Tinubu to swear in new ministers on Monday

President Bola Tinubu is scheduled to conduct the swearing-in ceremony for the recently appointed ministers who have been allocated their respective roles. The event is set to take place on Monday in the State House’s conference room at 10 am, as announced by a statement from the office of the secretary to the government of the federation (SGF). William Bassey, the director of information in the SGF’s office, who endorsed the statement, indicated that the ministers are required to bring along two guests each.

Earlier, the presidential administration unveiled a list featuring the names of the new ministers alongside their designated responsibilities. Among the appointments, Nyesom Wike is designated as the federal capital territory (FCT) minister, becoming the second southerner to assume this role after Ajose Adeogun in 1976. Additionally, Gboyega Oyetola, former governor of Osun, has been chosen as the minister of transportation.

The distribution of ministers based on geographical regions is as follows: the north-west has 10 ministers, the north-east has six, the north-central and south-west each have eight and nine ministers respectively, while the south-east and south-south both have five.

President Tinubu has assigned specific portfolios to the ministers. Notably, Bosun Tijani will oversee the ministry of communications, innovations, and digital economy, while Wale Edun will lead the ministry of finance and serve as the coordinating minister of the economy.

In the lead-up to these appointments, President Tinubu submitted a list of 28 nominees for screening and confirmation to the senate on July 27. Subsequently, on August 2, the president forwarded the second batch of ministerial nominees to the senate for the same purpose. Of the 45 individuals confirmed by the senate, three nominees – Nasir el-Rufai, former governor of Kaduna; Stella Okotete (Delta); and Danladi Abubakar (Taraba) – were not approved due to security clearance concerns.