Former Minister of Communications Adebayo Shittu has expressed disappointment in President Bola Tinubu’s recent cabinet overhaul, describing it as unimpressive.
He believes the changes were driven more by political motivations than by a genuine effort to appoint qualified individuals to the Federal Executive Council (FEC).
Shittu shared his views during a guest appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today program, following the President’s decision to dismiss five ministers, reassign ten, and nominate seven new candidates pending Senate confirmation.
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“If you look at the changes we had yesterday (Wednesday), I doubt whether it is necessarily bringing in superior minds or better minds, in terms of governance, in terms of expectations, in terms of performance,” Shittu said.
“As far as I am concerned, it is just a case of some Nigerians being asked to move on, some other Nigerians are being brought in, which does not necessarily mean that those who have been shoved aside are inferior to the new people being brought in.”
In August 2023, President Tinubu appointed 48 ministers, just three months after taking office. Among them, Betta Edu was suspended in January 2024, while Simon Lalong resigned to join the Senate.
Facing a struggling economy, soaring inflation, and escalating security concerns, Tinubu—who previously served as Lagos governor—has encountered significant criticism regarding his ministers’ performance over the past 15 months.
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Responding to public pressure for a cabinet reshuffle, the President announced changes on Wednesday, which included the dismissal of five ministers, the reassignment of 10, and the introduction of seven new appointments.
However, Shittu, a minister from the previous administration under Muhammadu Buhari, dismissed the cabinet shake-up as merely a political gesture intended to placate dissatisfied citizens.
“More often than not, it is not everybody who is appointed as a minister that fits in,” the former minister said.
“You’ll agree with me that because of the Nigerian factor, a lot of decisions have political colourations than meritocracy in determining who becomes a minister.”
Shittu stated that ministerial nominees must be thoroughly screened by the Senate as Nigerians don’t have the patience for trial-and-error ministers.
He said, “I would rather prefer that people are taken through a screening process to know their suitability.
“For instance, I make bold to say that today, we have an engineer as a minister of works. Any key watchers of events in the Ministry of Works would agree that the fact that the occupant of that position is a civil engineer impacts very positively on the assignment.
“If, for instance, I, as a lawyer, who has not had any training or any understanding of engineering, if I am to be posted to the works’ ministry, of course, it would take a lot of time to learn and Nigerians certainly don’t have too much time in such learning process.”
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