A year into his government, President Bola Tinubu says he will fire any non-performing cabinet members.
“I thank the cabinet members for their efforts,” Mr Tinubu said on Thursday, “but I will relieve any of them of their duties anytime I feel that they are failing Nigerians.”
Mr Tinubu disclosed this while hosting members of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Thursday.
On May 29, Mr Tinubu marked one year in office. His threat to sack non-performing ministers comes as Nigerians berated his government as a failure in the past year, trending #TinubuOneYearOfFailure and lamenting economic hardship characterised by hunger, spiking food prices, and insecurity under Mr Tinubu’s watch.
Though economic hardship predated Mr Tinubu’s presidency, his dual policies of fuel subsidy removal and floating of the naira have seen pump prices jump from N145 to N710 while the naira continues its free fall against the dollar, trading for about N1,500 to a dollar.
Economic experts and the International Monetary Fund have lauded Mr Tinubu’s dual policies as bold moves.
However, spiking food prices shooting through the roof under Mr Tinubu’s watch has seen Nigerians on different occasions hit the streets in Niger, Osun, Ibadan and Lagos States, Mr Tinubu’s home state, lamenting hardship in the country.
Different market surveys by Peoples Gazette showed that prices of food items have increased nationwide by over 100 per cent since Mr Tinubu assumed office on May 29, 2024.
In March, a government-owned warehouse in Abuja was raided, and residents looted food items. While in Suleja and Zaria, trucks carrying foodstuffs were attacked and ransacked as widespread hunger ravaged the country.
In a statement on Wednesday, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar said Mr Tinubu, in one year in office, has exacerbated the horrible economic legacy, poverty, misery and joblessness of former President Muhammadu Buhari.
Under Tinubu’s watch, “all the economic ills—joblessness, poverty, and misery—which defined the Buhari-led administration have only exacerbated,” said Mr Abubakar, who contested against Mr Tinubu in the 2023 presidential election.