Ministerial Portfolios: How President Tinubu Totally Ignored Festus Keyamo, 'Sustained Unconstitutionality'

• President Bola Tinubu assigned portfolios to his ministers over one week after the Nigerian Senate screened them
• The president’s office announced the highly-anticipated portfolios in a statement obtained by Legit.ng
• Contrary to an objection by a top member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), the president sustained the ministers of state portfolio

FCT, Abuja - Following the assigning of portfolios to the ministerial nominees by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Wednesday, August 17, it has emerged that the Nigerian leader shunned Festus Keyamo’s fault-finding.

Keyamo (SAN) was the minister of state for labour and employment during the last administration of Muhammadu Buhari. On Wednesday, August 16, the 53-year-old was named the nation's new aviation minister by President Tinubu.

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Legit.ng recalls that a few days to the end of the immediate past government’s tenure — precisely on Wednesday, May 24, 2023 — Keyamo called on the federal government to consider appointing different ministers to handle individual portfolios, saying the post of ‘minister of state’ was a constitutional aberration.

His recommendation was contained in the valedictory speech he gave at the council chambers of the Presidential Villa, Daily Trust noted.

The Delta-born politician put up an argument that the “minister of state” portfolio is practically not working for many of those appointed for the post.

He stated that it would be difficult to assess the individual performances of the ministers of state since their discretion was shackled under that of the ministers, as any original ideas developed by the minister of state were subject to clearance by another colleague in the cabinet before they could sail through for consideration by the council, Vanguard reported.

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However, President Tinubu paid no attention to Keyamo’s comments and proceeded to name 13 ministers of state.

They are:

1. Minister of State, Environment and Ecological Management, Ishak Salaco
2. Minister of State, Health and Social Welfare, Tunisia Alausa
3. Minister of State, Labour and Employment, Nkiruka Onyejeocha
4. Minister of State, Gas Resources, Ekperikpe Ekpo
5. Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Heineken Lokpobiri
6. Minister of State Defence, Bello Matawalle
7. Minister of State Education, Yusuf T. Sunumu
8. Minister of State, Housing and Urban Development, Abdullah T. Gwarzo
9. Minister of State, Federal Capital Territory, Mairiga Mahmud
10. Minister of State, Water Resources and Sanitation, Bello M. Goronyo
11. Minister of State, Steel Development, U. Maigari Ahmadu
12. Minister of State, Police Affairs, Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim
13. Minister of State, Agriculture and Food Security, Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi

List of Tinubu’s ministers and their portfolios

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that President Tinubu assigned portfolios to his newly-appointed ministers.

Ajuri Ngelale, the president's spokesman, confirmed the portfolios at Aso Rock on Wednesday, August 16.

Source: Legit.ng