Tinubu ready to fire any minister over incompetence, says Ajuri Ngelale

Ajuri Ngelale, special adviser to President Bola Tinubu on media and publicity, says his principal would not hesitate to sack any member of his cabinet over incompetence.

On August 21, the president inaugurated his cabinet of 45 ministers and charged them to deliver on his “renewed hope” agenda. 

Speaking on Sunrise Daily, a Channels Television programme, on Monday, Ngelale said the president has benchmarks with timelines for the ministers.

He said failure to achieve set goals may earn anyone the sack.

“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.”

Justifying the number of ministers appointed, Ngelale said the president places a premium on specialisation for enhanced 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.”