Retreat: Ministers’ sack looms as Buhari supervises appraisal

There is the likelihood that President Muhammadu Buhari will sack more ministers when the ongoing performance appraisal is completed.

The president alluded to this on Monday at the opening of a two-day Mid-Term Ministerial Performance Review Retreat organised to assess the achievements of the nine key priorities of the administration and the performances of top government functionaries.

The retreat is being attended by ministers, permanent secretaries and other top government officials.

Buhari said that he will sit through all the sessions to listen to the cumulative assessment of the administration’s performance over the last 2 years.

Daily Trust recalled that during the past reviews, the president only participated in the opening sessions and allowed the assessors to preside over the remaining days.

In his speech yesterday, the president warned all ministers and permanent secretaries to take issues relating to the implementation of their mandates towards the attainment of the objectives of his administration seriously.

The president had in September fired the Ministers of Agriculture, Mohammed Sabo Nanono, and his counterpart in the Ministry of Power, Saleh Mamman over poor performance.

They were the first ministers to be sacked by the president since he assumed office in 2015.

In a statement, Buhari through his spokesman, Femi Adesina, said the removal of Nanono and Mamman was sequel to the “Tradition of subjecting our projects and programmes implementation to independent and critical self-review” through sector reporting during cabinet meetings and at retreats.

Buhari’s statement, insiders told the Daily Trust, was an indirect reference to a cabinet office review he commissioned with the mandate to ascertain the performance of all ministries.

There were expectations that the president would sack more ministers on October 1, but he did not.

What the president said during the retreat

President Buhari Monday participated in the discussions on the best approach and strategies to implement planned policies, programmes and projects that could diversify the economy away from its dependence on oil revenue while sustaining the current economic growth trajectory.

President Buhari said the idea of the assessment was to identify weak areas to strengthen the ability of the government to meet the expectations of Nigerians.

Daily Trust