governor, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha.

Former Minister of Aviation, Alabo Graham-Douglas; former President of Ijaw National Congress, Chief Joshua Fumudoh; and a Niger Delta activist, Ankio Briggs, were also at the meeting.

A prominent personality at the meeting said the performance of the Jonathan administration, security and the 2015 elections were top on the agenda of the meeting.  

Investigations by our correspondent showed that participants at the meeting were disturbed that highly placed political appointees from the South-South had betrayed the expectations of the people.  

It was the view among those at the meeting that Jonathan was seen by many as having not done enough because of the poor level of performance of his appointees.

It was learnt that the meeting insisted that the President must take a critical look at the performance index of the ministers, special advisers, and other top appointees in the Presidency and fire those whose presence had rubbished the President’s image.

The meeting insisted that the expectations of Nigerians from Jonathan could only be realised with a level of commitment and performance by those appointed.

It was learnt that the elders were worried about the state of the East-West Road, whose construction is viewed as rather too slow.

The Minister of Niger Delta, Elder Godsday Orubebe, whose office supervises the implementation of the East-West Road contract, had complained of paucity of funds as the cause of the delay.

Investigations, however, showed that except for the appointment of new ministers for power and defence, the President is not in a hurry to drop many of the cabinet members.

It was gathered that a major cabinet shake-up might not take place till the next three or four months, when the performance assessment forms signed by the ministers recently would be used.

But as pressure continues to mount on Jonathan to carry out a cabinet reshuffle, organised labour and opposition parties have asked him to drop ministers that have been found wanting.

The President, Trade Union Congress, Mr. Peter Esele, said the President should take steps to relieve non-performing ministers of their jobs.

He said the former Minister of Power, Prof. Bath Nnaji, was not the only minister who had the issue of conflict of interest in the supervision and operations involving the sectors under them.

The TUC president, therefore, called on the President to fire ministers that were not performing in accordance with acceptable standards.

“Well, I think the President has just set up a performance bond with the ministers and that’s a good step. I believe what happened with Prof. Nnaji was a conflict of interest and there are still other ministers with conflict of interest.

“Any minister that is not performing should be shown the exit door,” he said.   

Also, the Congress for Progressive Change said a shake-up in Jonathan’s cabinet was over-due.

It said, “The Abuja minister is there in grovelling, fawning servitude of the first family. The oil minister, being the direct appointee of the President from her brief spell as transport minister, has presided over the industry in an era of unprecedented corruption and opacity in Nigeria’s history.

“Finance ministry is rudderless because the minister has lost touch with economic progressivism. Is a time of depression for enunciating sovereign wealth fund? Keynessian economic theory is at variance with savings in a depressed economy.

“It is the time that the government should be the big spender to re-invigorate the productive sector of the economy. Savings? After we are all dead?

“The agriculture minister is the only trophy that the Jonathan government can hold aloft! The question is, does Jonathan have the will to rejig his cabinet?”

National Chairman, Action Congress of Nigeria, Chief Bisi Akande, said the President should take the bull by the horns and evolve policies capable of engendering national development.

Akande spoke through his media aide, Mr. Lani Baderinwa, on Friday.

He said if there was any reason for the President to reshuffle his cabinet, he should do so, especially if the action would benefit Nigerians.

“It is not clear what the problem is with Nnaji and the government, thus, it may not be right to use his case as an excuse to have a cabinet dissolution. It will be an aimless exercise,” he said.

Also, a member of the All Nigeria Peoples Party’s Board of Trustees, Mr. Dimeji Fowowe, said the President and his cabinet had not delivered on PDP’s electoral promises.

He said, “I can’t see anything done by the Jonathan cabinet; look at our roads, hospitals, airports, seaports, schools, security and other forms of infrastructure, where can you see any meaningful achievement?”