On August 7, the Senate approved 45 of President Bola Tinubu’s 48 ministerial nominees. However, it delayed the approval of three nominees due to security clearance difficulties.
Below is the full list and profile of the 45 confirmed ministerial nominees
1. Abubakar Kyari
Abubakar Kyari born 15 January 1963, was the senator representing Borno North Senatorial District of Borno State at the 9th National Assembly from 2015 until his resignation in April 2022.
From 2015 until his resignation in April 2022, he was the senator for Borno North Senatorial District of Borno State in the Ninth National Assembly. He is a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress and the former acting national chairman.
2. Abubakar Momoh
Abubakar Momoh hails from Etsako East LGA of Edo state. He is a Civil engineer by professional training.
Momoh was a two-time member of the House of Reps.
He dumped APC for PDP in 2019 and flew the party’s ticket in the Edo North senatorial election and lost. Thereafter, he returned to the APC.
3. Nyesom Wike
Nyesom Wike, the immediate past governor of Rivers State, was born December 13, 1967.
The Ikwerre-born lawyer turned politician was a two-time Executive Chairman of Obio Akpor Local Government Area from 1999 to 2007.
He obtained his Bachelor of Law from the Rivers State University of Science and Technology before proceeding to Law School in 1997.
Wike is a member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and was educated at Rivers State University of Science and Technology.
4. Joseph Utsev
Joseph Utsev is a civil engineer and former Rector of federal polytechnic, Wanune, Tarka LGA of Benue state.
He was an associate Professor at the University of Agriculture, Makurdi.
Utsev, from Buruku LGA, was a commissioner in the Samuel Ortom government. He is Tiv, the dominant ethnic group in Benue state.
5. John Owan Enoh
John Enoh served as a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in the 8th Assembly of the Senate in 2015, representing the Central Senatorial District of Cross River State.[3]
He was a People’s Democratic Party (PDP) member until May 2017, when he defected to the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC)[4] and ran for governor, losing to incumbent governor Ben Ayade.
6. Bello Muhammad Goronyo
From 2007 to 2015, Bello Muhammad Goronyo was elected to the Sokoto State House of Assembly to represent the Goronyo Constituency. In 2014, he was appointed interim organising secretary of the party in Sokoto State, and Goronyo local government campaign coordinator for the 2015 general elections. In 2015, he was appointed Secretary APC legal committee election petitions.
Barrister Bello Muhammed Goronyo was appointed as Commissioner Ministry of Solid Minerals and Natural Resources Development, Sokoto State, in appreciation of his political acumen. from 2015 to 2017, deployed as Commissioner Ministry of Energy Development, Sokoto State in 2017-2018, and then as Commissioner Ministry of Information, Sokoto State, a position he held from 2018 to 2019, before resigning voluntarily after serving meritoriously in all the Ministries he served as Commissioner.
7. Mohammed Badaru Abubakar
From 2015 to 2023, Mohammed Badaru Abubakar MON was the governor of Jigawa State in Nigeria. He chairs the Presidential Committee on Fertilizers as well as the Presidential Committee on Non-Oil Revenue. He also owns the Talamiz group of industries.
8. Yusuf Maitama Tuggar
Tuggar, born 12 March 1967 was appointed the Nigerian Ambassador to Germany by President Muhammadu Buhari.
He was a member of the Nigerian House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011 representing Gamawa; and he ran twice for Governor of Bauchi State.
Tuggar represented Gamawa from Bauchi State in the Nigerian House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011.
9. Uju Kennedy Ohanenye
Married with four children, Kennedy-Ohanenye is a businesswoman with stakes in real estate and education. Her foray into the last All Progressives Congress (APC)’s male-dominated presidential primary was, for her, a necessity.
Not intimidated by the array of male aspirants, Kennedy-Ohanenye waded in the murky waters of her party’s electoral process until she ‘smartly’ announced her withdrawal from the race at the party’s special convention, and also mobilised support for the former Lagos State governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
10. Festus Keyamo
Festus Egwarewa Keyamo SAN is a human rights activist, columnist, and lawyer. Keyamo was selected as the Director of Strategic Communications for President Buhari’s 2019 re-election campaign in April 2018.
11. Abubakar Audu
Mr Audu is the son of the first civilian governor of Kogi State, Abubakar Audu, who governed the state from 1992 to 2003. He is an Executive Director at the Stanbic IBTC Bank where he has worked for 20 years. He has both Corporate and Investment Banking as well as Asset Management experience.
12. Uba Maigari Ahmadu
Ahmadu served as Deputy Governor of Taraba State for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He was impeached shortly after the 2003 elections under contentious circumstances. Between 1999 through 2007, he was Taraba State’s deputy governor under Jolly Nyame of the PDP.
13. Zephaniah Jisalo
Jisalo is the first indigene of the Federal Capital Territory (Abuja) to be nominated by an elected president for a cabinet position. A ministerial appointment would build on a public service career that has already seen him elected twice to the House of Representatives and twice as chairman of the Abuja Municipal Area Council, which houses the three branches of the Nigerian government.
14. Tahir Mamman
Tahir Mamman ventured into politics in 2014, following his time as the Director-General of the Nigerian Law School, and contested in the APC governorship primary in Adamawa State that December. In June 2020, the APC appointed him to the party’s National Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) as interim national vice chairman for the northeast. He served on the committee until it was disbanded in 2022.
15. Lola Ade-John
Lola Ade-John is an experienced Information and Technology professional who has led the design, integration, deployment, and management of critical systems for major banking organizations. She attended the University of Ibadan and majored in computer science. She has previously worked with Access Bank, United Bank of Africa, Ecobank, and Novateur Business Technology.
16. Dr Tunji Alausa
Dr. Tunji Alausa is an American nephrologist and the founder of the Kidney Care Center.
Dr. Tunji graduated from the University of Lagos in 1993 with a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery and has subsequently become a board-certified nephrologist.
Between 1997 to 2001, he completed his Internal Medicine residency at Cook County Hospital in Chicago, where he served as Chief Medical Resident, supervising training programs for interns and residents as well as acting as an Attending Physician.
17. Dr Iziaq Salako
Dr. Salako is the Co-ordinator of the Ogun West Stakeholders Forum. He is a physician and the former Commissioner for Health of Ogun State. In April 1990, he received his Fellowship from the West African College of Physicians after completing his residency at UCH’s Department of Medicine.
18. Dr Mariya Mahmoud Bunkure
If the Senate confirms her appointment, she will be the second woman from northern Nigeria’s most populous state to be appointed as a minister since 1999.
Mrs Mahmud succeeded another lady and schoolmate, Maryam Shettima, as one of Kano State’s two nominees.
Mrs Mahmud belongs to various women’s organizations and has spoken for the importance of education for girls and women. She is also a role model for Kano State’s young women.
19. Olatunbosun Tijani
Tijani is a Nigerian-British entrepreneur who co-founded and serves as CEO of Co-Creation Hub (CcHUB), a prominent Pan-African innovation and technology hub.
Tijani is widely recognized as a pioneer and industry leader in the African technology ecosystem, and New Africa Magazine named him one of the 100 Most Influential People on the continent. In August 2016, he organized Mark Zuckerberg’s first visit to Nigeria as part of his attempts to put Africa on the global technological map.
He has also welcomed several global technology executives in Nigeria, including former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey in 2019 and, most recently, Microsoft founder and co-Chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, in June 2023.
20. Abdullahi Tijjani Muhammad Gwarzo
Abdullahi Tijjani Muhammad Gwarzo, a former Deputy Governor of Kano State and previous Gubernatorial candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), was born on September 23, 1960, in Koyar Getso, Kano State.
21. Simon Bako Lalong
At the end of May, Simon Lalong completed his second consecutive tenure as governor of Plateau State. He was the APC presidential campaign council’s director-general when Mr Tinubu was elected president. He was also the head of the Northern Governors Forum, whose members in the APC were crucial in re-electing a southern contender as the APC’s presidential candidate in 2022.
22. Adegboyega Oyetola
Adegboyega Oyetola was governor of Osun State for one term, from 2018 to 2022. In 2022, he sought for reelection as the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, but was defeated by Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
23. Bello Matawalle
Bello Matawalle was appointed governor of Zamfara by chance in 2019, however he resigned after only one term. He had run as the candidate of the opposition PDP, but INEC declared Muktar Idris of the APC the winner. However, the Supreme Court eventually ruled that the APC did not properly nominate all of its candidates in the state for the elections and ordered INEC to return Mr Matawalle and the candidates who garnered the most votes in the other polls after the APC candidates’ votes were annulled.
24. Atiku Bagudu
Atiku Bagudu served as governor of Kebbi State for two terms, from 2015 until 2023, on the APC platform. Prior to that, he won a bye-election on the platform of the PDP for the Kebbi Central Senatorial seat, which became vacant in 2008 with the appointment of Adamu Aliero as Minister of the FCT. Mr Bagudu moved to the APC in the run-up to the 2015 general election, was elected governor, and was re-elected in 2019.
25. Tanko Sununu
Tanko Sununu is a member of the Yauri/Shanga/Ngaski Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives. He has been an obstetrician and gynecologist, as well as a Minimal Access Surgeon, at the Federal Medical Centre in Birnin Kebbi since October 2012.
He directs the Laparoscopic Surgical Unit. Mr Sununu also worked as the governor of Kebbi State’s personal physician at Government House Clinic Birnin Kebbi from May 2003 to April 2005, and as a Medical Officer at General Hospital Argungu from January 2000 to March 2003.
26. Sa’idu Ahmed Alkali
Sa’idu Ahmed Alkali is a four-term senator from Gombe State who will be in office until 2023. He was initially elected to the Senate in 2010 in a byelection after the incumbent, Kawu Dukku, died, leaving the Gombe North seat vacant. Mr. Alkali won the race as the PDP’s candidate and was re-elected in 2011. He joined the APC in 2015 and was re-elected to the seat the following year and in 2019.
27. Heineken Lokpobiri
Lokpobiri served in the Senate for two terms until being named minister by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015, shortly after defecting from the PDP to the APC.
He had previously served in the Bayelsa State House of Assembly from 1999 to 2003, serving as Speaker from June 1999 to May 2001.
28. Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi
Abdullahi served two terms in the Senate between 2015 and 2023, representing the Niger North District on the platform of the APC.
In 2019, Mr Abdullahi sponsored the controversial National Commission for the Prohibition of Hate Speech bill, which critics feared was an attempt to gag the press and restrict free speech in Nigeria. The bill created lots of reactions across the country, particularly the death penalty clause, which Mr Abdullahi promised would be amended during consideration by the Senate.
29. Ibrahim Gaidam
Gaidam served as governor of Yobe State for ten years, from January 2009 to May 2019. He was elected to the Senate in 2023 to represent the Yobe East district. He is the second longest-serving senator among Mr Tinubu’s 48 ministerial nominations, following David Umahi of Ebonyi State.
30. Hannatu Musawa
Hannatu Musawa is a lawyer, politician, and author. She is the daughter of legendary politician Alhaji Musa Musawa and is from Katsina state in Northern Nigeria.
Hannatu is a certified solicitor in England and Wales, as well as a barrister and solicitor of Nigeria’s Supreme Court. She is now the deputy spokesman for the All Progressives Congress (APC).
31. Rt. Hon. Ekperikpe Ekpo
Rt. Hon. Ekperikpe Ekpo is a former member of the House of Representatives and the All Progressives Congress Senatorial contender for Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial District in June 2022.
32. Lateef Fagbemi
Lateef Fagbemi SAN is a well-known lawyer, jurist, and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) who has contributed significantly to the advancement of law and justice in Nigeria. He has been involved in numerous landmark cases and is generally known in the legal industry for his competence and professionalism.
33. Doris Anite-Uzoka
Doris Anite-Uzoka’s rise to political prominence is inevitable given her lofty achievements as a competent banker, an intelligent manager of human and material resources, and Imo state finance commissioner.
34. Prof. Ali Pate
Ali Pate CON, was born on 6th September 1968. He is a physician and a Professor of the Practice of Public Health Leadership in the Department of Global Health and Population at Harvard University.
He formerly served as the Global Director for Health, Nutrition and Population and Director of the Global Financing Facility for Women, Children and Adolescents (GFF) at the World Bank Group. Pate was also the former Minister of State for Health in Nigeria.
Pate was born in the Misau local government area of Bauchi State in Nigeria. Pate graduated from high school to enter the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) medical school in Kaduna State, Nigeria.
He graduated from ABU and moved to Gambia where he worked in rural hospitals for a few years.
35. Mohammed Idris
Mohammed Idris is a politician, publisher, and public relations expert. He is the publisher and founder of Blueprint newspaper. He is also the chairman of Kings Broadcasting Limited, which owns WE 106.5 FM in Abuja, Nigeria.
36. Adebayo Adelabu
Adebayo Adelabu, born on 28th of September 1970, is a former Deputy Governor, Operations of the Central Bank of Nigeria and 2019 Oyo State gubernatorial candidate for the All Progressives Congress.
Adelabu received a first class degree in Accounting from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.
He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), a Fellow of Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria and an Associate Member of the Institute of Directors of Nigeria and the United Kingdom.
Adelabu has also taken up professional courses in various business schools, including Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Columbia, Kelloggs, Euromoney, and the University of London.
Adebayo was appointed by former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan in February 2014 as Deputy Governor, Operations of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
37. Dele Alake
Henry Dele Alake is the Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Special Duties, Communications, and Strategy.
The Ekiti State-born politician was commissioner for Information and Strategy in Lagos State under the government of Bola Ahmed Tinubu between 1999 and 2007.
The University of Lagos Political Science graduate worked at MKO Concord Press as Editor of the National Concord from 1995 to June 1999.
Alake is a former vice President of the Nigerian Guild of Editors. He belongs to several national, regional, and international professional bodies, such as the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) and the West African Union of Journalists.
38. Uche Nnaji
Uche Nnaji was the governorship candidate of the All Progressive Congress in Enugu State.
Nnaji hails from Akpugo in Nkanu West Local Government Area of the state.
The guber candidate came to the limelight in 1999 when he won the senatorial ticket of the then Alliance for Democracy, AD. He was later to step down for Chief Jim Nwobodo, who was eventually elected senator for the senatorial district.
Uche Nnaji is a brother to Hon Nnoli Nnaji of Nkanu East and West Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives.
39. Ahmed Dangiwa
Before taking over as the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, Dangiwa, an architect, had been managing partner of AM Design Consults, an architectural and real estate development consultancy firm, since 1996.
Dangiwa had his first and second degrees in architecture from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where he also earned an MBA. He is an alumnus of the prestigious Wharton University Pennsylvania, U.S.A. and has attended numerous training courses.
40. Olawale Edun
Olawale Edun is a seasoned financial expert with extensive experience in the banking sector.
He possesses a strong background in economics, public finance, international finance, merchant banking, and corporate finance at national and international levels.
Edun served as the Honourable Commissioner for Finance in Lagos State for two unprecedented terms (1999-2007) during Tinubu’s tenure.
He completed his Bachelor’s Degree in Economics at the University of London and earned a Master’s Degree in Economics from the University of Sussex, England. Although specific details about his early life and education are not publicly available, his expertise and accomplishments speak for themselves.
Throughout his career, Wale Edun achieved remarkable success in the financial sector nationally and internationally.
41. David Umahi
Umahi was a two-term Governor of Ebonyi State between 2015 and 2023.
The former Governor participated in the APC presidential primaries where he polled 38 votes to come a distant sixth in the election won by President Bola Tinubu.
After a prolonged battle in various courts, INEC recognised Umahi as the candidate for the district, from where he was subsequently elected as a first-timer at the 10th Senate.
42. Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim
Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim was formerly the director-general of National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) from 1 December 2020 till 27 May 2021, when former President, Muhammadu Buhari announced a swap and she was redeployed as the Honourable Federal Commissioner of the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants, and Internally Displaced Persons.
At 19, she graduated from University of Abuja with a degree in sociology. At 21, she received two master’s degrees from Webster University, an MBA and MA.
Sulaiman-Ibrahim was born in Jos, Plateau, but she hails from Keffi, Nasarawa State.
43. Dr. Betta Edu
Dr. Edu, born on 27th of October 1986, hails from Ibalebo village in Abi local government Area, Cross River State.
Betta completed her secondary education at Federal Government Girls College, Calabar, she is a graduate of medicine and surgery from the University of Calabar.
She is a Harvard certified, Fellow of the Royal Society for Public Health, United Kingdom, and untill recently, the Cross River State Commissioner for Health and National Chairman of Nigeria Health Commissioners Forum.
In 2022, she emerged as the youngest female to become the National Women Leader of the All Progressives Congress.
44. Nkeiruka Onyejeocha
Nkeiruka Onyejeocha is a politician and a ranking lawmaker in Nigeria’s Federal House of Representatives. She represents Isuikwuato/Umunneochi Federal Constituency of Abia State.
45. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo
Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, born 1st of May 1982, is is a lawmaker from the Akoko North East/Akoko North West Federal Constituency of Ondo State.
In 1999, he gained admission into Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife to study Electrical and Electronics Engineering.
In 2002, while in his third year at the Obafemi Awolowo University, he proceeded to the University of North London (now London Metropolitan University) where he studied Electronics and Communication Engineering and graduated in 2005.
He obtained a master’s degree in Digital Communication and Networking from the same institution in 2006.
He holds certifications in eighteen professional qualifications in ICT including the prestigious title of being one of the first set of certified ethical hackers from Royal Britannia IT Training Academy in the United Kingdom before he turned 24 years.
