Ministerial: Check out the 10 new ministries Tinubu modified

The 45 ministerial nominees received their portfolio assignments from President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday, nine days after the Senate had reviewed and approved their nominations.

As previously reported by Vanguard, Ajuri Ngelale, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, informed journalists of their assigned responsibilities.

As Nigerians begin to react to who got what in Tinubu’s cabinet, Vanguard noted about 10 newly-created or modified ministries by the President.

Here are the portfolios that are created or modified in Tinubu’s cabinet:

1. Marine and Blue Economy

This is one of the new ministries created by Tinubu with Bunmi Tunji-Ojo as Minister. The marine and blue economy involves the economic activities associated with the oceans and seas. 

The World Bank defines the blue economy as the “sustainable use of ocean resources to benefit economies, livelihoods, and ocean ecosystem health.”

The scope includes biotechnology, undersea cabling, coastal tourism, and renewable energy, among others.

Tunji-Ojo, the minister-designate in charge of the ministry, studied Electrical and Electronics Engineering at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, and studied Electronics and Communication Engineering at the University of North London, now London Metropolitan University.

He was a former member of the House of Representatives. He worked in committees such as National Security and Intelligence, Local Content, Gas Resources, North East Development Commission (NEDC), Housing, FCT Area Council and Ancillary Matters, Solid Minerals, and Pilgrims Affairs.

2. Tourism

Another newly-created ministry is Tourism. The President appointed Lola Ade-John as the minister. Tourism is one of the biggest economic activities in the world today. It involves the pursuit of recreation, relaxation, and pleasure while making use of the commercial provision of services.

Ade-John is a banking and tech expert. She studied Computer Science at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Ade-John is currently the Principal Consultant at Novateur Business Technology Consultants, a company she founded in 2014, having served in many capacities in the banking and tech sectors.

3. Art, Culture and the Creative Economy

This ministry combines three aspects. The culture sector was merged with information in the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari, with Lai Mohammed as minister.

Tinubu, however, has brought art and the creative economy to blend with the culture to be headed by Hannatu Musawa.

Arts deal with the application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.

Also, culture has branches of the ideas, customs, and social behaviour of a particular people or society. And the creative economy includes advertising, architecture, crafts, design, fashion, film, video, photography, music, performing arts, publishing, research and development, software, and computer games, electronic publishing, and television and radio activities.

Musawa has the task of managing all these to the advantage of the country, as Nigeria’s creative economy has become a big market already.

She holds a degree in Law from the University of Buckingham, the United Kingdom, and took a Postgraduate Master’s in the Legal Aspects of Marine Affairs from the University of Cardiff, Wales. She also has a Postgraduate Master’s Degree in Oil and Gas Law from the University of Aberdeen.

Musawa worked as the Deputy Spokesperson and Deputy Director of Public Affairs at the All Progressives Congress, APC, Presidential Council Committee during the 2023 general elections and emerged as the Special Adviser to the President on Culture and Entertainment Economy.

4. Gas Resources

The Ministry of Gas Resources has been separated from Petroleum Resources. Nigeria is ranked 8th among countries with the biggest gas reserves, so there is a high expectation that the country will maximise it for its economic benefits.

Nigeria, according to a report, comes after the United Arab Emirates, UAE, with natural gas reserves of 5.85 trillion cubic meters.

Ekperikpe Ekpo has been appointed as the Minister of State for Gas Resources. He was a former Senatorial seat candidate and a career politician.

He is the Director General of the Akwa Ibom Democratic Forum (ADF). He is expected to work in the implementation of policies passed by the Tinubu administration that are directed at making Nigeria a gas-based country, by promoting industrialisation, power generation and distribution, clean cooking, and auto-use that are reliant on gas.

5. Steel Development

The steel development is another new ministry to be headed by Shuaibu Audu. The portfolio was carved out from Mines and Steel Development, which was headed by Olamilekan Adegbite under Buhari.

As Tinubu had pledged to complete the Ajaokuta Steel Company, which is expected to create thousands of jobs for Nigerians, the ministry will work on the improvement of all steel and metallic resources in the country for economic growth and development.

Shuaibu Audu, the son of the former governor of Kogi State, Abubakar Audu, has an impressive background as an executive director with Stanbic IBTC, holding an MBA from the University of Oxford and an MSC in international securities and investment banking from the ICMA Centre of Henley Business School, University of Reading.

6. Finance and Coordinating Economy

The portfolio of the coordinating minister was first created by former President Goodluck Jonathan, with the current Director-General, World Trade Organisation, WTO, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as the Minister.

While it should be said that Buhari’s administration did not recognise such, Tinubu has re-created finance and coordinating economy and appointed his former commissioner, Wale Edun, to be in charge.

The finance and coordinating economy is aimed at setting guidelines for managing government financial risks, financial exposure with respect to all loans and instruments, borrowings and loans, and supervising all other finance-oriented parastatals and agencies, among others.

Edun has an impressive background in economics, public finance, international finance, merchant banking, and corporate finance at national and international levels.

He is the founder of Denham Management Limited and Chairman of Livewell Initiative, a health sector Non-Governmental Organization (NGO). Edun is also a Trustee of Sisters Unite for Children, an NGO dedicated to assisting needy children.

7. Health and Social Welfare

The President created social welfare and merged it with health to have an encompassing ministry.

Social welfare is catering to communities and people to survive, especially in remote areas. The social welfare assistance programmes offer food, shelter, and medical care that citizens cannot readily access.

Tinubu has allotted the portfolio to Professor Ali Pate, a physician and politician who is a Professor of the Practice of Public Health Leadership in the Department of Global Health and Population at Harvard University.

Pate formerly served as the Global Director for Health, Nutrition, and Population and Director of the Global Financing Facility for Women, Children and Adolescents (GFF) at the World Bank Group. Pate is also the former Minister of State for Health.

8. Aviation and Aerospace Development

Aerospace development was created and merged with Aviation and the President has appointed Festus Keyamo to be the minister.

While aviation has to do with the operation of airline agencies within and outside the country, aerospace is the advancement of human technology that enables the travel and exploration of the earth’s atmosphere and the surrounding space, including the aerospace engineering field covering research and development, design and manufacturing.

Keyamo is a legal practitioner and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN). He served as the Minister of State for Labour and Employment in Buhari’s administration.

9. Youth Development

In the previous administrations, Sports and Youth were operated as a single ministry, but Tinubu has brought out the Ministry of Youth from it to be manned by Abubakar Momoh.

The youth development ministry is expected to focus on the optimal utilisation of Nigerian youths for national pride across the globe. It is estimated that 60 percent of Nigeria’s population is under the age of 25, larger than any African country.

Abubakar Momoh has been appointed as the Minister of Youth. He is a civic engineer and politician who has served twice as a member of the House of Representatives, representing Etsako federal constituency Edo state.

10. Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation

The Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs is to develop humanitarian policies and provide effective coordination of national and international humanitarian interventions. Poverty alleviation is a designed set of measures, both economic and humanitarian, intended to lift people out of poverty.

The new ministry was created from the Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development under Buhari’s government, which was headed by Sadiya Farouq.

President Tinubu has allotted the modified ministry of humanitarian affairs and poverty alleviation to Betta Edu, the former national women leader of APC.

Edu was Cross River State Commissioner for Health until her resignation in 2022. She was also the National Chairman of the Nigeria Health Commissioners Forum.

She has a Post-Graduate Diploma in Public Health for Developing Countries from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, a master’s degree in Public Health in Developing Countries from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and a Doctor of Public Health from Texila American University.