by Adedayo Ademuwagun

When President Goodluck Jonathan introduced ministers for his cabinet in 2011, close to one-third of them were women. No Nigerian head of state had put that many women in the top executive positions before.

Civil Society cheered this phenomenon and the media gave it some spotlight. There’s even a book about it, and when the president nominated these female ministers for his cabinet that year, one newspaper front page cartoon depicted him and the women with the caption: Jonathan’s Women.

It’s been more than three years since the ministers were sworn in, and the president’s tenure will finish within months. However, how have the women performed?

1. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
– Economy

Some people call her the de facto prime minister because of her principal position as the coordinating minister for the economy.

She’s instilled some fiscal discipline in the government and supervised a significant reduction in government borrowing. But apart from that, a little has changed about the status quo.

For instance, her ministry hasn’t done enough to reduce the government’s bloated annual recurrent expenditure and free up resources for capital projects that will grow the economy. Debt servicing, allocations and overhead costs formed 74% of the budget this year, up from 67% the last year.

The economy has had steady GDP growth rate over the last three years. But this hasn’t translated to job creation and improved standard of living in a visible way. Nevertheless, Okonjo-Iweala has managed to keep the economy above water. For this, she deserves credit.

Rating: 6.5/10

2. Stella Oduah
– Aviation

Oduah inherited a collapsing aviation system. Airports were an eyesore and there had been five plane crashes in less than ten years.

At first, people criticised the president for appointing a woman with no background or experience in aviation to head the ministry. But the minister got to work and attempted some sweeping reforms.

With her in charge, the ministry began reconstruction and remodelling of 22 airports across the country. It also started building five international terminals in Lagos and three other cities. At a point, there were even plans to float a national airline.

The airspace was a lot safer under her administration too, and because of her work, she got a lot of praise from some sections of the media.

But last year she got involved in a N255m corruption scandal and her MBA certificate was found to be bogus. Activists swiftly demanded her sack, and eventually, the president showed her the door.

Rating: 4/10

3. Ruqayyatu Rufai
– Education

Rufai was the incumbent minister for education in the previous Jonathan cabinet, and when she came in again, people liked her appointment because she was a woman and because the ministry she would be handling directly concerned children and young people.

The professor set up a needs assessment committee, which documented the substandard conditions in the public universities and put forward recommendations for the reform of the system.

Other than that, her tenure was mostly inconsequential. She did evidently little to improve education at the primary, secondary or tertiary level, and she was sacked last year in the middle of a lingering ASUU strike.

Rating: 3/10

4. Hadiza Mailafia
– Environment

Mailafia oversaw the creation of the National Strategy and Action Plan for the Great Green Wall for the Sahara, an impressive project that addresses deforestation and desertification specifically in the north.

However, she did little to curb pollution and environmental degradation, particularly in the Niger Delta. That should have been one of her biggest assignments as the boss of the environment ministry.

She was sacked last September anyway.

Rating: 3/10

5. Diezani Alison Madueke
– Petroleum Resources

Alison-Madueke is one of the longest serving ministers in the cabinet right now. In the last three years under her administration, crude oil production has been steady, growing beyond two million barrels per day this year.

Her ministry put the Petroleum Industry Bill before the National Assembly in 2008, but the Bill has been stuck in legislative limbo.

People believe that implementing the Bill will revolutionise the sector in terms of transparency, productivity and accountability. So some people have questioned her commitment to the cause and claim she hasn’t been resolute enough in pushing for the passage of the Bill.

There’s also been several controversies and scandals in the petroleum industry in the last three years, all involving her or apparently happening under her watch.

For instance, a parliamentary committee set up in the April 2012 showed that the federal government was paying certain Nigerian oil companies hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies for fuel that was never delivered. Then there was the N10 billion, (or is it N20 billion) corruption scandal involving her personally this year.

Unlike Oduah, she’s retained her job and has continued to enjoy the president’s backing.

Rating: 3.5/10

6. Olusola Obada
– Defence

When the minister of defence Mohammed Bello was sacked in 2012, Obada became the
acting minister in addition to her position as the minister of state for defence. She held both positions for about a year.

Some people scoffed at the idea of a woman with no military experience or background having to head the ministry of defence.

In the end, her administration did substantially little to fight the raging insurgency in the north and address other pressing issues pertaining to national security. So nobody made a fuss when the president fired her last September.

Rating: 2/10

7. Omobola Johnson
– Communications

Johnson is the pioneer head of the ministry of communication technology, and she’s had some significant achievements since she took charge.

One of them is the launch of the NigComSat-IR Satellite, which has contributed to the country’s efforts regarding fibre connectivity and the provision of greater bandwidth.

The engineer directed the development of Techlaunchpad, an ICT entrepreneurial project that was designed to train and help set up Nigerian tech startups for business.

The president sacked the minister of science and technology last year and appointed Johnson to direct the ministry in the interim. She’s one of the women left in the cabinet who haven’t been removed.

Rating: 7/10

8. Zainab Kuchi
– Power, (previously) Niger Delta

Kuchi had an unremarkable tenure at the Niger Delta ministry and was moved to the ministry of power as the minister for state. Power generation dipped during her tenure at the ministry of power.

She looked quite a misfit for the job, given her law background, and she was dismissed last year.

Rating: 2.5/10

9. Sarah Ochekpe
– Water Resources

Being the minister of water resources is not normally something that puts you in the headlines often. So Ochekpe’s work hasn’t got a lot of coverage.

She’s overseeing the construction of dams, including the Kashambila Dam and the Mangu Dam, to improve irrigation and supplement power generation.

During her administration, the ministry has developed a visionary Resources Master Plan that would be a long-term guide for the government on how it would manage and develop water resources in Nigeria. The impact of her work has been fair.

Rating: 4/10

10. Ama Pepple
– Housing and Urban Development

Pepple commissioned a committee
to produce a new National Housing Policy as there hadn’t been one since the early 1990s.

She didn’t have the chance to set out implementing the policy, as she was fired last September.

Rating: 3/10

11. Zainab Maina
– Women Affairs

Maina’s administration has been doing some routine projects regarding maternal health, women empowerment, child development and welfare of persons with disabilities. Her work hasn’t made any huge difference though.

Rating: 3/10

12,13. Olajumoke Akinjide, Viola Onwuliri
– FCT, Foreign Affairs

Akinjide and Onwuliri both have deputy jobs as minister of state for FCT and the minister of state for foreign affairs respectively. Their work hasn’t made any remarkable difference.

Rating: 3/10

The women Jonathan appointed for his cabinet may not have shone as people expected. But the president has been commended for involving more women in government and setting a new precedent for successive presidents in Nigeria concerning gender equality and women empowerment.