The Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, Wednesday explained why President Goodluck Jonathan fired eight Ministers from his cabinet.
According to him, Jonathan did that to inject fresh blood into the system.
Maku, told State House correspondents that the disengagement of the ministers was not connected to Jonathan’s 2015 presidential ambition.
Among those sacked were the Minister of State for Defence, Erelu Olusola Obada; the Minister of National Planning, Dr. Shamsudeen Usman; the Minister of Education, Prof. Ruqqayat Ruf’ai; and six others.
Maku said it would be wrong for anyone to politicize the sack as it had nothing to do with the 2015 ambition of the president, but to ensure continuous service delivery to Nigerians.
He said there is no country in the world where the leader does not reshuffle his cabinet from time to time.
He said, “You know even the press has been speculating cabinet reshuffle for a long time.
“I can’t remember how many times in the last one year that the press has been speculating that there would be cabinet reshuffle.
“In fact, some have been writing almost openly saying they want cabinet reshuffle.
“There is no government in the world where the leaders do not reshuffle their cabinets.There is none.
“And cabinet reshuffle is part of a systematic public administration and I believe what the President has done is simply to address the issues of re-tooling his government to achieve service delivery. “It is at the discretion of the President at all times to reshuffle his cabinet. “It is his own prerogative under the constitution and this has nothing to do absolutely with any other factor other than having come two years into his administration and in the last lap, what I see the President doing is to refocus his government, to inject fresh blood to achieve greater service delivery to the people of Nigeria. “That is the only reason for it. “Any other thing has nothing to do with the decision of the President.
“I believe this must have been coming over time. “It cannot be something you do overnight. “So I believe as he explained to us, he has studied the way his government has worked, his set targets for the next two years and what he is doing is to adjust his cabinet to realize the objectives of his transformation agenda.
“That is exactly the reason he has come out with these changes at this time. “Like I told you, he was full of appreciation for those who have served him in the last two years and if you know the President, he is not the kind of person that will take decisions at the spur of the moment. “He is a highly studied person, highly focused leader. “He is a patient person and he is someone that when you see him taking any decision, he has taught about it over and over again. “So this cannot be something that has resulted in a month or two or three months. “This must be something he has been working on for a long period of time. “So I want to assure you, this is definitely a decision to refocus government and to reshape his administration in order to achieve greater service delivery. “The President is trying to inject fresh blood into the system while retaining again the loyalty of all those who have worked. “And like I said, he has assured them that they will continue to be relevant to this government in one area or the other. “But cabinet reshuffle has been the tradition of every government in Nigeria whether military or elected. “And this indeed has been something that has been long in coming, so for him to come to this conclusion means he has been working on it for a period of time. “What is most important is that this is all part of the process of improving service delivery and that is exactly what it is all about. “It has nothing to do with any other matter.”
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