PRESIDENT OBASANJO ANNOUNCES NEW MINISTERS,

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ABUJA 001209

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL PINR KDEM NI
SUBJECT: PRESIDENT OBASANJO ANNOUNCES NEW MINISTERS,
PLANS CABINET RESHUFFLE

REF: (A) ABUJA 1186 (B) ABUJA 1119

--------------
Summary
--------------


1. On July 5, President Obasanjo sent a list of 11
ministerial nominees to the Senate for approval,
indicating that he plans to drop some of the current
Cabinet, possibly to give those with political
ambitions the opportunity to focus on 2007 rather than
policy making and implementation. The list of nominees
suggests that the President wants to give more powers
to the economic management team, but as is the custom
in Nigeria, the President will announce the nominees'
portfolios only after they are confirmed. It is likely
that a Minister of Petroleum Resources will be named,
for the first time since Obasanjo took office in 1999.

--------------
The List of Nominees
--------------


2. On Tuesday, July 5, the Senate was called from
vacation to reconvene for a special session to approve
President Obasanjo's list of 11 ministerial nominees.
The Senate however deferred approving the nominees
until Wednesday, July 6, to be able to interview the
nominees before approving the list.


3. The list of nominees includes Chief Bayo Ojo (Kogi);
Dr. Edmund Daukoru (Bayelsa); Rahman Olusegun Mimiko
(Ondo); Mallam Yahaya Abdulkarim (Zamfara); Mrs.
Obiageli "Oby" Ezekwesili (Anambra); Helen Esuene (Akwa
Ibom); Halima Tayo Alao (Kwara); Ahmed Abdulhameed
(Jigawa); Mariam Ciroma (Borno); Itoto Joseph (Edo);
and Fidelis Tapgun (Plateau). Note: Ministerial
nomination adheres to the "federal character" concept,
meaning that each of the 36 states of the federation
must be represented in the cabinet. End Note.

--------------
Another Plus for the Economic Team
--------------


4. Still basking in the euphoria of the debt relief
deal announced last week by the Paris Club (Ref A),the
economic management team has received another plus by
the nomination of Oby Ezekwesili, Senior Special
Assistant to the President, as a minister. She is a
member of the economic team and heads the Budget
Monitoring and Price Intelligence Unit (BMPIU),
popularly called the "Due Process Office." The Due
Process office is responsible for vetting government
procurement; Oby has often announced that her office
has been able to save the Nigerian treasury billions of
dollars that would have been lost through inflated
contracts.

--------------
An Oil Minister, At Last
--------------


5. Dr. Daukoru will likely assume office as Minister
of Petroleum Resources, a position that Obasanjo has
held himself since 1999, attracting much public
criticism. Daukoru is presently the Special Advisor on
Energy and Petroleum. The timing of his appointment
might be related with Nigeria's turn to assume the
presidency of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting
Countries (OPEC) next year: according to OPEC's rules,
only substantive petroleum ministers can hold office as
president of the organization. Daukoru's appointment
may also be related to the ongoing impeachment attempt
in the National Assembly (Ref B),which lists
Obasanjo's failure to appoint a minister of petroleum
resources as an impeachable offence.


6. Chief Bayo Ojo, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN),a
telecommunications lawyer, is the President of the
Nigerian Bar Association (NBA). He is tipped to be the
Attorney General and Minister of Justice. The position
is currently held by Chief Akin Olujimi, whose tenure
has attracted much criticism from the legal profession
for his awkward interpretation of the law.


7. Rahman Olusegun Mimiko will likely be appointed as
Minister of Housing to replace the former minister,
Chief (Mrs.) Mobolaji Osomo, who was removed due to the
scandal that arose from the sale of federal government
houses in Lagos. The ministry of housing has been
without a minister since Mrs. Osomo's sack in March
2005, and the person initially nominated as a
replacement from her home state, Ondo, did not pass the
Senate screening exercise.

--------------
Comment
--------------


8. Though the portfolio to be assigned to the
ministerial nominees is yet to be made public, the
elevation of Oby Ezekwesili to minister is a boost to
the economic management team. There is no likelihood
that any member of the economic team will be replaced
in the cabinet reshuffle, but rather that the economic
team will have a stronger voice in the cabinet. As has
been the custom during the Obasanjo presidency, he will
only assign portfolios when the nominees have been
cleared by the Senate. Post will provide biographical
data on the new appointees septel.
CAMPBELL