Less than 24 hours to the swearing-in ceremony of newly appointed ministers, President Bola Tinubu last night announced a minor cabinet reshuffle.
This will be the first time Nigeria will witness changes in cabinet composition well ahead of ministerial appointees being sworn into office.
Tongues are already wagging that the sudden cabinet reshuffle which saw a minister being deployed to the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs may not be unconnected with the threat by the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) that scrapping the would not be accepted by the people of the oil-rich region.
Tinubu while announcing the allocation of ministerial nominees, was silent on the Niger Delta Affairs ministry, a move that set tongues wagging that the President might have resolved to disband the ministry.
In the minor cabinet, President Tinubu approved the redeployment of Engr. Abubakar Momoh from the Federal Ministry of Youth to the Federal Ministry of Niger Delta Development.
The Federal Ministry of Youth is to be re-assigned to a yet-to-be-announced Minister-Designate.
According to the statement by Ajuri Ngelele, the Ministers-Designate allocated to the Federal Ministries of Transportation, Interior, and Marine & Blue Economy have been reshuffled as follows:
(A) H.E. Adegboyega Oyetola is redeployed as the Honourable Minister of Marine & Blue Economy
(B) Hon. Bunmi Tunji-Ojo is redeployed as the Honourable Minister of Interior
(C) Hon. Sa’idu Alkali is redeployed as the Honourable Minister of Transportation
Furthermore, both Ministers of State in the Oil & Gas sector are now domiciled in the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources with the following designations:
(i) Sen. Heineken Lokpobiri is the Hon. Minister of State (Oil), Petroleum Resources
(ii) Hon. Ekperipe Ekpo is the Hon. Minister of State (Gas), Petroleum Resources
The President approves the renaming of the Federal Ministry of Environment and Ecological Management as the Federal Ministry of Environment.
The statement further added that the aforementioned changes take immediate.
