The long-awaited ministerial list was read on the floor of the chamber yesterday by Senate President Ahmad Lawan. Raymond Mordi, Sina Fadare and Leke Salaudeen tell us about the men and women who will help President Muhammadu Buhari to pilot the affairs of state in the next four years.
Abia
Abia State nominee, Uchechukwu Sampson Ogah, was the governorship candidate of the APC in the last general elections in the state. Born on December 22, 1969), Ogah is an oil magnate, entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist. He is the President of Master Energy Group, a conglomerate with over 15 subsidiaries and interests across a variety of industries. He holds the Nigerian national honour, the Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON).
Ogah attended the Institute of Management and Technology (IMT), Enugu State where he obtained Upper Credit at Ordinary National Diploma (OND) in 1992 and Distinction at the Higher National Diploma (HND) Level in 1995 in Accounting. He also attended the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) where he obtained a Postgraduate Diploma in 2005. He also has a Bachelor of Science degree (Banking and Finance) from Ogun State University and a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Lagos, among other qualifications.
Adamawa
Alhaji Muhammad Musa Bello who represented Adamawa State in the last Federal Executive Council (FEC) is one of the returning ministers. Bello, who was born on January 8, 1959, was the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in President Buhari’s first term.
An old boy of the Barewa College, Zaria, he is a graduate of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, where he obtained a B.Sc. in Management with a bias for Banking and Finance in 1980, as well as an MBA in the same field. He had an impressive career which spanned banking, industry, business and public service. He, at various times, was in charge of credit and marketing at the ICON Merchant Bank Plc and later a Director at Habib Bank Plc and several other top-ranking firms.
An experienced project manager, he was Managing Director of the Bakabure Industrial Complex, Yola. He also has been a member of several sub-committees of the defunct Technical Committee on Privatisation and Commercialization (TCPC).
Before he became part of President Buhari’s cabinet in 2015, he was the Chairman of National Hajj Commission of Nigeria [NAHCON] between 2007 and 2015.
Akwa Ibom
Former Governor Godswill Akpabio (CON) is the nominee for Akwa Ibom State. Born on December 9, 1962, Akpabio who is a lawyer by profession represented Akwa Ibom Northwest (otherwise known as the Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District) at the Red Chamber between 2015 and 2019. He was the Senate’s Minority Leader before he defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
His political career started in 2002 when he was appointed by the then Governor Obong Victor as Commissioner for Petroleum and Natural Resources. In 2006, he defeated 57 other aspirants to become the governorship candidate of the PDP and eventually won the election. He was re-elected for a second term in 2011. In 2013, he was elected Chairman of the then newly formed PDP Governors Forum.
Akpabio lost his re-election bid to the Senate in the last general election. He will be remembered by the people of Akwa Ibom for the infrastructural transformation of the state capital, Uyo, and the adjoining districts.
Anambra
Chris Ngige, from Anambra State, is another returning minister. Born on August 8, 1952, Ngige was governor of Anambra State from May 29, 2003, to March 17, 2006, on the platform of the PDP. Ngige who became governor in controversial circumstances later broke ranks with his political godfather, Chris Uba, after an unsuccessful attempt on July 10, 2003, to have him removed from office.
A medical doctor by profession, he graduated from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in 1979. He immediately went into the civil service, serving at the National Assembly and State House clinics at different times. He retired in 1998 as a Deputy Director in the Federal Ministry of Health.
Dr Ngige was one of the founding members of the APC in Anambra. Indeed, he represented Anambra Central in the Senate between 2011 and 2015 on the platform of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), one of the legacy parties that metamorphosed into the APC.
Ngige was the Minister of Labour and Employment in President Buhari’s first tenure.
Sharon Ikeazor is the second nominee for Anambra State. A legal practitioner with over 30 year’s post-graduation experience, Ikeazor was appointed to serve as the Executive Secretary of Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) in President Buhari’s first tenure.
A woman of many parts, Ikeazor has been with President Buhari since the days of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC). In 2011, she contested and won the position of National Women Leader of the CPC, one of the three major parties that merged to form the APC in 2013. After the merger, she emerged the Interim National Women Leader of the APC. Thereafter, she was appointed to the Board of Trustees of the party in 2014.
Bauchi
Former Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, is one of those coming back to the cabinet. An accountant, writer, former journalist, Adamu was appointed minister by the President on November 2015, along with 35 others, when Buhari made his first major appointments. Before his appointment, Adamu wrote back page column for Daily Trust newspaper.
He was born on May 25, 1956, in Katagum, Bauchi State and graduated from Ahmadu Bello University where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in Accounting. He also obtained a master’s degree in Journalism from Columbia University’s School of Journalism. Apart from English, the widely travelled Adamu is fluent in several languages, including Arabic, Persian, Fulfulde, Hausa, and French.
After graduation from University, Adamu worked briefly as an accountant in his home state of Bauchi before venturing into Journalism where he rose through ranks to become Deputy Editor of now-defunct New Nigerian newspaper.
Nigeria’s Permanent Delegate to the United Nations’ Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), Ambassador Maryam Katagun, is the second nominee from Bauchi State. She was appointed Ambassador, Permanent Delegate of Nigeria to UNESCO on June 1, 2009.
Born on November 18, 1954 at Azare, Bauchi State, Mrs Katagun possesses a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in English and a Graduate Certificate in Education from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and a Masters in Administration and Planning at the University of Lagos (1985), as well as a Certificate in Social Development Policy, Planning and Practice at the University College, London, in 1999.
Bayelsa
Timipre Sylva is one of the former governors on the list. Sylva governed Bayelsa between 2007 and 2011. Sylva, who was born in Okpoma, Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, on July 7, 1964, succeeded Goodluck Jonathan who became Vice President.
Sylva’s inclusion suggests that he would not contest the November 2019 governorship election in Bayelsa. He is taking the place of former Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Heineken Lokpobiri, who represented Bayelsa in the last cabinet. Lokpobiri has since picked the nomination form for APC governorship primary.
Sylvia started his primary education at St. Paul’s Anglican Primary School, Okpoma and finished at Ajeromi Central School I, Lagos in 1976. His secondary education took him to Government Secondary School, Brass from 1976 to 1981. He later studied English Language and Linguistics at the University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Benue
Former Governor George Akume, who lost his senatorial re-election bid, is back as a ministerial-nominee. He replaces former Agriculture Minister Audu Ogbeh as the state’s representative. Born on December 27, 1953, Akume was the Minority Leader of the Senate from June 2011 to June 2015. He was governor of Benue State from May 29, 1999, to May 29, 2007.
He obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology and a Master’s degree in Labour Relations from the University of Ibadan. He became a career civil servant who rose to the apex of the professional career ladder as a permanent secretary.
Borno
Mustapha Baba Shehuri, the immediate past Minister of State for Power Works Housing, is back on the list ostensibly to give more impetus to ongoing projects in the ministry. He was born on July 4, 1961, and attended Gamboru Primary School, Maiduguri and Government Secondary School, Damagun, Borno.
Shehuri graduated from the University of Maiduguri in 2007 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Sociology and Anthropology. He served as a Councillor representing the Lamisula/ Jabbamari Ward of Maiduguri Metropolitan from 1996 to 1997. He also served as Council Chairman of Maiduguri Metropolitan Council under the defunct Grassroots Democratic Movement (GDM) from 1997 to 1998.
Between 1999 and 2003, he was a member of the State House of Assembly, representing the Maiduguri Metropolitan State Constituency on the platform of the defunct All Peoples Party (APP). He was a member of the House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011, representing the Maiduguri Metropolitan Federal Constituency on the platform of the defunct ANPP.
Cross River
Former Group General Manager, Crude Oil Marketing Division, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Goddy Jedy-Agba, wanted desperately to govern Cross Rivers but was stopped by powerful forces. He had left the PDP to the APC, to brighten his chances, but the job still eluded him. He has now been rewarded with a ministerial slot.
Jedy-Agba was born on August 20, 1958, in Obudu, Cross River State. He obtained his first degree in International Studies from Ahmadu Bello University, Samaru, Zaria in 1983. He holds a Master’s Degree in International Law and Diplomacy from the University of Lagos, Akoka in 1989.
Delta
Human rights activist Festus Keyamo served as Director of Strategic Communications of the Buhari Campaign Organisation during the last general elections. He began his legal career in 1993 at Gani Fawehinmi’s Chambers in Lagos State. He established his chambers after serving at the Gani Fawehinmi chambers for two years.
Keyamo is taking the place of the former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu who represented Delta State in the last cabinet. He was born on January 21, 1970, at Ughelli, Delta State. He had his primary education at Model Primary School and secondary education at Government College, Ughelli, where he obtained the West African School Certificate in 1986. He later proceeded to Ambrose Alli University at Ekpoma, in Edo State, where he received a Bachelor of Law degree in 1992 and was called to the Nigerian Bar on December 1993.
Ebonyi
The immediate past Minister of Science of Technology, Ogbonnaya Onu, is back to represent Ebonyi State. An engineer by profession, Onu who was the first civilian governor of the old Abia State, was born on December 1, 1951.
He graduated with a first-class degree in Chemical Engineering in 1976 from the University of Lagos. He went for his doctoral studies at the University of California, Berkeley and obtained a PhD in Chemical engineering in 1980.
Edo
Dr Osagie Ehanire is another returnee minister. He served as Minister of State for Health in the last cabinet. He was the Edo State Coordinator of the Muhammadu Buhari Campaign Organisation during the 2015 general elections. He is known to have urged Nigerians to disregard the insinuations that Buhari will Islamize the country if elected president in the March 2015 elections.
Dr Ehanire is a medical doctor and an outstanding surgeon. He studied at the College of Medicine, Ludwig Maximillians University, Munich, Germany. He also holds Post Graduate Diplomas from the Teaching Hospital of the University of Düsseldorf and Essen, also Germany, in the areas of Anesthesiology, General Surgery, and Orthopaedic Trauma Surgery.
Ekiti
Adeniyi Adebayo was the former governor of Ekiti State between May 29, 1999, and May 29, 2003. A lawyer by profession, Adebayo’s experience covers a wide range of disputes and legal and advisory work. His major achievements are in the areas of project finance, oil and gas, contract procurement and business facilitation.
Enugu
Geoffrey Jideofor Kwusike Onyeama belongs to the popular family of the jurist Charles Onyeama of Eke in Udi Local Government Area of Enugu State. He was the former Minister of Foreign Affairs in the last cabinet. His father Onyeama was the first Nigerian Judge. He joined the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) where he became the Deputy Director-General for the development sector in 2009.
Gombe
Dr Ali Isa Pantami was an alumnus of Abubakar Balewa University, Bauchi and Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, Scotland. He was equally trained on Digital transformation at Harvard University, USA, then Management Strategy in both, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Institute of Management Development in Loussaune, Switzerland. He was also in Cambridge University for Management Programme, among others.
Imo
Emeka Nwujiuba was a member of the House of Representative between 1999 and 2003. He represented Ehimembano/Ihitte/Uboma/Obowo Okigwe South Federal Constituency. Nwujiuba, who was popularly known as HCN, has just been re-elected to the House on the platform of Accord Party (AP). Nwajiuba was called to the Nigerian bar in 1989, pursued his LLM at University of Lagos and PhD at University of Jos. He had served as House of Representatives committee chairman on Land, Housing and works between1999-2003.
Jigawa
Suleiman Adamu was the Principal Consultant with Afri- Projects Consortium, Management Consultants to the Petroleum (Special) Trust Fund, where he was actively involved in the planning and preparation of several national infrastructural projects in the health, education, transportation, agriculture, water resources and energy sectors. •He holds an M.Sc. degree in Project Management at the University of Reading, Uk, 2004.
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