New ministers should know they’ll be chased out if they don’t perform- Shittu, ex-communications minister

A former Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu, speaks on the recent appointment of ministers by President Bola Tinubu, saying Nigerians can no longer tolerate underperforming public officeholders. In this interview on Channels Television’ Politics Today’, monitored by David Lawani, he noted having 50 ministers under the present dispensation does not matter despite moves to cut down the cost of governance, among other issues

The President just reshuffled his cabinet. Was this the kind of reshuffle you were expecting?

The truth is that Nigerians are always eager for changes, not minding whether such changes are likely to improve the existing situation. If you look at our changes, I doubt whether they necessarily bring superior or better minds regarding governance, expectations, and performance. The unfortunate thing in our country is that when Ministers are appointed, as soon as they are sworn in, the next two or three days, they assume their offices without going through any form of tutelage reorientation, without being presented with what I call the syllabus of the job or responsibility that they are supposed to undertake. So, it is more often than not a trial-and-error thing. As far as I am concerned, I am not excited. Some Nigerians are being asked to move on while others are being brought in, which doesn’t necessarily mean that those who have been so shoved aside are inferior to those new people being brought in. So, I think one thing the government must start to think of and do is that when people are appointed to such important positions, they should have a by-line and content of the assignment that they are being given. Somebody, for instance, who has never taught in a school, perhaps an engineer, is a medical doctor if he is appointed, for example, into the Ministry of Education. Indeed, he is going to start to learn on the job. Well, if he is sufficiently intelligent, he may learn quickly. However, being brought in by any of these processes does not necessarily imply that such a person knows what they are supposed to do. It is like we assume or presume that the new people we are bringing in can cope. As far as I am concerned, I think the government should evolve the procedure of getting packages for them and getting some tutelage and orientation, not necessarily orientation on morality. You are supposed to assume office. You don’t do this or that. No. The core assignment they will be undertaking in the respective ministries they are supposed to have written upon, or training will sufficiently orientate them.

When people complain that President Tinubu’s cabinet is overloaded, and he sacked five ministers and then brought in seven more, does that justify his claim of reducing the cost of governance?

There is no point saving a kobo when you lose so much naira.  Nigeria is made up of 200 million people. Ministers are appointed to serve these 200 million people, and you would agree that the content of governance is ever-expanding. The government is considering bringing in new ministries, subject matters, etc. So, for me, it is like a situation of penny wise pound foolish. It will be counterproductive. So, as far as I am concerned, having 50 ministers is not too many for this country. I agree, for instance, that we have in this recent posting people who had been substantive ministers in particular ministries who are now being transformed from substantive ministers in specific areas to ministers of states in regions that are entirely alien or strange to them. So, it is essential to have substantive ministers or ministers or people who can assist. Take, for instance, the Ministry of Agriculture, which is the largest Ministry we have. The agencies under the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Education are certainly more than 50 in each case. So, if you have 50 agencies under a ministry, you would expect one person to be able to adequately take care of the core content of the ministry and the more than 50 agencies under them in a supervisory role. That will undoubtedly be too unwieldy. That is why some countries have a separate Ministry of Primary Education, higher education, and so on. We need to be realistic and look for people who can adequately care for the actual content of these ministries and the agencies under them. So, to the best of my knowledge, having 50 ministers is not too many for a vast country like Nigeria, which has enormous responsibilities that many of these ministries have to undertake.

Many people might also disagree with you. Look at the Departments in the US, UK, and France. Fewer people run these ministries without this large crowd. What do you think is truly wrong?

Well, nobody is an Island of wisdom. So, I welcome whoever thinks that my ideas may not be acceptable to them. But the truth, which we must understand and accept, is that Nigeria is not America, the UK, or France. We have our peculiarities, and we must try to do our best. The stage the US has gotten to in terms of development, we may perhaps need another 20 to 30 years and very hard work and hard thinking with consistent supervision to get things done. What’s essential to my mind is not the few kobo or naira that we save by limiting the number of ministries.  What is necessary, like I said earlier for us, is that when people are brought in, if possible, interviews should be conducted for people who are to be appointed as Ministers. More often than not, everybody appointed as a minister fits in. You will agree with me that I may use that term because of the naira factor. Many decisions have more political coloration than meritocracy in the true meaning of who becomes a minister. I would prefer people go through a clean process to know their suitability. I am even happy that particular ministries have been assigned to prospective ministers for the first time in the selection process. This would allow the Senate, which will screen them, to do a more insightful screening for those coming in rarely. For instance, if you say you are appointing somebody for the Ministry of Works, it makes a lot of sense if you can ensure that those you have appointed to the Ministry of Works or to the Ministry of Agriculture or whatever have some training or understanding of the respective subject matter of the ministries they are supposed to be posted to. Of course, I know ministerial jobs are much more responsibilities in administration. But all the same. I boldly say that today, we have an engineer as minister of works in Nigeria.  Any keen watchers of events in the Ministry of Works will agree that the fact that the office’s occupant is a civil engineer positively impacts the assignment.  If, for instance, I, as a lawyer, had any training or understanding of engineering, if I am to be posted to works ministry, of course, it will take a lot of time to learn. We don’t have much time in Nigeria to conduct such learning processes. I think the Senate must do much more work now that they have an inkling of what these nominees will be posted. They should interview them properly and ensure they can perform optimally in the ministries to which they are supposed to be posted.

Are these crops of people the best your party could bring forward to help President Tinubu with his Renewed Hope Agenda?

Look, it would be wrong for me to presume the negativity on the part of any nominee. And notwithstanding which party is appointing nominees. There should be proper processes of screening. There should be an appropriate process of reorientation before people are appointed

Are you proud as an APC member that, given the present economic reality of our country and social issues, this is the best kind of team?

It would be wrong of me to prejudge.

Are these the kind of people Nigerians deserve?

I am not one to be judgemental of those that I perhaps have never known. For instance, in the new seven-member cabinet. I know that Dr Jumoke had worked under Buhari’s administration, and she performed excellently in trade and investment, commerce, and all of that. I am proud that she is one person I can vouch for and will deliver excellently. I don’t know any of the other six, and since I don’t know them, it would be wrong of me to presume negativity on their part. So, it is Mr President who is responsible for bringing about this.

President Tinubu has assembled teams before, like Lai Mohammed and Babatunde Fashola. Would you say this team is the best that he can get as an APC member?

I would challenge anybody that during Tinubu’s time, all the iconic individuals you mentioned, their merits came out after they were appointed to various assignments. Nobody knew most of them before they were appointed in the same situation that we have now. The same Bola Tinubu of the gubernatorial era must have improved his assessment and recruitment drive. So, I want to presume that he knows all the facts, qualities each has, and the information. We can only allow time for these people to be able to excel and distinguish themselves.  The only advice I would add for Mr President is that there is a need for proper content of each Ministry to be given as deliverables and as a challenge to those appointed. Unless we do that, it would be too judgemental for us to assume. Because most of these were not names we had been hearing previously, they could not perform. We have to allow them to distinguish themselves, and now that they have a challenge, they know people who have been there, and some of them have been asked to leave. They know the same fate will befall them if they fail to perform. But I think the challenge also lies with the President.

The President has given an order. No minister may take more than three vehicles in their official convoy. Is this a good way to go, or should we pull it down even more?

In his position, a minister would require security attachments because they have been politically exposed. And you don’t want to because somebody has been appointed a minister, so you leave them to the evil members of the society. So, I think it is not valid. Every minister going for an assignment must have an extra vehicle in case the primary vehicle breaks down. There must be another one to get him out of danger; of course, a minister must necessarily have security people around him. So, I think three is not too small a number and not too much. I support the President in limiting the convoys of ministers to only three.

The saying is that the morning will determine how the evening will look. Do you think if your party goes to the ballot today, Nigerians would look its way based on the performance of every cabinet member that we have?

Interestingly, I think you ought to know that the term of every President is four years, not half a year, and it is not two years. I believe there are a lot of works in progress that have been started, and I trust that in another year, Nigerians will receive the goodness in the current efforts. You would recall that part of the cause of the problem we have today is the negligence of the past.

You were part of former President Buhari’s administration. Is that the negligence you are referring to?

Even beyond the administration, we have been living on loans and borrowing and all of that. When Tinubu came, he just decided that we had enough of a living on loan. We have had enough of postponing the evil day. We must first cut down on unproductive borrowing. And ensure that we live within our means.

How do we get out of these borrowings?

We hardly have much to sell to get dollars in foreign exchange.