By Palladium
When the Bola Tinubu administration clocked one year, the country was agog with news of the looming sack of nonperforming ministers. It is not clear where that expectation came from. The ministers had just spent about nine months, not even a year. Except where a minister is so blatantly incompetent or lethargic or incapable of interpreting the administration’s programmes and policies, it may amount to an overkill to begin thinking of sacking any of them. Some redeployment can be done, and a few rejigging here and there. But to dismiss a minister when he or she had hardly started, even if they had spent over a year, may be excessive.
Some ministers take longer time to settle down, and some are far too introspective for their own good in a country giddy with excitement about hiring and firing officials. Some other ministers may also not be self-promoting, but are nevertheless self-assured and given to quiet and solid achievement. It will be a mistake to approximate the performance and flamboyance of, say, Nyesom Wike or David Umahi as the rigid minimum for the cabinet. No, the president should please cut his ministers some slack. He must not forget that many of his appointees are political IOUs. And with the far-reaching reform he is undertaking, much of it alienating powerful interests, if not regions, he needs to be careful and deliberate.
Credit: The Nation
