76 days after inauguration, Pres. Tinubu to swear in ministers on Monday

Over 76 days after his inauguration, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, will on Monday, August 21, inaugurate his cabinet.

This was confirmed by a former National Director of Publicity for the All Progressives Congress (APC), Lanre Issa-Onilu, during an interview on Channels TV “Sunrise Daily programme”, on Wednesday.

Persecondnews recalls that President Tinubu has sent a 28-member ministerial nomination list to the Senate for screening and confirmation on July 27 followed by a supplementary list of 19 nominees to the Senate a week after.

The lawmakers, however, confirmed 45 out of the 48 nominees, on August 7, with three others – Nasir el-Rufai, former governor of Kaduna, Stella Okotete (Delta) and Danladi Abubakar (Taraba) not confirmed due to pending security issues.

Speaking on the delay, Issa-Onilu disclosed that the “delay is due to the restructuring going on and the need to lay a solid foundation.”

According to him, the nomenclature of some ministries would be changed and “Nigerians would hear names they are not familiar with for such ministries.”

He said: “What we should ask is we need to ensure that we lay a solid foundation even for the cabinet to come in and take off.

“This is a new government and Asiwaju is a technocrat and if you bring someone to work with you, you must have a job description for the person.

“On Monday, they are going to be inaugurated. We have ministries, the president may have his ideas on how the ministries should work.

“He may want to tinker with the existing structure and he needs to prepare the bed before asking someone to come and lay on it. That is the only way to get things going.

“You don’t want to bring a minister in and say hold on you need to restructure the base. There is restructuring going on.

“You are going to hear ministries in terms of nomenclature you are not familiar with. And those are deliberate to ensure that you provide the necessary will to get things done fast enough.

“The bottom line is that there will be this exercise on Monday.”

Those screened, confirmed and expected to be sworn in on Monday are: Abubakar Kyari, Borno State; Abubakar Momoh, Edo State; Nyesom Wike, Rivers State; Prof. Joseph Utsev, Benue State; John Eno, Cross River State; Bello Mohammed, Sokoto State; Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, Jigawa State; Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, Bauchi State; Uju Ken Ohaneye, Anambra State; and Olubunmi Tunji Ojo, Ondo State.

Others are Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, Abia State; Betta Edu, Cross River State; Imaan Suleiman, Nasarawa State; David Umahi, Ebonyi State; Adebayo Olawale Edun, Ogun State; Ahmed Musa Dangiwa Katsina State; Uche Nnaji, Enugu State; Dele Alake, Ekiti State; Waheed Adebayo Adelabu, Oyo State; Muhammad Idris, Niger State; Prof. Ali Pate, Bauchi State; Dr Doris Uzoka, Imo State; Lateef Fagbemi (San), Kwara State; Ekperikpe Ekpo, Akwa Ibom State; Hannatu Musawa, Katsina State; Ibrahim Geidam, Yobe State; Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, Niger State; and Heineken Lokpobiri, Bayelsa State.

Also confirmed are Alkali Ahmed Sa’eed, Gombe State; Dr. Yusuf Tanko Sununu, Kebbi State; Atiku Bagudu, Kebbi State; Bello Matawalle, Zamfara State; Adegboyega Oyetola, Osun State; Simon Bako Lalong, Plateau State; Abdullahi Tijjani Gwarzo, Kano State; Bosun Tijjani, Ogun State; and Dr Mariya Mahmoud, Kano State.

Also, Dr Isiyaka Salako, Ogun State;
Dr Tunji Alausa, Lagos State; Lola Ade John, Lagos State; Prof. Tahir Mamman, Adamawa State; Zephaniah Jissalo, F.C.T; Uba Maigari Ahmadu, Taraba State; Shuaibu Abubakar Audu, Kogi State and Festus Keyamo (San), Delta State.