A vacuum in the two strategic ministries of power and defence created by the forced resignation on Tuesday of Professor Barth Nnaji(power) and the sacking of Dr. Haliru Mohammed Bello (defence) in June signals an imminent cabinet shake-up and new appointments by President Goodluck Jonathan.
LEADERSHIP learnt that this urgent option is a course President Jonathan must follow if the two crucial challenges facing his administration – insecurity and parlous power supply – must be defeated to make his 2015 underplayed re-election plans feasible.
LEADERSHIP further learnt that a roused Jonathan may travel former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s path by taking up the power portfolio given the centrality of the sector to his political future.
President Jonathan on Monday told a meeting of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) that, “I’m the most criticised president in the whole world. I can tell this noble audience that before I leave, I will also be the most praised president.”
To give teeth to this new presidential thinking, LEADERSHIP gathered that imminent changes are ahead to leverage his administration’s flagging image.
It will also be recalled that at a time the federal government is coming under severe criticism for not living up to expectations of Nigerians, President Jonathan last week signed a “Performance Contract” with ministers and heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
According to him, the process is expected to provide the missing link between planning and budgetary allocation to MDAs by providing a basis for performance-based budgeting that will tie their allocation to their capacity to deliver on the agreed mandate based on clear, concrete and objective results for the citizens of Nigeria.
Although presidency sources ruled out the prospect of a major cabinet change in a chat with LEADERSHIP, a position presidential spokesman Reuben Abati affirmed in May, the urgency to get the nation’s wheels rolling may have altered initial plans.