Why Ashiru, Rufai, others were sacked

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Olugbenga Ashiru

The removal of nine ministers on Wednesday was partly a result of the crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party.

Investigations by The PUNCH  in Abuja  on Wednesday revealed that some of the ministers must have lost their jobs because of their closeness to some of the  aggrieved PDP governors.

The  party was factionalised on August 31 when seven governors and a  former Vice-President, Alhaji  Atiku Abubakar, announced  a faction they called the New PDP.

The governors are  Babangida Aliyu  (Niger); Sule Lamido (Jigawa); Rabiu Kwankwaso (Niger); Muritala Nyako (Adamawa);  Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto); Abdulfatai Ahmed (Kwara);  and Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers).

The sacked ministers  are  Ruqayyatu Rufai (Education);  Okon Bassey-Ewa  (Science and Technology); Olugbenga Ashiru (Foreign Affairs);  Hadiza Mailafia (Environment);   Shamsudeen Usman  (National Planning);  and Ama  Pepple (Housing, Lands and Urban Development).

The Minister of State for Defence, Olusola Obada and  her counterparts in the Agriculture Ministry,  Alhaji Bukar Tijani and  Power, Zainab Kuchi, were also affected.

Sources said that while the removal of four of the ministers was  linked  to the aggrieved governors, others lost their jobs because of the need to appoint politicians to replace them.

It was gathered that the crisis in the education sector  and her closeness to Lamido might have aided Rufai’s   removal.

Ashiru’s sacking was not linked to performance but to his closeness to a former President, Chief  Olusegun Obasanjo, whose relationship with Jonathan is no longer cordial.

A Presidency source said, “We (Presidency) are   surprised by Ashiru’s removal, but many people believe that he is Obasanjo’s man. His removal might be  a fallout of the sour relationship between the President and Obasanjo.”

It was gathered that Obada and Kuchi also fell in the category of ministers, who were removed because of the PDP crisis.

The Presidency said, “Obada was a deputy to former Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola, who is in the New PDP national secretary. She is also believed to have been nominated by Obasanjo.

Kuchi was also affected because of his alleged closeness to Aliyu, who was said to have nominated him for the position.

Investigations showed that Bassey-Ewa (from Akwa Ibom), Pepple (Rivers), Tijani (Borno) and Mailafia (Kaduna) were dropped because of the need to appoint politicians from their states.

“Those who will replace them will be able to assist Jonathan in his 2015 presidential ambition,” our source said.

But the Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, told the State House correspondents on Wednesday that the cabinet shake-up had no political undertone.

Rufai, in her valedictory speech on Wednesday in Abuja, confirmed  that she  was nominated by Lamido.

She said,  “I am just on secondment from my university and I have been here through God’s grace and my Governor, Sule Lamido, who nominated me to be here. I thank him for that opportunity, but now that I have this scenario, I am going back to report in office as a professor of Curriculum Studies at the Bayero University, Kano.”

 Their high, low points

- Rufai

Under  her  leadership, the ministry developed six focal areas under a  four-year strategic plan for the development of the education sector. These are access, quality, strengthening institutional management; teacher education and development; Technical and Vocational Education and Training; and funding, partnerships, resource mobilization and utilisation.

Twelve new federal universities were also established during her tenure.

But the academic unions of universities, polytechnics and colleges of education became too much to handle in her time because of the refusal of   the Federal Government to implement agreements reached with them at various times.

A strike embarked on by the Academic Staff Union of Universities is still ongoing.

- Ashiru

He  is a thorough-bred technocrat. Under him as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nigeria secured 16 international positions, and achieved visibility as well as constructive engagement in world politics.

These successes were achieved due to the effectiveness of foreign policy, professionalism and dedication of Nigerian diplomats deployed to ensure the victories in the past two years.

- Bassey-Ewa

He was hardly eventful. Research results in science and technology agencies continued to gather dust in the shelves. The initiative of a former minister in the ministry to search for investors that would commercialise the research results was not continued during  his tenure.

Two issues nearly marred his time in office.  One   was the leadership crisis that almost tore the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure, an agency under  his ministry apart.

The second  was the long strike embarked on by research agencies in the country; most of which were under the Ministry of Science and Technology. The strike lasted for several months without the government taking the workers serious.

Perhaps, the bright spots during his  tenure  were the inauguration of two satellites – an earth observation satellite and a communications satellite – in the orbit. Although the satellites had been initiated during the tenure of previous ministers, he  was at the helm of affairs when the satellites were eventually put into the orbit.

- Kuchi

Although  she  was designated Minister of State for Power; she was the substantive Minister of Power  when Prof. Bath Nnaji left.

Given Kuchi’s background as a lawyer, not much was expected from her in the power ministry. However, during the time she stood as the substantive minister, two important projects in the power sector that had been stalled for years were revalidated and the contracts were awarded.

These were the Zungeru Hydro Power Project and the Mambila Hydro Power Project.

The Federal Government had approved a contract for the construction of a 950mw Zungeru project in favour of China National Electric Equipment Corporation with a completion date of 60 months.

The implementation was stalled by lack of fund and by 2008,  another study recommended that the project should be scaled down to 700mw.

The Mambilla project was planned to consist of 2,600mw capacity by 1985.

The contract was awarded to Sunrise Power in 2003 but this was later revoked, thereby prompting the company to go to court. The legal process stalled the implementation.

Under Kuchi, the issues were resolved and new contracts were awarded to boost the generation capacity of the industry.

- Usman

Before his sack on Wednesday,  Usman was one of the nine out of the 42 ministers that were re-nominated on March 16, 2010 to serve in the cabinet of Jonathan.

His appointment  was seen by many as being possible owing to his political neutrality on issues and good working relationship with Jonathan when he was the Acting President.

While his appointment as the minister of National  Planning was seen by technocrats as timely and commendable in view of the fact that he was a master strategists in the Vision 2020, members of the PDP in the minister’s home state, Kano, were of the view that  he  would not adequately represent  their interests.

The development had led to lobbying from several interest groups to prevent his nomination.

But after his screening by the National Assembly was delayed for few days, Usman finally survived the political turbulence and was made a minister.

Within his four-year stint at the planning commission, Usman was able to initiate various reform programmes that were vital to Jonathan’s transformation agenda.

Some of them are the creation of the Vision 2020 with input from a wide variety of stakeholders; National Strategy for the Development of Statistics, which is to generate data for national planning; and the development of a national framework which is to be used for the evaluation of ministries, departments and agencies’ performance.