Jonathan to Sack 17 Ministers, Olusola Oke, Babaje, Alkali, Others Shortlisted

There may be a minor shake up of President Goodluck Jonathan’s cabinet according to a report in TheNation The President was said to have lamented that despite the huge budgetary allocations given to these ministers their turn out was very poor and some Ministers could not list their achievements at the ongoing stewardship platform of the Federal Ministry of Information. A source said, “The President has already compiled the list of new ministers who will replace those who failed to impress him in his government”. Some of those who may join the cabinet according to the source, are a former Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Technology Development Fund(PTDF), Hamisu Mai Rago; the immediate past acting National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Kawu Baraje; former Deputy Governor of Imo State Ada Okwuonu; former National Chairman Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo. Others are ex-Governor Chukwuemeka Ezeife, former PDP National Organising Secretary Uche Secondus; former PDP National Publicity Secretary Prof. Rufai Alkali; former PDP National Legal Adviser Olusola Oke; Senator Abba Aji and some of the aspirants who withdrew for the National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, at the last National Convention. But another source added that some members of the President’s kitchen cabinet are opposed to bringing “deadwoods” to the cabinet. The source said: “There are fears that some of the names being peddled may not add value to the cabinet. “So, in the next few weeks there will be more amendments to the list of new hands to be injected into the cabinet.” A team was sent from the Presidency to conduct an appraisal of developments in the ministry and the verdict was not “encouraging”. Jonathan, it was said, was shocked that the New Maitama Extension District in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) was named after him. “He has decided to reject it because he does not want any minister to personalise governance,” it was said. Said the source: “There was also a particular incident abroad when a minister did not live up to expectations of a public officer. There is no rationale for retaining such a minister.” Responding to a question, the source said: “What the President is after is for ministers to be able to say exactly how many roads have been constructed; significant steps in the provision of housing; access to basic needs, such as water and electricity; and a situation where ministers in strategic ministries would have impacted on the lives of Nigerians.” Pressed to give more insight into the imminent shake-up, the source identified some of the ministers. Some are said to have got hints of plans to drop them and have started lobbying to be retained. The source said: “Although going by the assessment report before the President, the Minister of State for Education, Nyisom Wike, is rated higher in performance than Prof. Rufai, some forces are pushing for the retention of Rufai, in view of the synergy between the two ministers. “The team work in the Ministry of Education between the two ministers has been fairly better than the case in the past. “A strong case is also being made for the retention of the Minister of Works Mike Onolememen who has succeeded in fixing some roads, which had been written off. Some forces believe that Onolememen has performed better than most of his predecessors. But the President does not like a situation where some vital roads are about 40-52 per cent completed.”