Private sector, opposition split as Tinubu reshuffles cabinet

President Bola Tinubu authorised the reassignment of ten ministers to new ministries, dismissed five, and recommended seven additional ministers for confirmation by the Senate in a major cabinet reshuffle on Wednesday.

The Federal Ministry of Art, Culture, Tourism, and the Creative Economy was created when the President combined the Ministries of Tourism and Arts and Culture, abolished the Ministry of Sports Development, and renamed the Ministry of Nigeria Delta Development to the Ministry of Regional Development.

The Federal Executive Council's 19th meeting, held at the State House in Abuja, was followed by the decision on Wednesday. In a statement titled "Statement on the restructuring of Ministries and Ministerial Portfolios," the Presidency disclosed the specifics of the reorganisation.

The "far-reaching actions" were intended to “reinvigorate the Administration’s capacity for optimal efficiency pursuant of his commitment to deliver on his promises to Nigerians.”

The ministers who were relieved of their duties are the Ministers of Women Affairs, Uju-Kennedy-Ohanenye, Tourism, Lola Ade-John; Education, Tahir Mamman; Youth Development, Dr Jamila Bio Ibrahim and State for Housing and Urban Development, Abdullahi Gwarzo.

“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,” the statement read.

Tinubu also reassigned new portfolios to 10 ministers on his cabinet.

According to the Presidency, the current Minister of State for Education, Dr. Yusuf Sununu is now Minister of State for Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction; the Minister of State for Health, Dr. Olatunji Alausa, is now Minister of Education; Minister of State for Water Resources and Sanitation, Bello Goronyo, is now Minister of State for Works; the Minister of Niger Delta Development, Abubakar Momoh, is now Minister of Regional Development, overseeing the activities of all the Regional Development Commissions.

The commissions to be under the supervision of the new Regional Development ministry are the Niger Delta Development Commission, the South East Development Commission, the North East Development and the North West Development Commission.

Meanwhile, the Minister of State for Steel Development, Uba Ahmadu, is now the Minister of State for Regional Development; the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Doris Uzoka-Anite, will now be the Minister of State for Finance; Minister of Sports Development, John Enoh, is now the Minister of State Trade and Investment; and the Minister of State, Police Affairs, Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim is now Minister of Women Affairs.

The Minister of State for Youth Development, Ayodele Olawande, is now Minister for Youth Development while the Minister of State, Environment, Dr. Salako Adeboye, is now Minister of State for Health.

Tinubu also nominated seven new ministers pending their confirmation by the Senate.

They are Dr Nentawe Yilwatda (Plateau) as Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction; Muhammadu Dingyadi (Sokoto) as Minister of Labour & Employment; Bianca Odumegu-Ojukwu (Imo) as Minister of State Foreign Affairs, Dr Jumoke Oduwole (Ogun State) as Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment; Idi Maiha (Kaduna) as Ministry of Livestock Development; Yusuf Ata (Kano) as Minister of State, Housing and Urban Development; Dr Suwaiba Ahmad (Kano) as Minister of State for Education.

Tinubu “charged the newly appointed ministers as well as their reassigned colleagues to see their appointment as a call to serve the nation,” the Presidency said.

Furthermore, Shehu Dikko was appointed as Chairman of the National Sports Commission and Sunday Dare, a former sports minister, as Special Adviser to the President on Public Communication and Orientation, working from the Ministry of Information and National Orientation.

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.”

The appointments of the Ministers are subject to the approval of the National Assembly.

Providing details about the cabinet reshuffle, the Minister of the newly created Ministry of Regional Development, Abubakar Momoh, who headed the now-scrapped Ministry of Niger Delta Development, clarified that the Niger Delta Development Commission is still functional.

The Ministry of Niger Delta Development was renamed and granted more authority within the Ministry of Regional Development, Momoh explained.

I want our people in the Niger Delta area to know that nothing has been taken away from them as a result of that. The Ministry of Regional Development still oversees the NDDC, and all other relevant agencies are still in operation. It just comes down to changing the name and, of course, growing the ministry's operations. Therefore, I believe it's worthy of praise," he remarked.

Nearly four weeks have passed since the Presidency initially publicly stated that Tinubu would shortly reorganise his cabinet.

At a joint briefing held at Abuja's Aso Rock Villa, Abuja, on September 25, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Mr. Bayo Onanuga, and the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Digital/New Media, Mr. O’Tega Ogra, said the exercise would be based on the performance data from reports by the Central Delivery Coordination Unit.

Onanuga noted, “The President has expressed his desire to reshuffle his cabinet and he will do it.”

On his part, Ogra said, “The President’s decision to reshuffle his cabinet is based on empirical evidence. You know, he had said so when speaking at the retreat for the ministers that they would have periodic reviews and the decisions extracted from these reviews will be used to make that final decision.”

At a three-day retreat for cabinet members and presidential aides in November 2023, Tinubu announced that the CDCU, headed by his Special Adviser on Policy Coordination, Mrs. Hadiza Bala-Usman, would measure the performance of ministers and other top government officials.

These periodic performance reports would determine who would leave or remain on the cabinet, Tinubu stated.

“If you are performing, nothing to fear. If you miss the objective, we’ll review it. If no performance, you leave us. No one is an island and the buck stops on my desk,” the President told participants.

To ensure a smooth transition, Tinubu also ordered redeployed and sacked ministers to hand over to their successors on or before October 30, 2024.

In a statement by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, Tinubu said the merging of the Ministry of Tourism with the Ministry of Arts Culture and Creative Economy, as well as the Sports Development, should be coordinated by the SGF and the Head of Civil Service of the Federation.

He noted that in ministries without designated ministers, outgoing ministers should transfer responsibilities to the Permanent Secretaries.

It partly read, “Necessary directives have been issued on the implementation of the approval of Mr President, accordingly. All handing over and taking over processes should be completed on or before Wednesday 30th October, 2024.

“In the case of ministries where there are no ministers to take over, the outgoing ministers should hand over to the Permanent Secretaries.

“The processes for the seamless merger of the Ministry of Tourism with the Ministry of Arts Culture and Creative Economy as well as the winding down of the defunct Ministry of Sports Development are being coordinated jointly by the Offices of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and the Head of Civil Service of the Federation.”

Similarly, the renaming and the expansion of mandate of the defunct Ministry of Niger Delta Development is to take immediate effect.

“The releasing supervising authorities as well as commissions under the new ministry have been duly notified of this development,” the statement added. “Respective Permanent Secretaries are directed to ensure seamless implementation and also forward one copy of each of the hand-over notes to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation for the records.”

Opposition knocks FG

Reactions have continued to trail President Bola Tinubu’s scrapping of ministries and sacking of some ministers with major opposition parties describing it as a distraction to cover his administration’s incompetence.

The Deputy National Youth Leader of the Peoples Democratic Party, Timothy Osadolor, described the move as a domestic arrangement deployed to distract the hungry masses.

He said, “How can you replace filthy rags with another set of filthy rags? Those are cosmetic arrangements to deceive Nigerians. The real issue is that the President is malfunctioning in administration. The Nigerian masses are hungry and dying. What they need is no changing of ministers and renaming of ministries. The people need security, jobs, power and above all, Nigerians need stability.”

The National Chairman, Social Democratic Party, Shehu Gabam, added that the government was paying lip service to Nigerians’ call for improvement.

“Merging ministries or taking out a few ministers wouldn’t bring any not