President Bola Tinubu has scraped two federal Ministry, Ministry of Niger Delta and the Ministry of Sports Development just as he sacked five ministers from his cabinet and appointed seven new ones in ongoing cabinet reshuffle. Those sacked are Uju-Ken Ohanenye, the Minister of Women Affairs, Lola Ade-John, the Minister of Tourism, and Tahir Mamman and the Minister of Education. The others are Abdullahi Gwarzo, the Minister of State for Housing and Urban Development and Jamila Ibrahim, the Minister of Youth Development. The new appointees are Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, who was nominated as Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Nentawe Yilwatda, nominated as Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction. Other appointees are Maigari Dingyad, nominated as Minister of Labour and Employment, Jumoke Oduwole, nominated for Minister of Industry, and Idi Maiha, nominated as for the newly established Ministry of Livestock Development.
Others are Yusuf Ata, nominated as Minister of State for Housing and Urban Development, and Suwaiba Ahmad, nominated as Minister of State for Education. The President also appointed Shehu Dikko as Chairman of the National Sports Commission and Sunday Akin Dare as Special Adviser to the President on Public Communication and Orientation working from the Ministry of Information and National Orientation. The new appointees are to face the Senate for confirmation.
This fact was made known during the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in Abuja. President’s special adviser on Information and Strategy Bayo Onanuga,, confirmed the major reforms in a post on his official X handle. In the place of the Niger Delta Ministry, Tinubu’s administration has created the Ministry of Regional Development. This newly-formed body will oversee all regional development commissions, including the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), North West Development Commission, South West Development Commission, and North East Development Commission. Reacting to the scrapping of Niger Delta Ministry oil producing communities of the Niger Delta region hailed the decision of President to scrap the Niger Delta Ministry Affairs in line with many years of calls by some stakeholders from the region
Chairman of the board of trustees, BoT, of the community development committee, CDC of the oil and gas producing area of the region, Joseph Ambakaderimo in his reaction on Wednesday said he received the news of scrapping of the ministry “with utmost joy and excitement”. Ambakaderimo said that “the decision taken by the Federal Executive Council to scrap the Ministry of Niger Delta Development is a welcome development. At least our position have been confirmed in line with the Steve Orosanye rationalisation Committee report which have been crying for attention”. He said that the Ministry of Niger Delta Development as the name implies, is the same as the NDDC in terms of reference and job description, overlapping functions with little or nothing significant to show for the last twelve years of the existence of the Ministry of Niger Delta Development. So for us, the President has listened to wise counsel, he should not be blackmailed to reverse this decision, we say this because some form of untoward subtle blackmail was brought to bear on the President which led to the retaining of the Ministry of Niger Delta Development until today’s action. This rationalisation begins the process of genuine focus and a clear path to infrastructural development of the Niger Delta region.
“We have called for the scrapping for a long time and today we are relieved to hear the good news which will herald the sustainable development of the oil rich region of the Niger Delta”, he said. According to the CDC board chairman, the scrapping of the ministry will minimise duplication of functions and the money directed to the NDDC for prosper execution of projects to betterment of the people of the region. There will now be a Ministry of Regional Development to oversee all the regional development commissions,” Onanuga explained, signalling a shift towards a more centralised approach to regional oversight. The Ministry of Sports will now be replaced by the National Sports Commission, which will take over all responsibilities related to sports development. In another fundamental change, the Ministry of Tourism will be merged with the Ministry of Culture and Creative Economy, marking an effort to streamline governance in related sectors. These decisions reflect Tinubu’s ongoing effort to restructure the Nigerian government, consolidating various sectors to enhance efficiency.
