In a move to keep to his promise to the chieftains and loyalists of
the All Progressives Congress (APC) to appoint more ministers to his
cabinet, President Muhammadu Buhari is considering a tentative proposal
to restructure some of the ministries, appoint eight new ministers to
his cabinet and reshuffle the cabinet, ThisDay has exclusively reported.
Presidency sources privy to the proposal revealed on Monday that
the plan is to appoint eight new ministers who will all be politicians,
to accommodate the yearnings of his party members including its national
leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and at the same time position APC for the
2019 general elections.
In order to accommodate the eight new appointees to the cabinet,
the plan is to get the president to split the Ministry of Power, Works
and Housing into three ministries that will be manned by full ministers,
and hived off the aviation and marine transport units from the Ministry
of Transportation.
One minister will man Aviation and another may lead Marine
Transportation. A presidency source who spoke on the issue said the
proposal that has been sent to the president provides for the
appointment of eight new ministers, one representing each of the six
geopolitical zones in the country and one from Lagos (who may be a
nominee of Tinubu) and Kano State (who may be a nominee of Rabiu
Kwankwaso).
Fashola is expected to retain Works and Road Transport, Lt.-Gen.
Abdulrahman Dambazau who is from Kano is expected to retain Ministry of
Interior. However, Police Affairs may be hived off from the Ministry of
Interior.
The appointment of two more ministers from the two most populous
states in the country is strategic and is aimed at ensuring that the
appointees from Lagos and Kano play crucial roles in delivering both
states to the APC in 2019.
The source also revealed that with the split of the power and
transportation ministries, Fashola would most likely be made responsible
for the newly created Ministry of Works and Roads Infrastructure, an
appointee from the North-east geopolitical zone will be appointed to man
the Ministry of Housing while an appointee from either the
North-central zone or the South-east will be handed the Ministry of
Power.
In the case of the Ministry of Transportation, once it is split,
the current minister, Rotimi Amaechi, will be appointed to man the
Ministry of Rail Transportation while Hadi Sirika who is currently a
Minister of State in the transportation ministry (aviation) will most
likely be made a full Minister of Aviation.
Another appointee will be given the Ministry of Marine Transport after it is hived off from the transportation ministry.
All the new appointments, said the source, will be done with the consultation of state governors.
“The proposal has been put together and sent to Mr. President
for his final approval. It remains tentative for now, but if it meets
the approval of the president, the announcement will be made public
before the end of the month and the names of the nominees will be sent
to the Senate for confirmation,” the source volunteered.
He also disclosed that the proposal includes a cabinet reshuffle
which could see the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe
Kachikwu redeployed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a new
minister appointed to replace him as minister of state while Buhari
continues to hold on to the petroleum ministry portfolio as the full
minister.
At the last meeting of the National Executive Committee of the APC
held last month in Abuja, Buhari had promised to appoint more ministers
and members to the boards of federal parastatals.
The pledge was made to appease aggrieved members who had felt that
they had been ditched after helping the party to win the 2015 elections.
He had said that the new appointees will be fit for purpose and will breathe new life into the administration.
Although Buhari has not yet publicly declared that he will run for a
second term, the move is also targeted at empowering strong politicians
who can deliver critical states during the 2019 elections.