Cabinet Reshuffle: Consider El-Rufai, Nnaji As Ministers, Group Tells Tinubu

Amidst the plan by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to reshuffle his cabinet the president has been urged to consider some prominent individuals for ministerial appointments.

The clarion call was made by the Mandate Protection Vanguard, MPV, on Tuesday in a statement singed by the group’s coordinator, Comrade Gbenga Soloki.

Bayo Onanuga, the Special Adviser on Publicity and Strategy to the President recently hinted that Tinubu was planning to rejig his cabinet. The presidential aide said this was necessary to ensure performance and enhance the success of the ministration.

Not a few Nigerians have been calling on the president to weed out non-performing ministers in his cabinet so that his electoral promises to Nigerians could be achieved.

According to the MPV, those that should be considered for ministerial appointments include former governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna state, Bart Nnanji, a former Minister of Power,  Senator Olorunimbe Mamora, a former Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Senator Shehu Sani amongst others.

If appointed, the group said these individuals are capable of making huge performance in the cabinet, it cited their track records in public offices where they had earlier served, adding that President Tinubu should priotise the appointment of more technocrats in his new cabinet rather than populating it with just politicians.

The statement read in part: “While no one is begrudging Mr President for appointing politicians and close allies as ministers and ministers of state, there are several other qualified Nigerians who have excelled in both private and public services, while some have served at the state level, others have been privileged to operate at the federal level.

“The present economic challenges in the country deserve the services of credible and economically savvy ministers, who can deliver on their core areas of competence to make the programmes and projects of the administration popular and to achieve far-reaching results that will ultimately rescue the country out of the present quagmire.

“Firstly is, Mallam Nasir el Rufai, who the group described as a cerebral politician from the northern part of the country, saying that though trained as a quantity surveyor, he obtained a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard University.

“He was Director General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises, minister of Federal Capital Territory and the immediate past Governor of Kaduna state.

“Another person is Senator Shehu Sani, who is one of the few personalities from the northern part of the country that joined forces with pro-democracy activists to fight for the restoration of democratic rule in the country,” the group said.

“Ye another personality is the one-time minister of power in Nigeria, Prof Bart Nnaji. No doubt, Bart Nnaji is a seasoned administrator, who is also experienced in the power generation sector. He is a professor of Electrical Engineering, who was the minister of power, special adviser on power to the president and the Chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC),” MPV said.