The New Diplomat Political Intelligence Desk
- Enelamah, Adeosun to be affected
A minor cabinet reshuffling is expected to take place before the middle of this month, The New Diplomat has gathered.
Those tipped to be affected in the shake-up include the Mister of Finance Kemi Adeosun and the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Okechukwu Enelamah. While Adeosun is expected to be deployed to another ministry, Enelamah is expected to be replaced entirely.
This impending cabinet reshuffling is one of the major reasons why the newly sworn in ministers were not given a portfolio as the Acting President Yemi Osinbajo wants to wait to effect the reshuffling before assigning portfolios to the newly sworn in ministers.
Presidency sources confided in The New Diplomat that Adeosun will be deployed to another ministry due to her handling of the economy and her seeming inability to handle the resuscitation of the economy and her loss of control of the ministry she is heading.
While the Minister at different forum reiterated that the government will not borrow any more to fund its budget and should instead raise money internally, the ministry of finance which she is supposed to be heading released a statement recently that the Federal Government would continue to borrow from foreign and domestic financial institutions to fund its programmes.
This is seen as an indictment on her capabilities to really navigate the affairs of the nation’s economy if she can’t even handle and administer her ministry.
Enelamah on his part has been battling with series of allegations of financial impropriety ranging from the MTN fund repatriation scandal which is seen as an indictment on this administration’s anti- corruption stand.
He was also recently in the eyes of the storm when he was alleged to have in complete violation of existing federal government directives, received a whopping N12.206 million in estacodes from the Bank of Industry, BoI for a supposedly one-day meeting, which however never held.
This is in stark contrast to a federal government directive on sitting allowances.
In a circular referenced SWC/S/04/S.310/T/65 signed by the chairman, High Chief R.O Egbule was copied chief of staff to the president, deputy chief of staff to the president, ministers/ ministers of state/ Secretary to the Federal Government of the Federation/ Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Chairmen of federal commissions, Permanent secretaries, Clerk of the National Assembly, Secretary, National Judicial Council, Secretary, Federal Judicial Service Commission, Director-General and Chief Executives of Parastatals and Agencies, the Auditor-General for the Federation, and the Accountant-General of the Federation.
The circular read: “As part of the federal government’s measures to reduce cost of governance in order to make more funds available for priority projects, government has approved the review of the frequency of meetings for part- time chairmen, and members of committees, boards of statutory corporation, agencies, and government owned companies”.
For those that are in government, the circular excludes them from such payment.
“It should be noted that Chief Executives officers and other public servants on monthly salary who are board members in their own establishments are not entitled to sitting allowance. It should also be noted that a sitting may comprise more than one meeting” the circular noted
Another nail in his coffin is the alleged appointment of Mr. Femi Edun, who is seen as a crony of Enelamah on the board of the Bank of Industry in a case of conflict of interest.
The source further revealed that it is surprising how Edun managed to get on the board of a government agency like BoI where his former boss (Enelamah) wields a lot of influence.
The reshuffling has been long in coming as there was palpable tension over a possibility of a cabinet reshuffle two weeks ago when Osinbajo inaugurated the two ministers-designate, Stephen Ocheni (Kogi) and Suleiman Hassan (Gombe).
