Ajuri Ngelale, President Bola Tinubu’s special adviser on media and publicity, says his boss would not hesitate to fire any member of his cabinet for incompetence.
On August 21, the president installed his 45-member cabinet and charged them with carrying out his “renewed hope” agenda.
Ngelale said on Channels Television‘s Sunrise Daily on Monday that the president has benchmarks with timelines for the ministers.
He stated that failure to meet predetermined goals could result in dismissal.
“President Bola Tinubu is someone who has the results. He says ‘These are your benchmarks, I know what I want you to achieve, I’m not expecting you to just come up with some plan when you get there. I’m telling you the time frame within which I expect you to achieve’,” he said.
“And if you don’t, there are consequences. He’s ready to fire a minister at the drop of a dime if he is not getting what he wants. Absolutely.”
Ngelale justified the number of ministers appointed by saying that the president values specialisation for improved performance.
“In his view, there was an urgent need for hands-on specialisation in the federal government,” he said.
“Based on the level of the deficit, if we can enhance specialisation and ensure that we slim it down, get housing into the hands of Musa Dangiwa, whose experience reforming the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria suits well to the reform of the housing sector. That’s all he has to face.
“He doesn’t need to worry about power or works.
“The president said if I am going to put a minister in place who has a sole focus, there is no excuse for failure.
“And at that point, you can now say we can hold them accountable.”