The Presidency has announced President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s sack of six Ministers from his cabinet while forwarding the list of seven Ministerial nominees to the National Assembly to take over from the vacant positions.
The six Ministers that were relieved of their appointments include Professor Tahir Mamman, (Education), Uju Kennedy Ohanenye (Women Affairs), Mohammed Gwarzo (State for Housing), Jamila Ibrahim (Youth Development), Lola Ade-John (Tourism) and the suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Betta Edu.
The seven new ministerial nominees whose names have been forwarded to the National Assembly include widow of of late Biafran leader and Ikemba Nnewi, Dim Chukwuemeka Odimegwu-Ojukwu, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, for confirmation.
Their names and portfolios include Ambassador Odimegwu-Ojukwu (Minister of State for Foreign Affairs); Jumoke Oduwole ( ex-Executive Secretary to the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council, as Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment); Dr Nentawe Yilwatda (Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction); Muhammadu Maigari Dingyadi (Minister of Labour & Employment); Idi Mukhtar Maiha (Ministry of Livestock Development); Rt.Hon.Yusuf Abdullahi Ata (Minister of State, Housing and Urban Development); and Dr Suwaiba Said Ahmad (Minister of State Education).
Sunday Dare, former Minister of Sports, has been named Special Adviser to the President on Public Communication and Orientation.
Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, also told journalists at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by the President at the Council Chamber, Presidential Villa, Abuja that 10 Ministers have been assigned new portfolios.
“There will now be a ministry of regional development to oversee all the regional development commissions, such as Niger Delta Development Commission, North West Development Commission, South West Development Commission , North East Development Commission.”
“The National Sports Commission will take over the role of the Ministry of Sports, he added”
He said the decisions were taken at the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting on Wednesday.
Onanuga added that the President has also approved the merger of the Ministry of Tourism with the Ministry of Culture and Creative Economy.
The Presidential Spokesperson lamented that so much was being done by the government that Nigerians were not aware.
He stated: “The President has expressed his desire to reshuffle his cabinet and he will do it. I don’t know whether he wants to do it before October first and he will surely do it. That is what I will say, but he has not given us any timeline.”
Speaking on the performance of the present administration, Onanuga said: “The President has given an order to all his ministers at the last Federal Executive Council meeting to go out there and speak about the activities of his administration.
“Some of them have been media shy, television shy, radio shy, and he wants them to overcome all that and go out there and speak about what they have been doing.
“Because the feeling out there is that the government is not doing enough and the government has been doing a lot. And it is up to them to go out there and blow their own trumpet. They should go out there and talk about what their ministries have been doing.”
