Nigeria's Acting President Goodluck Jonathan will send a list of ministerial nominees for Senate approval by early next week and is likely to reappoint around half the cabinet, presidency sources said on Thursday.
Mr. Jonathan sacked the entire cabinet on Wednesday in a bid to consolidate his authority a month after assuming executive powers and the fast appointment of a new team could do much to alleviate uncertainty in Africa's most populous nation.
Former Minister of State for Petroleum Odein Ajumogobia would likely be the new oil minister in the OPEC member nation while outgoing Defence Minister Godwin Abbe, who has overseen an amnesty program in the oil-producing Niger Delta, would be re-appointed, one of the presidency sources said.
"Twenty of the ministers will certainly come back," the source told Reuters on condition of anonymity, adding he expected Mr. Jonathan to send his list to the Senate by Tuesday.
Mr. Jonathan assumed executive powers in early February to try to end government paralysis in the absence of President Umaru Yar'Adua, who had been in a clinic in Saudi Arabia receiving treatment for a heart condition for more than two months.
Mr. Yar'Adua has since returned but remains too sick to govern or even speak with Mr. Jonathan. Presidency sources say he is still in a mobile intensive care unit and Mr. Jonathan's consolidation of power reinforces the view that he is unlikely to return.
But the acting president's public statements have shown a will to accelerate, not depart from, the policies of Mr. Yar'Adua, with electoral reform, fighting corruption, restoring power supply and reviving the Niger Delta amnesty his top priorities.
Choosing a new cabinet which retains a large number of ministers suggests Nigeria's broad policy direction is unlikely to change and could let him push ahead more authoritatively with that agenda in the 14 months left of this presidential term.
Nigeria can ill afford weak government.
Key bills are before parliament including electoral reforms meant to avoid a repeat of the shambolic vote that brought Mr. Yar'Adua to power three years ago, a wide-ranging overhaul of the energy sector, and a bill to create a bad bank sorely needed to revive lending in sub-Saharan Africa's number two economy.
Violence in the "Middle Belt" between Nigeria's mostly Muslim north and largely Christian south has killed hundreds of people this year, while militants in the Niger Delta detonated car bombs this week and have threatened more attacks.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), which planted the bombs in the oil city of Warri on Monday, said the sacking of the cabinet in itself changed nothing.
"Unfortunately the only signal of goodwill ... we will consider is when the issues of resource control are announced to be debated in the Senate or implemented in a constitutional amendment," it said in an e-mail to Reuters.
The speed with which Mr. Jonathan wins approval for his choice of new ministers will be a key test of his political backing.
There is broad consensus on the need for reforms and lawmakers are unlikely to want to be seen to be undermining progress. But other issues could prove more divisive.
The presidency source said former Information Minister Dora Akunyili, the only member of the cabinet to openly criticize those around Mr. Yar'Adua for the handling of his absence, would be nominated for Minister for the Federal Capital Territory.
Ms. Akunyili's criticism of Mr. Yar'Adua's inner circle for their efforts to cling to power won her public support but also powerful enemies and some lawmakers may need some persuading if her return to government is to be approved.
The current presidential term ends in May next year and the reforms could bring elections forward to next January, giving Mr. Jonathan a short time to push ahead with his agenda.