MINISTRY SHAKEUP PUTS NGOZI INTO FOREIGN AFFAIRS

C O N F I D E N T I A L ABUJA 001560

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/20/2016
TAGS: PGOV PREL EFIN NI
SUBJECT: MINISTRY SHAKEUP PUTS NGOZI INTO FOREIGN AFFAIRS


Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Thomas Furey. Reasons 1.4 (b and d)


1. (U) SUMMARY: The expected cabinet shakeup continued
today with the appointment of several ministers to new
portfolios. While it is difficult to interpret before all
the portfolios have been announced, the cumulative effect of
these changes appears to be neutral. The biggest news for
the international community is the shifting of Minister of
Finance Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to Foreign Affairs. Several
ministers remain to be assigned and assessing the final
effect of these changes will have to wait until that time.
END SUMMARY.


2. (U) The expected cabinet shakeup continued June 21 with
an announcement from the Presidency that Finance Minister
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala had been named Minister of Foreign
Affairs. The Minister of Foreign Affairs Olusegun Adeniji is
moving to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Minister
of State for Finance Nenandi Usman will step up to be
Minister of Finance. Other actions include assigning Oby
Ezekwesili, formerly head of the Due Process office and
currently Minister of Solid Minerals, to the Education
Ministry and naming outspoken Presidential Aide Femi
Fani-Kayode Minister for Culture and Tourism.


3. (C) Moving the Finance Minister to Foreign Affairs sends
mixed signals. On the one hand, the MFA is badly in need of
reform and President Obasanjo has said that a retrenchment
should take place in that ministry. The feeling is that
Okonjo-Iweala is the person to spearhead the sacking of up to
fifty percent of the Ministry's staff. On the other hand,
her removal from Finance is viewed in some circles as
insulating her from any potential malfeasance in the Ministry
in the runup to the 2007 elections. Still, the President
stated that she would remain the "head of the Presidential
Economic Team."


4. (C) The promotion of Ngozi's deputy, Usman, is seen as a
neutral change. Usman has been the right hand of the Finance
Minister since 2003 and is viewed as a "technocrat" in spite
of a thin resume. She is also seen as a political
lightweight who may not be able to rein in corruption in the
Ministry.


5. (C) Foreign Minister Adeniji had been expected to
oversee the retrenchment at Foreign Affairs, but nothing to
date has happened. Shifting him to Internal Affairs, where a
retrenchment has also been anticipated, may signal that any
retrenchments among the security-type services attached to
the ministry has been deferred. He is also one of the
Ministers collecting his salary in US Dollars outside the
civil service pay scale, and there may be a contractual
obligation to pay him for the entire four-year term.


6. (C) COMMENT: Moving Okonjo-Iweala to the Foreign
Minsitry provides Nigeria with a "star" on the international
scene, one who can serve as a good public face for the
country. And since she already spends much of her time
globe-trotting, the day to day management of the Ministry of
Finance has been in the hands of Usman since 2003. Until the
situation is clear at the Minstries of Solid Minerals and
Commerce, speculation that the moves are preparatory to
financing the 2007 campaigns from government coffers are
premature. The concern is that moving prominent Cabinet
members to relatively less significant ministries could
encourage just that regardless of the original intent.
FUREY