BBC Pidgin of Thursday, 17 August 2023

Source: BBC

Takeaways inside Tinubu ministerial portfolios wey you fit no sabi

Some of di new ministers Some of di new ministers

No be tori again say President Bola Tinubu of Nigeria don assign portfolios to im ministers few weeks after dem get clearance from di Senate.

Secretary to di goment of di federation George Akume release di list on Wednesday night.

Di ministers-designate now dey wait for wen di president go swear dem in.

However, many pipo dn notice plenty tins inside di list – di fact say president Tinubu get di highest number of ministers since Nigeria return to democracy for 1999 among oda tins.

As Nigerians dey continue to tok about di issue dis na di some takeaways from di portfolio sharing.

Larger number of ministries

Compared to President Muhammadu Buhari wey operate 27 ministries, Presido Tinubu don expand di scope to create more ministries to make am now 33 ministries.

E create some of di new ministries out of di existing ones, while some never exist before for di political history of Nigeria.

Some of di new ministries include Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, ministry of art, culture and di creative economy, ministry of Gas Resources and so on.

Tourism, solid minerals development and steel development go also stand alone as ministries for di new arrangement unlike before wey dem dey merged wit oda ministries.

Wike make history

Wit di appointment of former Govnor of Rivers, Nyesom Wike as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) dis make am di first time southerner go head di ministry in 47 years.

In years past na mostly northerners dey head dis particular ministry.

Some of di popular ones include former Kaduna govnor Nasir El-Rufai wey carry out demolitions across di FCT during im time as minister.

And present Bauchi state govnor Bala Mohammed wey serve as FCT minister during di tenure of President Goodluck Jonathan.

Many dey wait to see how Wike go navigate di ministry wey get plenty issues as regards to Land matters and indigene/settlers wahala.

Bye bye to Ministry of Niger Delta?

E never clear weda di president go still appoint pesin as ministr of Niger Delta affairs.

Dis na becos di ministry no appear in any form or shape for di new portfolio list wey make e be like say Presido Tinubu don scrap am.

Na President Umaru Yar’adua create di ministry for 2008 to cater to di development of di Niger Delta region at a time wen serious agitation dey comot from di place regarding need for development.

But in recent years many pipo don call for di scrapping of di Ministry due to corruption and di fact say Niger Delta Development Commission NDDC dey dia to do di work.

Former Northwest govnors get Defence Ministry

North West Nigeria dey suffer serious security for long now.

And some analysts say na dis reason make President Tinubu combine both di former govnor of Jigawa Badaru Abubakar and im Zamfara counterpart Bello Matawalle as Defence Ministers.

Sani Abubakar na public affairs commentator and e tok dis particular move by President Tinubu na to allow di two ministers take charge of di destiny of dia pipo.

“Di number of pipo wey die from insecurity for northwest Nigeria in di last 10 years dey very huge so by making Badaru and Matawalle ministers of Defence na opportunity for di region to solve di wahala.”

Reaction as Kano get two ministers of state

From Kano state for northwest Nigeria tori be say some supporters of di ruling All Progressives Congress say dem no happy say di two ministers from di states get junior positions despite di role dem play to help Tinubu win general elections.

Shuaibu Sani and Mubarak Auwal na both APC members and dem tell BBC News Pidgin say di portfolio sharing show say di President no repay dia efforts for elections.

“Even if you give Mariya Mahmud minister of state but at least Tijjani Gwarzo deserve to be senior minister na, why both our ministers go be minister of states.”

“Dis show say President Tinubu no pay us well for Kano considering di work wey our leader govnor Abdullahi Ganduje and pipo do for am,” dem both yarn.

Who be minister of petroleum?

E dey clear say president Tinubu neva tok who be im minister of petroleum.

For di portfolios, dem announce Bayelsa politician Heineken Lokpobiri as Minister of state for petroleum and Ekperipe Ekpo as minister of state for Gas resources.

E show say di president create new ministry from dat of petroleum but nobody dey occupy di office of di substantive minister.

Immediate past president Muhammadu Buhari no also appoint any pesin for di position of minister of petroleum.