President Bola Tinubu may be carrying out silent restructuring in governance for his administration. After the submission of the ministerial list of 28 nominees on Thursday, the Chief of Staff to the President, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, had disclosed that President Tinubu may be separating ministerial portfolios or restructure the ministries [to accommodate more appointees; which may in the process eliminate the old tradition of appointing junior minister, known as Minister of State for…]
It will be recalled that former Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo SAN, had at the valedictory session of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) in the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari made a strong case against the appointment of junior ministers or Minister of State for… whom he said were subordinated to substantive ministers of equal status.
Keyamo had argued for separation of portfolios in the ministries into different departments and substantive ministers be appointed into them.
President Tinubu may be aligning with the Keyamo thesis on ministerial appointment and could be expanding appointment opportunities with a second batch of ministerial nominees to be sent to the senate.
Meanwhile, Gbajabiamila was cited to have stated: “Mr President intends to separate portfolios or restructure the ministries in such a way you might be hearing of new ministries that were not standalone ministries before. So,the process continues.”
The Chief of Staff to the President had further disclosed that the second batch of ministerial list may contain about 13 more nominees which would be transmitted to the senate for screening and confirmation.
Meanwhile, it was not certain if President Tinubu was working under pressure in transmitting inconclusive list of ministerial nominees.
The Chief of Staff was cited to have, however, explained: “As you know, he had 60 days from the time of inauguration, as stipulated in the Constitution. He has fulfilled that requirement of the constitution by submitting 28 names today.
“As his letter stated, and was read on the floor of the Senate, the remaining names, not sure how many, probably about 12, maybe 13, will be forwarded to the Senate in the coming days.”