President Goodluck has deployed some
Ministers who survived today’s cabinet
shake-up to oversee the activities of the
ministries which lost their ministers
Wednesday, the Minister of Information,
Labaran Maku, has said.
Mr. Maku said the president gave the
directive through the office of the Secretary
to the Government of the Federation, SGF,
Anyim Pius Anyim.
Mr. Maku, who briefed journalists after the
weekly meeting of the Federal Executive
Council, FEC, said that he had been deployed
to supervise the Ministry of Defence, while
the Minister of State for Education, Nyesom
Wike, was assigned to oversee the Ministry
of Education.
The Minister of State for Niger Delta
Development, Darius Ishaku, will oversee the
Ministry of Environment, while the Minister
of Solid Mineral Development, Musa Sada,
was assigned to oversee the Ministry of
Lands, Housing and Urban Development, just
as Minister of Communication Technology,
Omobola Johnson, was assigned to oversee
the Ministry of Science and Technology,
vacated by Ita Ewa Okon.
The Minister of state, Works, Bashir Yuguda,
was assigned to oversee the Ministry of
National Planning following the sack of the
longest serving cabinet member,
Shamsudeen Usman, who was first
appointed minister by late President Umaru
Yar’Adua.
Mr. Maku also announced that the Ministers
of Agriculture, Akinwumi Adesina and
Power, Chinedu Nebo were directed to take
charge of their ministries alone pending
appointment of new ministers of state.
The information minister quoted President
Jonathan as thanking the removed
Ministers for their service to their
fatherland, and saying he would continue to
engage them in “the implementation of the
Transformation Agenda”.
Justifying the sack of the cabinet members,
the president, according to Mr. Maku,
explained that it was necessary that
”government is retooled from time to time
to bring new lease of life to an
administration”.
The President had earlier announced the
sack of nine ministers from his cabinet
during the weekly FEC meeting.
The nine Ministers sacked were Ministers of
Foreign Affairs, Olugbenga Ashiru;
Education, Ruqqayatu Rufai; National
Planning, Shamsudeen Usman; Land and
Urban Development, Ama Pepple;
Environment, Hadiza Mailafia; Science and
Technology, Ita Ewa; Minister of State
Defence, Olusola Obada; Minister of State,
Power, Zainab Kuchi; and Minister of State,
Agriculture, Tijjani Bukar.
Mr. Jonathan was quoted to have told the
ministers that he was very pleased with
their services.
PREMIUM TIMES learnt that the sacked
ministers were caught off guard because
throughout the duration of the meeting, the
president did not show any sign of his plan
to do away with some of them.
A presidency source, who asked not to be
named because he was not authorised to
speak on the matter, said the President
actually announced the sack after the
meeting.
“Just as the president was about to leave,
then he turned round and said ‘some of you
Ministers will no longer be with us, it is
nothing special but its just the ways of
democracy,”" our source said.
He then went ahead to read out the names
of the removed ministers and immediately
left the council chambers.
Mr. Maku had while briefing State House
correspondents said a fresh list of
ministerial nominees would be sent to the
National Assembly for approval to fill the
vacancies left by the nine Ministers.

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