Tinubu nominates Matawalle, Oyetola, 17 others as ministers
The Senate has announced the 19 names in the second batch of the ministerial nominees list from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in accordance with section 147 ( 2) of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended.
The nominees include: Simon Bako Lalong – Plateau State; Bello Matawalle – Zamfara; Atiku Bagudu – Kebbi State; Adegboyega Oyetola – Osun State; Uba Maigari Ahmadu – Taraba State; Ibrahim Geidam – Yobe State; Heineken Lokpobiri – Bayelsa State; Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi – Niger State.
Others are: Alkali Ahmed Saidu – Gombe State; Abdullahi Tijjani Gwarzo – Kano State; Tunji Alausa – Lagos State; Lola Ade John – Lagos State; Tahir Mamman – Adamawa State; Ishak Salako – Ogun State; Bosun Tijjani – Ogun State; Yusuf Tanko Sununu – Kebbi State; Maryam Shetti – Kano State; Zaphaniah Bitrus Jisalo – FCT; and Shaibu Abubakar Audu – Kogi State.
The names were contained in an executive correspondence submitted at the floor of the Senate by the Chief of staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila at about 3:19pm after being admitted into the Red Chamber.
Consequently, the Senate announced the adjournment of its plenary to Friday for the commencement of the second batch of the nominees to enable nominees clear with the Code of Conduct Bureau.
Analysts who spoke in separate interviews with The Point said many of the names on the first and second batches of the nominees’ list had confirmed the usual belief that the President had a penchant for rewarding loyalty.
A public affairs analyst based in Lagos, Dr. Onwubike Johnson, said this was one of Tinubu’s strongest selling points, which had made him a successful politician for decades.
“Looking through the first and second lists, we saw El-Rufai, Matawalle, Oyetola, Lalong, Bagudu among many others that stood strongly by him during the elections. Wike was also included. The Kogi governor would have been there too if not because he still has some months to the end of his tenure. You now ask him how he became jagaban?”
The Senate on Monday commenced the screening of the 28 nominees sent to the House while nine more were screened on Tuesday.
19% of all Tinubu’s ministerial nominees are women
With the addition of two more women to the already existing seven women in the ministerial list nominated by President Tinubu, the percentage now stands at 19.1 out of the total 47.
The proportion of women on the ministerial list falls short of the 35 per cent Affirmative Action.
In the first list, seven (25 per cent) were women out of a total of 28 while in the supplementary list, it was two (11 per cent) of 19.
The women in the first list are Hannatu Musawa, Betta Edu, Doris Aniche Uzoka, Nkiru Onyeojiocha, Stella Okotete, Uju Kennedy Ohaneye and Iman Suleiman Ibrahim.
Maryam Shetty from Kano State and Lola Ade-John from Lagos State are the women in the supplementary list.
The Federal High Court in Abuja had in April 2022 ordered the Federal Government to enforce the National Gender Policy by allocating 35 per cent of appointments in the public sector to women.
Nine civil society organisations had filed the suit against the Nigerian government on August 24, 2020, seeking the implementation of the 35 per cent Affirmative Action in appointments of women into public office.
The Co-founder and CEO of Nigeria’s biggest tech hub, Co-Creation Hub, Bosun Tijani, has been included in the second batch of the ministerial list.
Tijani, a 46-year-old initiated Meta CEO, Mark Zuckerberg’s first-time visit and received him in Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa as a whole in August 2016.
He is a Nigeria-British entrepreneur born on July 20, 1977, with a diploma in Computer Science and a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the University of Jos between 1996 and 2002 respectively.
Tijani joined the Lagos Business School, Accenture and Junior Achievement for an MBA Course, Venture in Management in 2003.
