Months after growing calls for President Bola Tinubu to rejig his cabinet, the former Lagos State governor on Wednesday sacked five of his ministers. He also re-assigned 10 ministers to new ministerial portfolios and appointed seven new ministers for Senate confirmation.
Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain, appointed 48 ministers in August 2023, three months after his inauguration. The Senate immediately screened and confirmed the ministers. One of the ministers, Betta Edu, was suspended in January while another, Simon Lalong, moved to the Senate.
There have been growing calls for the President to reshuffle his cabinet as many Nigerians are not impressed by the performance of some of the ministers, especially in the face of unprecedented inflation, excruciating economic situation and rising insecurity.
In September, presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga said the President would reshuffle his cabinet but didn’t give a time to the reorganisation.
On Wednesday, during the Federal Executive Council (FEC), the President sacked Uju-Ken Ohanenye as Minister of Women Affairs; Lola Ade-John as Minister of Tourism; Tahir Mamman as Minister of Education; Abdullahi Gwarzo as Minister of State, Housing and Urban Development; and Jamila Ibrahim as Minister of Youth Development.
Tinubu subsequently nominated Bianca Odumegu-Ojukwu as the Minister of State Foreign Affairs, while Nentawe Yilwatda as the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, officially bringing an end to the tenure of suspended Betta Edu.
The President also nominated Maigari Dingyadi as the Minister of Labour and Employment, Jumoke Oduwole as the Minister of Industry, Idi Maiha as Minister for the newly created Livestock Development Ministry, Yusuf Ata as the Minister of State, Housing and Urban Development, with Suwaiba Ahmad as Minister of State Education.
Scrapped Ministries
Earlier on Wednesday, the President scrapped the Ministry of Niger Delta Development and announced the Ministry of Regional Development as a replacement to oversee the activities of all the regional development commissions.
The regional development commissions to be under the supervision of the new ministry are the Niger Delta Development Commission, the South East Development Commission, the North East Development and the North West
Development Commission.
Tinubu also scrapped the Ministry of Sports Development and transferred its functions to the National Sports Commission to “develop a vibrant sports economy”.
The President further approved the merger of the Federal Ministry of Tourism and the Federal Ministry of Arts and Culture to become the Federal Ministry of Art, Culture, Tourism and the Creative Economy.
Ex-Minister Dare In
The cabinet reshuffle saw Sunday Dare, former Minister of Sports during the Muhammadu Buhari administration, bag a new appointment.
“The appointment of Shehu Dikko as Chairman of the National Sports
Commission.
“The appointment of Sunday Akin Dare as Special Adviser to the
President on Public Communication and Orientation working from the
Ministry of Information and National Orientation,” the President said.
The President appreciated the outgoing members of the Federal Executive
Council for their service to the nation while wishing them the best in their
future endeavours.
He then charged the newly appointed ministers as well as their reassigned
colleagues to see their appointment 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.