President Bola Tinubu has sacked six ministers, reassigned ten ministers and appointed seven new ministers to his cabinet in a major restructuring aimed at improving government operations.
The reshuffling of ministers was announced in a statement issued by the presidency following the Federal Executive Council meeting on Wednesday. The statement read, “President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, has approved the immediate implementation of eight far-reaching actions to reinvigorate the administration’s capacity for optimal efficiency, pursuant to his commitment to deliver on his promises to Nigerians.”
Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu was appointed Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, while Jumoke Oduwole was appointed Minister of Industry, Trade, and Investment.
The President appreciated the outgoing members of the Federal Executive Council for their service to the nation while wishing them the best in their future endeavours. He then charged the newly appointed ministers as well as their reassigned colleagues to see their appointment as a call to serve the nation.
The discharged ministers
The Ministers that were sacked from the cabinet are;
Betta Edu
Designation — Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction
Prof. Tahir Mamman
Designation— Minister of Education
Mohammad Gwarzo
Designation— Minister of State, Housing and Urban Development
Jamila Ibrahim
Designation— Minister of Youth Development
Lola Ade-John
Designation — Minister of Tourism
Uju Kennedy Ohanenye, the subject of many controversies.
Designation— Minister of Women Affairs
The reassigned ministers
The Ministers that were reassigned to other designations in the cabinet are;
Hon Dr. Yusuf Tanko Sununu
Current designation— Minister of State, Education
New Designation— Minister of State Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction
Dr. Morufu Olatunji Alausa
Current Designation—Minister State, Health
New Designation— Minister of Education
Barr. Bello Muhammad Goronyo
Current Designation—Minister of State, Water Resources and Sanitation
New Designation— Minister of State Works
Hon. Abubakar Eshiokpekha Momoh
Current Designation— Minister of Niger Delta Development
New Designation— Minister of Regional Development
Uba Maigari Ahmadu
Current Designation—Minister of State Steel Development
New Designation— Minister of State Regional Development
Dr. Doris Uzoka-Anite
Current Designation—Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment
New Designation— Minister of State Finance
Sen. John Owan Enoh
Current Designation— Minister of Sports Development
New Designation— Minister of State Trade and Investment Industry
Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim
Current Designation— Minister of State, Police Affairs
New Designation— Minister of Women Affairs
Ayodele Olawande
Current Designation—Minister of State for Youth Development
New Designation— Minister for Youth Development
Dr. Salako Iziaq Adekunle Adeboye
Current Designation Minister of State, Environment Minister of State, Health
New Designation— Minister of State, Health
The new appointees
The newly appointed Ministers are;
Dr Nentawe Vilwatda
Designation — Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction
Muhammadu Maigari Dingyadi
Designation— Minister of Labour & Employment
Idi Mukhtar Maiha
Designation— Federal Ministry of Livestock Development
Rt. Hon. Yusuf Abdullahi Ata
Designation— Minister of State, Housing and Urban Development
Suwaiba Said Ahmad PhD
Designation— Minister of State Education
Bianca Odinaka Odumegu-Ojukwu
Designation— Minister of State Foreign Affair
Dr Jumoke Oduwole
Designation— Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment
The new women appointees making the news
So far, two new female ministers have got everyone’s tongues wagging, but who are they?
Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu
Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu is an accomplished diplomat, lawyer, businesswoman and beauty pageant titleholder.
Following her graduation, from Buckingham University where she combined honours degree in Politics, Economics and Law Odumegwu-Ojukwu attended the Nigerian Law School which eventually led to her call to the bar.
From the early 1990s till date, Bianca’s name has become synonymous with beauty. A multiple international pageant titleholder, Bianca emerged as the winner of Miss Martini in 1987 and the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria in 1988.
She reigned through most of 1989, mainly when she emerged as Miss Africa 1989 at the pageant held in The Gambia.
In the same year, she achieved success when she won Miss Intercontinental and was named Miss Congeniality at the now-defunct Miss Charm International in Russia, making history as the first Nigerian and African to win Miss The Intercontinental pageant.
Shortly after her husband’s death in 2011, she got diplomatic appointments that brought her to the forefront of politics. Bianca, widow of the late Biafra leader Odumegwu Ojukwu, was appointed Senior Special Assistant on Diaspora Affairs by President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011.
In 2012, she became Nigeria’s Ambassador to Ghana and later served as Ambassador to the Kingdom of Spain. In 2016, Odumegwu-Ojukwu received a master’s degree in International Relations and Diplomacy from Alfonso X el Sabio University in Spain.
On October 17, 2014, she was honoured with the prestigious award of African Most Outstanding Ambassador in the Diaspora 2014 in the Netherlands by the Voice of Achievers and became Nigeria’s permanent representative to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation.
Apart from her diplomatic endeavours, Bianca is a successful businesswoman and philanthropist. She is the Managing Director of Bianca Blend Products Ltd., a cosmetics company, her interior decorating outfit Mirabella, and has founded several charitable organisations, including Hope House Trust, which focuses on rehabilitating juvenile offenders.
Dr Jumoke Oduwole
Dr. Jumoke Oduwole is an academic, advisor, and speaker. Until she was nominated Minister of Industry, Trade, and Investment, Oduwole served as Tinubu’s Special Adviser to the President on PEBEC & Investment from August 2019 to May 2023.
Before her appointment as Special Adviser to the President of Nigeria on Ease of Doing Business in the Office of the Vice President, Oduwole has served in different capacities in the corporate world, both nationally and globally.
Oduwole is a past co-president of the Stanford Alumni Club of Nigeria and was a member of the executive committee of the Oxford and Cambridge (Oxbridge) Club of Nigeria. In addition, she was a visiting scholar at the University of Houston Law Center, Houston, Texas USA from 2008 to 2010 and obtained her doctorate in International Trade and Development (WTO Negotiation Strategy) from Stanford Law School.
She also served on the Technical Working Group of the Presidential Committee for the Impact and Readiness Assessment of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) (Sub-Committee on Ease of Doing Business) and is currently represented on Nigeria’s AfCFTA Implementation National Action Committee (NAC).
In 2013, Oduwole was appointed as the 2013-2015 Prince Claus Chair holder, a Visiting Professorship of Development and Equity in honor of the late Prince Claus of The Netherlands by the Curatorium then chaired by H.M. Queen Maxima of the Netherlands.
In April 2015 she convened an inaugural Prince Claus Chair Roundtable in Lagos, Nigeria on the sidelines of the 3rd Biennial African International Economic Law Network hosted by the Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Lagos; she also convened a second Roundtable in the Hague in the same year.
Oduwole was Senior Special Assistant to the President on Industry, Trade & Investment (OVP) from November 2015 to May 2019 during which she worked to form the Nigerian Office for Trade Negotiations (NOTN) before she was appointed Tinubu’s Special Adviser to the President on PEBEC & Investment from August 2019 to May 2023.
She is currently on a leave of absence from the Department of Jurisprudence and International Law, Faculty of Law, University of Lagos, Nigeria, where she is a Senior Lecturer.
The public’s reactions
While Dr Jumoke Oduwole’s appointment as Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment has been widely accepted because of her portfolio, there have been mixed reactions to Bianca Ojukwu’s appointment as Minister of State Foreign Affairs.
Nigerian X user shares view on Bianca’s appointment, via X (formerly Twitter)
Despite Bianca’s ambassadorial records, a few Nigerians have raised concerns about Bianca’s appointment as a ploy by the federal government to garner public support in the East for the 2027 elections.
It is imperative to note that despite public sentiments, these women have displayed excellence in their respective fields and are poised to translate their experience into results in their new designations.
