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On Wednesday, August 16, 2023, President Bola Tinubu finally assigned portfolios to his ministerial nominees 10 days after the Senate concluded their screening.
Based on the profile of the nominees, Nigerians had expected some of them to be assigned to certain ministries, where their professional experience, academic profile and expertise would count for something.
However, the appointment of ministerial nominees is largely political and the consideration for assigning portfolios to them is usually not based on their professional background or experience.
Nevertheless, there are some of the appointees whose CVs match the portfolios assigned to them.
Bosun Tijani — Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy
Bosun Tijani, the co-founder and CEO of Co-Creation Hub, the leading Pan-African innovation and technology centre in Lagos is one of the few technocrats on President Tinubu’s ministerial list.
The nominee from Ogun State is widely acknowledged as a pioneer and industry leader in the African technology ecosystem.
Despite Bosun’s past criticisms of the President, his nomination indicated that the President wanted him to supervise the ministry relevant to his expertise.
Wale Edun — Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy
Long before the President sent the list of his nominees to the Senate, Nigerians had speculated that Wale Edun would end up in the Ministry of Finance.
Shortly after his inauguration, the President appointed him as his Special Adviser on Monetary Policies. The appointment placed him in a position that promoted the sentiment that he would become the next Minister of Finance.
It would be recalled that during Tinubu’s tenure as the governor of Lagos State between 1999 and 2007, Edun served as his Commissioner for Finance.
Professor Tahir Mamman — Minister of Education
The current state of the Nigerian education system requires the expertise of someone in the system to fix the rots.
On Tinubu’s ministerial list is the current Vice-chancellor of Baze University Abuja, Tahir Mamman. He was one of the nominees Nigerians expected the President to entrust the Education ministry with.
Yusuf M. Tuggar — Minister of Foreign Affairs
Yusuf Tuggar is a politician and diplomat who has been Nigeria’s Ambassador to Germany since 2017.
With his academic degrees in International Relations, Tuggar’s CV positions him as the right nominee for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Ali Pate — Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare
Prof. Ali Pate is a medical doctor and Professor of the Practice of Public Health Leadership in the Department of Global Health and Population at Harvard University.
Having served as a former Minister of State for Health under President Jonathan’s administration, it was clear to many Nigerians that he would be deployed to the Ministry of Health as a senior minister.
Lateef Fagbemi — Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice
It would have been very wrong to assign any portfolio other than the Ministry of Justice to Lateef Fabgemi, a prominent jurist.
Fagbemi was tipped to become Nigeria’s next Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation not only because of his years of experience but also because of his successful career in law.
Joseph Utsev — Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation
Professor Joseph Utsev is a renowned civil and water engineer with a BSc degree in Engineering, and both Master’s and PhD degrees in Water Resources and Environmental Engineering.
His experience and academic profile place him in a position to become the Minister of Water Resources and that's exactly what he got.