Cabinet reshuffles used to be common in Nigeria. But under President Buhari, Wednesday’s sack of two ministers was the first such event in more than six years.
The only hint dropped in the State House statement announcing the sack of Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Mohammed Sabo Nanono and his counterpart at Power, Sale Mamman, was that it stemmed a periodic review of sectors during Federal Executive Council [FEC] meetings. That may only be the cover; the real reasons for the sack should come to light later.
Both Nanono and Mamman were lackluster ministers. Nanono, a former managing director of the defunct Africa International Bank, made many gaffes during his two-year tenure. The most memorable one was his claim that food prices are not high because “one can eat a meal for N30 in Kano,” his home state.
Sale Mamman made no impact at all at Power. Perhaps it was not his fault because even Babatunde Raji Fashola failed to make headway at Power in the four years that he held sway there.
The two men now redeployed to Power and Agriculture, former Minister of State for Works and Housing Abubakar D. Aliyu and former Minister of Environment Mohammed Mahmud Abubakar, must gird their loins and make up for lost time.