President Bola Ahmed Tinubu yesterday fired five ministers and nominated seven in the first major shakeup of his cabinet 14 months ago.
Out of the Federal aa Council (FEC) are Uju-Ken aa (Women Affairs), Lola Ade-John (Tourism), Prof. Tahir Mamman (SAN) (Education), Abdullahi Gwarzo (State, Housing and Urban Development), and Dr. Jamila Ibrahim (Youth Development).
Ohanenye attended yesterday’s FEC meeting, which turned out to be her last.
Nominated for ministerial positions are Dr Nentawe Yilwatda (Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction), Muhammadu Dingyadi (Labour & Employment), Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu (State Foreign Affairs), and Dr Jumoke Oduwole (Industry, Trade and Investment).
Others are Idi Mukhtar Maiha (Livestock Development), Yusuf Ata (State, Housing and Urban Development), and Dr. Suwaiba Ahmad (State Education). Odumegwu-Ojukwu, a former ambassador to Spain, is a prominent member of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). If cleared, the former beauty queen and wife of the late Dim Emeka Chukemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu will increase the number of opposition party members in FEC to two.
Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Nyesom Wike is a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The positions of Minister of State Youth, Minister of State Police Affairs and Minister of State Steel Development may have been scrapped.
But offices of Minister of State (Finance) and Minister of State (Works) were created. A minister was appointed for the newly created Ministry of Livestock Development. The appointment of a minister for the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation effectively put paid to the return of Dr Betta Edu. The President announced eight far-reaching actions to reinvigorate the administration’s capacity for optimal efficiency.
The Ministry of Nigeria Delta Development was renamed the Ministry of Regional Development to oversee the activities of all the regional development commissions.
These are Niger Delta Development Commission, the South East Development Commission, the North East Development Commission, the South West Development Commission and the North West Development Commission. Ministry of Sports Development was wound up, with its functions transferred to the National Sports Commission.
The Federal Ministry of Tourism was merged with the Federal Ministry of Arts and Culture to become the Federal Ministry of Art, Culture, Tourism and the Creative Economy. President Tinubu re-assigned the portfolios of 10 ministers. The seven nominees’ names are to be sent to the Senate for confirmation.
He named Shehu Dikko as chairman of the National Sports Commission and appointed Sunday Dare as Special Adviser on Public Communication and Orientation. The former Sports minister will work with Minister of Information and National Orientation Mohammed Idris. Those reassigned portfolios are Minister of State, Education, Dr Yusuf Sununu, now Minister of State Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction; Minister of State, Health, Dr Morufu Alausa, who becomes Minister of Education, and Minister of State, Water Resources and Sanitation, Bello Goronyo, now named Minister of State Works.
Minister of Niger Delta Development, Abubakar Momoh, will head the new Ministry of Regional Development; while Minister of State Steel Development, Uba Ahmadu, will assist Momoh as Minister of State Regional Development.
Former Commissioner for Finance in Imo, Doris Uzoka-Anite, a medical doctor-turned-banker who was Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, is the Minister of State Finance. Minister of Sports Development, Sen. John Enoh, is the Minister of State Trade and Investment (Industry).
Erstwhile Minister of State, Police Affairs, Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, takes over as Minister of Women Affairs. Ayodele Olawande, formerly Minister of State for Youth Development, takes over Youth Development, while Minister of State, Environment, Dr Salako Adeboye, is the Minister of State, Health. All the other ministers retain their portfolios.
Presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga said President Tinubu thanked the outgoing members of the FEC for their service to the nation while wishing them the best in their future endeavours.
He charged the new ministers as well as their reassigned colleagues to see their appointments as a call to serve the nation. “He added that all appointees must understand the administration’s eagerness and determination to set Nigeria on the path to irreversible growth and invest the best of their abilities into the actualisation of the government’s priorities,” Onanuga added.
The sacked ministers were part of the President’s initial cabinet sworn in on August 21, 2023, except Dr. Ibrahim who took office on October 9, 2023.
Momoh said the renaming of the Niger Delta ministry does not change anything. “For our people over there in the Niger Delta region, I would like them to know this development has not removed anything from them. “The NDDC is still very much in place under the Ministry of Regional Development and all other such agencies are there. It’s just a question of change of nomenclature. “All the structures and everything about the Niger Delta remain. “So, I think it’s something worth to be commended,” he said. Affected ministers get an Oct 30 deadline to complete the handover
The five ministers dropped yesterday from the FEC and the 10 reassigned to other desks must complete the handing over and taking over processes on or before Wednesday.
Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume, outlined the transition process in a memo last night. In the directives, outgoing ministers without incoming counterparts are to hand over to the permanent secretaries in their ministries.
Akume further said the SGF Office, in collaboration with the Head of Civil Service of the Federation (HoCSF), is coordinating the merger of the Ministry of Tourism with the Ministry of Arts, Culture and Creative Economy, and the winding down of the scrapped Sports Development Ministry. It said the renaming and expansion of the mandate of the defunct Ministry of Niger Delta Development takes immediate effect, adding that relevant supervising authorities and commissions under the new ministry have been notified.
Permanent secretaries of affected ministries have been mandated to ensure seamless implementation and forward copies of handover notes to the SGF Office for record-keeping.
