Updated: Tinubu sacks six ministers, nominates Bianca Ojukwu, others

President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday made good on his threat to weed his cabinet of underperforming ministers by sending them packing after just one year in office.

He forwarded to the National Assembly seven ministerial nominees to fill the vacant positions.

Sources within the presidency, however, claim the two-week vacation the President took abroad recently was to cool off and finalise his decision on who to sack and who to retain.

The decision follows some damning reports on certain cabinet members, especially the Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, who was believed to have introduced reforms in the sector that did not sit well with some Nigerians.

The sack is believed to have been taken to reinvigorate the administration’s capacity for optimal efficiency in pursuit of its commitment to delivering on promises to Nigerians.

Sources revealed that the policy Prof. Mamman introduced — barring candidates under 18 from taking the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) — was widely criticised by Nigerians.

Beyond this, the Tinubu administration, since its inception on May 29, 2023, has faced criticism over its economic policies, particularly the removal of subsidies, which many Nigerians say has caused them unprecedented hardship.

Consequently, President Tinubu also appointed Shehu Dikko as Chairman of the National Sports Commission, tasking him with overseeing the activities and programs of the defunct Ministry of Sports Development.

The President appointed two former ministers from President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration: the former Police Affairs Minister as the substantive Minister of Labour and Employment, and former Youths and Sports Development Minister Sunday Dare as Special Adviser on Public Communication and Orientation under the Ministry of Information and National Orientation.

The Ministers that were sacked from the cabinet were Prof. Tahir Mamman, (Education), Uju Kennedy Ohanenye (Women Affairs), Mohammad Gwarzo (State for Housing), Jamila Ibrahim (Youth Development), Lola Ade-John (Tourism) and the suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Betta Edu, who has been replaced even though the government was silent on her status.

The President also forwarded seven new ministerial nominees with their portfolios to the National Assembly including wife of late Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu, Mrs. Bianca Ojukwu (State for Foreign Affairs) for confirmation.

Others are Dr Nentawe Yilwatda, who replaces the suspended Beta Edu Minister of Humanitarian, Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Muhammadu Maigari Dingyadi, Minister of Labour and Employment, Federal Ministry of Labour & Employment and Dr Jumoke Oduwole, Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment.

Idi Mukhtar Maiha was nominated as the Minister of Livestock Development,
Rt. Hon. Yusuf Abdullahi Ata, Minister of State, Housing and Urban Development and Suwaiba Said Ahmad, Minister of State, Education, Federal Ministry of Education.

Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga disclosed this while briefing newsmen after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, presided over by the President, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Onanuga also announced that ten Ministers have been reassigned to new portfolios.

They are, Dr. Yusuf Tanko Sununu, former Minister of State, Education, now Minister of State Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Dr. Morufu Olatunji Alausa Minister State, Health, now substantive Minister of Education,
Bello Muhammad Goronyo Minister of State, Water Resources and Sanitation, now Minister of State for Works

Also redeployed are Abubakar Momoh, former Minister of Niger Delta Development, now Minister of Regional Development, Uba Maigari Ahmadu, Minister of State Steel Development, now Minister of State, Regional
Development and Dr. Doris Uzoka-Anite Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, now Minister of State Finance.

The former Minister of Sports Development, Senator John Owan Enoh has been redeployed as the Minister of State Trade and Investment [Industry], Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, who was the Minister of State, Police Affairs, now Minister of Women Affairs, Ayodele Olawande, Minister of State for Youth Development, now Minister for Youth Development, while Dr. Salako Iziaq Adekunle Adeboye, Minister of State, Environment, now Minister of State, Health.

Onanuga said, “President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved the immediate implementation of eight far-reaching actions to reinvigorate the Administration’s capacity for optimal efficiency pursuant of his commitment to deliver on his promises to Nigerians.

“The eight actions approved by Mr. President include:

“The renaming of the Ministry of Nigeria Delta Development to Ministry of Regional Development 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.

“The immediate winding up of the Ministry of Sports Development and the transfer of its functions to the National Sports Commission in order to develop a vibrant sports economy;

“The merger of the Federal Ministry of Tourism and the Federal Ministry of Arts and Culture to become Federal Ministry of Art, Culture, Tourism and the Creative Economy.

“The President thanked 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.”

Briefing earlier after the FEC meeting, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, explained that the Ministry of Regional Development would take over the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, North East Development Commission, South East Development Commission and other regional development commissions in the country.

He further said that the President also directed that the Sports Commission would henceforth handle all sports activities and programmes initially handled by the Ministry of Sports Development.

He said that with the scrapping of the Ministry of Tourism, all of its activities have been brought to the Ministry of Arts, Culture, Tourism and Creative Economy.

At the FEC meeting, the President thanked the outgoing members of the Council for their service to the nation while wishing them the best in their future endeavours.

He charged the newly appointed ministers as well as their reassigned colleagues to see their appointment as a call to serve the nation.

According to Tinubu, 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.

Meanwhile, Minister of the newly created Ministry of Regional Development, Engr Abubakar Momoh, who was in charge of the scrapped Ministry of Niger Delta Development, clarified that the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, is still in place.

The Minister also explained that the Ministry of Niger Delta Development was renamed and given a greater responsibility under the Ministry of Regional Development.

He said that the new ministry was created to superintend over all the agencies under the Ministry of Niger Delta Development as well as other regional commissions in the country.

He said, “For our people over there in the Niger Delta region, I would like them to know that, that has not removed anything from them. The NDDC is still very much in place, which is still under the Ministry of Regional Development and all other such agencies are there. It’s just a question of change of nomenclature.”

He advised that nobody from the Niger Delta region should feel that the Ministry of Niger Delta has been scrapped, and it’s no longer in existence.

“All the structures and everything about the Niger Delta remains. It’s just a change of nomenclature and, of course, expansion of activities of the ministry. So I think it’s something worth to be commended.”