Omiete Blessing
Following the plan by President Bola Tinubu to reshuffle his 47-man cabinet, a group under the aegis of Niger Delta Rights Advocates (NDRA), has urged that the Ministry of Police Affairs be integrated into the Interior Ministry.
In a statement signed and made available to journalists in Port Harcourt, yesterday, the Head of Research, NDRA, Mr Chuks Alozie said the Ministry led by by Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo has delivered on the critical elements of good governance and public accountability.
It would be recalled that the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga while addressing journalists in Abuja, explained that the reshufflement of the cabinet may be carried out anytime from, adding that the exercise would be evidence-based.
Onanuga, who noted they the current cabinet was inaugurated in August, 2023, disclosed that the president has instructed his ministers to actively promote the accomplishments of his administration.
Meanwhile, in the statement by the NDRA, said the Minister of Interior activities has increased citizens’ trust in the present federal government administration.
He said “The Niger Delta Rights Advocates welcomes yesterday’s confirmation by Presidential Spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga of an imminent cabinet shake-up.
“NDRA had earlier in the year advocated the recalibration of the cabinet as presently constituted and this position corroborates that of the larger spectrum of stakeholders.
We demand that the Policy Coordination and the Central Delivery Coordination Unit (CDCU) under the Presidency be totally insulated from political nuances as this is the only way a proper Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) of the the performance of Ministers who are the salesmen of the administration’s policies/agenda, can get fair and trustworthy assessment”.
Alozie stressed that in making the component factors for the assessment of public officers such as Cabinet Ministers, it should be open to public debate and scrutiny, adding that it will enhance transparency in the process of evaluation going forward.
“The NDRA wishes to propose that as part of strategy to implement the much talked about Steve Orasanye report on the harmonization of MDAs and to help government cut cost.
“The Ministry of Police Affairs be integrated into the Interior Ministry under Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo as the Ministry under Dr Tunji-Ojo has delivered on the critical elements of good governance and public accountability which has increased citizens’ trust in the present administration.
“The NDRA believes that performance should be measured in terms of the level of achievement of the objectives of each Ministry or the level of costs incurred to achieve these objectives (efficiency). And we believe that the Interior Ministry under the current administration has hit that mark and signposts efficiency for a public agency”.
The group further challenged the Policy Coordination and the Central Delivery Coordination Unit (CDCU) “to publish it’s benchmarks (tools/indicators) for further public scrutiny and contestation of logic inorder to ensure that those public officials who fall terribly below par, do not get the chance to hold public offices in future (whether elective or appointment)”.
Reason they said it will help the ruling parties to cascade the idea of properly scrutinizing persons they nominate into public offices going forward.