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See 10 New Ministries Tinubu Created, Modified

Published

2 years ago

August 17, 2023

President Bola Tinubu allocated portfolios to the 45 ministerial nominees on Wednesday, nine days after they were screened and confirmed by the Senate.

Recall that the allotted portfolios were announced to journalists by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale.

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.

Related Topics:#Tinubu minister Ministry

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MOWAA Authorities Shun Edo Assembly Committee, Give Reason

Published

13 hours ago

November 24, 2025

Editor

Authorities of the Museum of West African Art (MOWAA) on Monday refused to appear before the Edo State House of Assembly Ad hoc Committee which was set up to investigate its operations and funding.

Recall that Governor Monday Okpebholo, had last month, asked the Assembly to determine the stake of the state government having committed N3.3bn and true ownership of MOWAA.

At the resumed sitting of the Committee on Monday, MOWAA, in a letter by its lawyer, Olayiwola Afolabi, said it earlier informed the Committee that it would be sub judice for it to attend the public hearing due to the pendency of the same matter before the Federal High Court, Benin City.

In the letter, MOWAA informed the Committee that other committees of the Federal Government and the House of Representatives have been constituted to look into the same issues.

The letter said documents it previously submitted to the Assembly showed that everything about MOWAA was genuine and transparent.

MOWAA, in the documents it submitted, said, “No funds from any international institution had been received for the building of MOWAA until after it was very clear what MOWAA was and was not.

“All funding was received subsequent to the time in the middle of 2021 that it was clear to potential donors that there would be two separate organisations one focused on Benin heritage art and another on modern and contemporary, broader West African art and research/education.

“Funding from the German Government did not come until the end of 2022 – a year and a half after the Palace disassociated itself from MOWAA. The fact that there would be two separate museums was communicated to the Benin Dialogue Group (the European museums) in the meetings of October, 2021 at the London meeting and again in Hamburg in the meetings of March 2023, and further confirmed in writing to all Benin Dialogue Group members approximately two years ago when MOWAA formally withdrew from the group meetings.”

Speaking before the Committee, the state Accountant General, Julius Oseimen Anelu, said N3.8bn was released for the building of MOWAA between 2022 and 2024.

He said funding for MOWAA by the Edo State Government was appropriated in the budget.

He said the $18m from donors did not enter the state’s coffers.

On his part, the Benin Monarch, Oba Ewuare II, who was represented by Prince Aghatise Erediauwa, accused former Governor Godwin Obaseki of making efforts to hijack the processes of the returned artefacts.

He accused former Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed and a former Director General of National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM) Albert Tijani, of fighting the Palace to defend the actions of the Legacy Restoration Trust (LRT).

Oba Ewuare II said the LRT was used to solicit funds abroad using his name.

The Benin Monarch said the Federal Government gazette, which recognised him as the custodian of the returned artefacts, made the LRT promoters realise that they were fighting a lost battle.

Chairman of the Ad hoc Committee, Hon Ade Isibor, expressed shock at the action of MOWAA.

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He Can’t Fix His Party Let Alone Nigeria – Oshiomhole Blasts Atiku

Published

14 hours ago

November 24, 2025

Editor

The lawmaker representing Edo North Senatorial District, Adams Oshiomhole, has criticised former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.

Speaking in an interview on Politics Today, a programme on Channels Television monitored by DAILY POST on Monday, Oshiomhole alleged that Atiku, who cannot fix his party, cannot fix Nigeria’s problems.

His comment comes after Atiku officially joined the African Democratic Congress, ADC.

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Gov Mohammed Flags Off Construction Of 203.47-kilometre Rural Roads

Published

17 hours ago

November 24, 2025

Editor

Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State has flagged off the construction of 203.47-kilometre rural roads in the state.

Speaking during the flagging off of the roads in Gamawa Local Government Area of the state on Monday, Mohammed said the road construction would be carried out with the Federal Government intervention under its Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Programme (RAAMP).

According to him, the roads represented more than physical infrastructure but symbolises his administration’s vision of Bauchi state where no community was left behind, where development was fair and balanced and driven by the needs of the people with equity and justice.

“We are grateful to the federal government, we are grateful to the World Bank and all the development partners.

“Roads are the architect of opportunities. They connect farmers to markets, women to healthcare, children to schools, security agencies to vulnerable communities and rural economy to national prosperity.

“For decades, many rural communities in Bauchi have suffered neglect. Roads became impassable during rainy seasons, farmers lost produce, students struggled to reach schools and sick people were unable to get timely medical attention,” he said.

Mohammed, who said that the days of neglect of the rural communities were over, added that RAAMP remained a key pillar for his transformative agenda and aligned with his Bauchi project 1&2.

He said RAAMP also aligned with the Bauchi Agricultural modernisation, inclusive development, improved governance, youth empowerment, poverty reduction and sustainable infrastructure.

According to him, RAAMP was not just about roads, it’s about connecting communities, boosting the rural economy and laying the foundation of lasting prosperity.

He highlighted the roads to include 26.8 kilometers Mararaba Liman Katagum-Boli-Kafinmawa-Mararaba Dajin roads, 14.75km Dargazu- Gambaki-Chinade-Gangai road, 28km Gamawa – Sakwa road.

Others included; 14.45km Misau- Beti- Maladunba roads, 6.6km Giade – Tagwaye road, 6.68km Yana-Fago road, 6.71km Mararraban Dajin- Dajin road, 36.65km Dott-Dado- Baraza road, 24km Lanzai-Papa road.

He further explained that the road construction also included 4.91km Gadar Maiwa- Zakara road, 25km Dagu-Ningi road, 8.86km Nabordo – Gadan Doka.

The governor called on traditional rulers to support contractors and remained vigilant and provide intelligence on security and safety.

Also speaking, Engr. Aminu Mohammed, the National Coordinator (RAAMP)
Coordinator said that the state has disbursed over N6 billion in counterpart funding to RAAMP, making it one of the top performing states.

“These roads will open critical agricultural corridors, reduce travel time and post harvest losses, improve access to markets, schools and healthcare.

“It will also enhance rural productivity and inclusion, stimulate economic activities across all the three senatorial zones in the state,” he said.

He called on the contractors to deliver the project with the highest standard of engineering professionalism and compliance with environmental and social safeguard.

The Coordinator also called on the communities to take ownership of the roads and take care of and protect them.