There is still uncertainty about who is going to head which ministry as President Muhammadu Buhari officially inaugurates a new Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday.
A statement yesterday by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, confirmed that the new ministers would be sworn in on Wednesday but was silent on portfolios or the number of ministries the president will have.
Adesina said before the commencement of the inaugural session of the Federal Executive Council, the ministers-designate would take their oaths of office at the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
Sources however told Daily Trust that sharing of portfolios to the new ministers would be done immediately after the oath of office was administered on them Wednesday.
The president’s media aide said the swearing-in ceremony would begin promptly at 10:00am and the ministers-designate expected to be seated at the Council Chambers by 09:30am at the latest.
The presidential spokesman said each minister-designate could only be accompanied to the swearing-in ceremony by a maximum of two guests.
This was not the case during former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration when ministers-designate
were accompanied to swearing-in ceremonies with spouses, children and relations as well as friends, political associates, state governors and traditional rulers.
President Buhari is inaugurating the new Federal Executive Council more than five months after he assumed office.
The ministers-designate had on Friday completed a two-day presidential retreat aimed at getting them fully acquainted with the direction and priorities of Buhari’s government.
The theme of the retreat, which was organised by the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), was “Delivering Change: From Precepts to Practice”.
The ministers-designate include Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), Chris Ngige (Anambra), Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti), Babatunde Fashola (Lagos), Abdulrahman Dambazau (Kano), Aisha Alhassan (Taraba), Ogbonnaya Onu (Ebonyi), Kemi Adeosun (Ogun), Abubakar Malami (Kebbi), Hadi Sirika (Katsina), Suleiman Adamu (Jigawa), Solomon Dalong (Plateau), Ibe Kachikwu (Delta), Osagie Ehanire (Edo), Audu Ogbeh (Benue), Udo Udo Udoma (Akwa Ibom), Lai Mohammed (Kwara), Amina Mohammed (Gombe), Ibrahim Usman Jibril (Nasarawa), Anthony Onwuka (Imo) and Muhammadu Bello (Adamawa).
Others are Adamu Adamu (Bauchi), Okechukwu Enelamah (Abia), Aisha Abubakar (Sokoto), Khadija Bukar Abba (Yobe), Claudius Daramola (Ondo), Geoffrey Onyeama (Enugu), M. Dan-Ali (Zamfara), James Ocholi (Kogi), Zainab Ahmed (Kaduna), Mustapha Shehuri (Borno), Heineken Lokpobiri (Bayelsa), Isaac Adewole Folorunsho (Osun), Usani Usani Uguru (Cross River), Abubakar Bwari Bawa (Niger) and Adebayo Shittu (Oyo).
Adesina was not readily available for comment last night but in an earlier statement he issued, the spokesman said the president would swear in ministers and assign portfolios to them accordingly.
A commentator on public affairs Muhammad Sani said it would be difficult to hazard a guess as to which portfolio will be given to which minister. “Take the issue of attorney general for instance, there are so many lawyers in the soon to be inaugurated cabinet and, as far as I am concerned, they seem capable. But the president has the final say,” he said.
Daily Trust reports that Malami, Ocholi, Fashola, Shittu, Dalong, Alhassan, Lai Mohammed, Onyeama, Udoma and Kachikwu are all lawyers. Kachikwu is however expected to go to the petroleum ministry.
Others associated with certain ministries include Chief Audu Ogbeh (agriculture), Adeosun (Finance), Amaechi (Niger Delta Affairs), among others.
...Swears in INEC chair, 5 commissioners today
Adesina also disclosed yesterday that President Buhari would today preside over the swearing-in of Professor Mahmood Yakubu as Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and five others as National Commissioners of the INEC.
The presidential aide said this followed the confirmation of their nominations by the Senate.
He said the swearing-in of Prof. Yakubu, Mrs. Amina Zakari, Mr. Solomon Adedeji Soyebi, Prof. Antonia Taiye Okoosi-Simbine, Dr. Muhammed Mustafa Lecky and Alhaji Baba Shettima Arfo was scheduled for 11:00am at the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa.
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