Inside President Tinubu’s Cabinet of ‘National Competence and Inclusion’

By Debo Oyelowo

The Senate has screened nominees for ministers after suspending its annual long recess (six weeks) that would have commenced last Thursday, July 27th. The screening, as expected, did not take long, especially since a sizable number of the nominees are former federal lawmakers and political appointees. Traditionally the Senate has adopted a soft approach to former lawmakers asking them to just say a few words, bow-and-go.

Despite this tradition, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Publicity, Senator Yemi Adaramodu, APC, said last week they will be thorough, adding that: ‘’It is not going to be a situation where the screening will be anyhow. We are going to know the background of the nominees and we are not going to disappoint Nigerians. All the dry bones, physically and socially, must rise. It is not going to be a shallow screening. You must have the character, you must have the face, you must have the behavior to be among the cabin crew that is going to fly Nigeria. This time around, Nigeria is going to be better. Whoever gets to the floor of the Senate will be screened; we will not manufacture any question.”

The Senate’s decision to suspend its leave and go ahead with the screening was pleasing to many Nigerians who fear that the country will have to wait about two months more to have the cabinet in place. However, when the screening took place, it was not different from the tradition of soft questions; in fact it seems the Senate was in a hurry to get the process over with and proceed on its holiday. There were no critical questions and nominees just took their bows and left. The Inauguration as well as the naming of the remaining members of the cabinet will now take place in the next few days and weeks.

However, sources say that despite the fact that the cabinet members were not grilled, the track record of some of the names and the agenda of the president will drive their performance. As one source put it: “The issue is not whether they were asked critical questions or not or whether there was a push to see clerical errors in their CVs but the fact that President Tinubu has nominated them. The president knows the great expectations out there and he has chosen people with the character to deliver. If you take some of the nominees like Wike, Umahi and El Rufai, these are people who have shown commitment and capacity to deliver on their mandates as governors. They are high achieving technocrats in Government and will not disappoint. Or someone like Wale Edun who has multi-sectoral experience, for instance.”

PoliticsNow had reported previously that some of these names will eventually make the ministerial list and we were not wrong. After he was declared president elect, Tinubu had said that he will run a government of national competence and inclusion. His nominees so far may well evoke that aspiration. From experienced technocrats like the banker Wake Edun and the medical doctor Ali Pate, to activists like Hannatu Musawa and former governors like Nasir El Rufai, Dave Umahi and Nyesom Wike who have proven themselves as competent administrators, Tinubu has put together a mixed bag. Of the list, five are former Governors, one a serving senator, seven are women and almost all have political experience, even the technocrats such as Edun who was in Tinubu’s cabinet as Lagos State Governor from 1999 to 2007 and Prof Pate who was in President Goodluck Jonathan’s government from 2011 to 2013.

The list is indeed a mixed bag of what we may call tested technocratic politicians. The team shows President Tinubu’s determination to provide sound leadership and performance.

The immediate past Governor of Rivers State, Eze Nyesom Wike, is prominent as expected, given the role he played in Tinubu’s emergence as President, as well as Senator David Umahi, immediate past governor of Ebonyi; and Mohammed Badaru, former governor of Jigawa. The list is a surprise in many ways and some people who were expected to get nominations did not. Perhaps, they will make the next batch since the President has said this 28-man list is not exhaustive. So far, 25 states have featured on the cabinet list. The president is duty-bound to appoint a minister from each state and Abuja. Traditionally, the previous governments have appointed one from each state and an additional one from each geopolitical zone, making 43 ministers in some cases. The president may appoint even more than that.

The nominee list also has a shocker for a few persons who were expected to be on the first list and the fact that there is significant women representation, which the president promised, as against the case during President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration. It also has a good number of young people in their forties to early fifties, a fulfilment of the president’s promise to appoint young people. It is not clear what will become of those who people thought had earned the right to be appointed such as Delta State’s Festus Keyamo SAN who played a prominent role as one of Tinubu’s campaign spokesmen.

Among the women that made the first 28 nominees are Betta Edu (Cross River), Stella Okotete (Delta), Hannatu Musawa (Bauchi), Uju Ohanenye (Anambra), Doris Uzoka-Anite (Imo), Nkiru Onyejeocha (Abia), and Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim (Nasarawa). The constitutional amendment demands women representation of not less than 10 percent, while women groups have previously asked for 35 percent appointments. The president also has women among his special advisers, who typically are on the same level with Ministers of State.

The appointments would seem to have a broad input of APC stakeholders according to the current Jigawa State Governor Namadi who told the Daily Trust in an interview last week that the Governors were consulted. “Of course, governors were carried along. Yes, we were carried along. Certainly, Nigerians can expect a list that would not cause any rancour amongst us,” the governor said.

Nigerians had been anxious that Tinubu who promised to hit the ground running, a message that was echoed by his aides who said he will have in team in place in less than a month after his inauguration, was taking too long to announce a cabinet, especially in view of the major policy decisions he had made since coming into office. These decisions include the removal of fuel price subsidy and unification of the naira exchange rate, which have both disrupted the economy by pushing up energy, transport and food prices. However, the president apparently had a tough time putting his team together in view of the expectations of his supporters and the need to build more political capital.

In the end, he was duty bound to bow to the law and send in his list of nominees in line with section 42(a) of the constitution which states that “the nomination of any person to the office of a Minister for confirmation by the Senate shall be done within sixty days after the date the President has taken the oath of office”. That law, the fifth alteration of the 1999 constitution, was signed by President Muhammadu Buhari just before leaving office. Tinubu was sworn in on May 29 and his two-month window expired last week.

The names on the list were read out on the floor of the Senate on Thursday afternoon by the Senate President Godswill Akpabio after it was submitted to him by the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila. Gbajabiamila is the immediate past Speaker of the House of the Representatives.

Gbajabiamila said another set of nominees will be sent to the Senate in the coming days. Giving an insight into how the administration will govern, the president’s chief of staff hinted at the redrawing of the ministries. ‘’Mr President intends to separate portfolios or restructure the ministries in such a way you might be hearing of new ministries that were not standalone ministries before. So the process continues.’’

Speaking on why portfolios were not attached to the nominees, Gbajabiamila said: ‘’As good as that sounds, it straitjackets the president to pigeonhole one person in an office or the other. What happens then if you change your mind, do you then bring the person back for screening again, because the president is at liberty to change your mind?

‘’For instance, if I decide I want somebody as Minister of Labour, and then after sending the name, later on, I decide that this person would actually be better with another portfolio. And meanwhile, the Senate has screened that person for that particular initial portfolio. What happens then? Do you now re-screen the person? So, a lot of these things have their merits and demerits.’’ The Chief of Staff assured that President Tinubu personally sifted the list to arrive at the nominees who will drive his development agenda.

The First Nominees

Abubakar Momoh
Amb. Yusuf Maitama Tukur
Arc. Ahmed Dangiwa
Barr. Hannatu Musawa
Uche Nnaji
Betta Edu
Dr. Doris Uzoka-Anite
David Umahi
Ezenwo Nyesom Wike
Mohammed Badaru Abubakar
Nasir El-Rufai
Ekperikpe Ekpo
Nkiru Onyejeocha
Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo
Stella Okotete
Uju Kennedy Ohanenye
Bello Muhammad Goronyo
Dele Alake
Lateef Fagbemi, SAN
Mohammad Idris
Olawale Edun
Waheed Adebayo Adelabu
Imaan Sulaiman Ibrahim
Prof Ali Pate
Prof Joseph Usev
Sen. Abubakar Kyari
John Enoh
Sani Abubakar Danladi

Meet The Nominees

The Politicians

Abubakar Momoh, Edo State.

Engr. Abubakar Momoh who hails from Etsako East LGA of Edo state, is a Civil engineer.

The Edo State-born politician was a member of the Federal House of Representatives for two terms and contested the Edo North senatorial election in 2019 but lost. He is currently a member of the APC but has previously contested on the PDP platform.

Amb. Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, Bauchi State, a former Member of the House of Representatives, Amb. Yusuf Maitama Tuggar CON, is Nigeria’s ambassador to Germany.

Amb. Tuggar was born 12 March 1967 and served as a member of the Nigerian House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011 representing Gamawa.

He also ran twice for Governor of Bauchi State but lost.

Chief Uche Nnaji – Enugu State.

Chief Nnaji attended the University of Nigeria’s Nsukka Campus and launched a successful career in business. Alongside business, he started early as a politician and established himself as a grassroots politician in Enugu State.

Chief Nnaji was the APC Governorship Candidate for Enugu State in the 2023 election. An old political warhorse, Nnaji who hails from Akpugo in Nkanu West Local Government Area of the state, has a rich history of politicking having run for office for a long time. In 1999 upon the return of democracy, he contested and won the senatorial ticket of the then Alliance for Democracy, AD.

He however stepped down for former Anambra State Governor Chief Jim Nwobodo, who eventually won the election.

Hon. Ekperikpe Ekpo – APC Akwa Ibom. Hon. Ekpo is a grassroot politician, who has previously won election as Council Chairman and subsequently as Member of the House of Representatives representing Abak/Etim Ekpo/Ika Federal Constituency from 2007 to 2011. He was an APC candidate for Senate in the last general election but lost.

Hon. Olubunmi Tunji Ojo

Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, became popular in the 9th Assembly as Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on the NDDC and was a major feature in the calls to reform the development agency. Born on May 1st 1982, Tunji-Ojo hails from Akoko in Ondo State and represents Akoko North East/Akoko North West Federal Constituency.

Tunji-Ojo graduated with a first degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from London Metropolitan University. He had previously been studying at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife before travelling to the UK for studies. He also obtained a master’s degree in Digital Communication and Networking in addition to professional certifications in ICT including that of a certified ethical hacker from Royal Britannia IT Training Academy in the United Kingdom.

Bello Muhammad Goronyo, Sokoto State. Bello Muhammad-Goronyo is a former Commissioner for Information in Sokoto State during the tenure of Governor Aminu Tambuwal. When Tambuwal defected to the PDP ahead of the 2019 election, Goronyo refused to join him and remained in the APC, on which account he was sacked from the cabinet.

Goronyo who is a lawyer was the North West Director of Youth Mobilisation of APC Presidential Campaign Council in the 2023 election.

Sen.  Abubakar Kyari, Borno State.

Abubakar Kyari who hails from Borno State is the current Acting National Chairman of the ruling APC.

He is a former Senator who was the National Deputy Chairman North of the APC and stepped in as Acting Chairman when Abdullahi Adamu resigned two weeks ago.

He is the son of Late Brigadier Abba Kyari, former military administrator to North Central (1967 to 1975). Kyari was educated in Nigeria and the United States of America. He holds an MBA from Webster University, Missouri. He represented Borno North Senatorial District of Borno State in the immediate past 9th National Assembly until his election as an APC official in 2022.

Sen. John Owan Enoh, Cross River State. Sen. Enoh was born and raised in Agbokim Waterfall community of Cross River State. Enoh was elected Senator in 2015 to represent the Central Senatorial District of Cross River State. A prominent member of the opposition PDP, he however defected from the party to the APC in 2017 and flew the flag of the party in the 2029 election. He however lost to Governor Ben Ayade who eventually dumped the PDP for the APC.

Enoh is a big time farmer who owns plant and livestock farms across Cross River State, including about 150 hectares of planted palms in his native Agbokim Waterfalls, and about 100 hectares of planted palms at Etara-Ekuri, both in Etung LGA of Cross River State, where the politician hails from.

Sani Abubakar Danladi, Abubakar Sani Danladi was born on May 20, 1967 in Bachama, Karim Lamido Local Government Area of Taraba State. He attended Federal University of Technology, Yola. He started his political career as Supervisory Councillor for Health, Karim Lamido Local Government from 2003 to 2004 and was elected Local Government Chairman in 2006.

Danladi was the running mate of the former governor of Taraba State Danbaba Suntai in the 2011 general elections, which they won on the platform of the peoples Democratic Party. He became Deputy Governor and later Acting Governor of Taraba State. He defected to the All Progressives Congress and contested the governorship in 2019, which he lost to Darius Ishaku of the PDP.

Waheed Adebayo Adelabu, Oyo State. 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.

Adelabu started his career with PriceWaterhouse (now PricewaterhouseCoopers), an international firm of chartered accountants and management consultants. He was on secondment to the Central Bank of Nigeria for one year in 1999 when he led the finance team on the CBN re-engineering and corporate renewal project tagged “Project EAGLES”. He left the firm in 2000 as an audit manager and senior consultant to join First Atlantic Bank as the Financial Controller and Group Head of Risk Management and Controls. He was later promoted to Chief Inspector of the Bank in 2002 and Group Head of National Public Sector Business in 2003. He was appointed Executive Director/Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of First Bank of Nigeria Plc. (FBN) at the age of 39 and thereafter as Deputy Governor, Operations of the Central Bank of Nigeria. In 2019 he was the Oyo State gubernatorial candidate for the All Progressives Congress and the governorship candidate of the Accord Party in 2023.

Alhaji Ahmad Dangiwa Katsina State. Dangiwa had his first and second degrees in architecture from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where he also earned an MBA. He is also an alumnus of the prestigious Wharton University Pennsylvania, U.S.A. and has attended numerous training courses, according to his biography.

He ran a successful architectural and real estate development consultancy firm until his appointment by President Muhammadu Buhari as Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria.

He resigned his position to contest the APC Governorship ticket for Katsina State which he lost to the incumbent governor. He was appointed Katsina State APC campaign coordinator. Dangiwa was appointed Secretary to the State Government by Governor Radda after his Inauguration on May 29.

Technocrats in Government

Mr Dele Alake, Ekiti State. Currently Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Special Duties, Communications, and Strategy, Alake is a journalist and newspaper editor who has been called upon to serve in communication roles since 1999.

He was commissioner for Information and Strategy in Lagos State Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu between 1999 and 2007.

Alake holds a BSc Political Science from the University of Lagos. He is a former Vice President of the Nigerian Guild of Editors and belongs to several national, regional, and international professional bodies. After his stint as Commissioner in 2097, he was engaged to drive the broadcast stations owned by President Tinubu.

Mr Lateef Fagbemi, Kwara State, SAN. Lateef Fagbemi was born on June 22, 1956 in Ijagbo, Kwara State, Nigeria. A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, he attended the University of Lagos, where he obtained his Bachelor of Law degree and Master of Laws.

Fagbemi has been very prominent in Election petition litigation in Nigeria and has won many significant cases. He was the lead counsel in the successful petition of former Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi which laid claim to the governorship ticket of the PDP.

He is currently the APC lead counsel in the petition from the 2023 presidential election won by Tinubu. He was called to the bar in 1984.

Alhaji Mohammad Idris, Niger State. A media entrepreneur who is the Publisher of Blueprint newspaper, Idris has significant engagements with Nigeria’s public sector having served on several development committees. Mohammed Idris has a Masters degree in English Language from Bayero University Kano.

Among others, he has served as Communications Consultant on the Promotion of Nomadic Education in Northern Nigeria by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development from 2007 to 2009 and as Communications Consultant to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from 2017 to 2021.

He was Chairman of the Kaduna State chapter of Nigerian Institute of Public Relations.

Mr Olawale Edun, Ogun State. He is one of three Special Advisers to the president being elevated to the ministerial list.

Olawale Edun who holds degrees in Economics has his core expertise in banking, finance and investment advisory. Edun holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from the University of London and a Master’s Degree in Economics from the University of Sussex, England.

He has worked in top banking institutions around the world culminating in his setting up his own firm Denham. Edun served as the Honourable Commissioner for Finance in Lagos State for two unprecedented terms (1999-2007) during Tinubu’s tenure.

He was appointed to the presidential transition committee after Tinubu was declared president elect, and subsequently as Special Adviser Monetary Policy after the President was inaugurated. He is considered one of the policy wonks of the Tinubu administration. As the President himself admitted, Edun was for a gradual removal of the petrol subsidy.

Edun is involved in charitable causes, serving as the Chairman of the Livewell Initiative, a health sector Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), and a Trustee of Sisters Unite for Children, an NGO that helps children in need. He is widely expected to head the Finance ministry.

Prof. Ali Pate, Bauchi State. Dr Ali Pate is a medical and health expert who is a Professor of the Practice of Public Health Leadership in the Department of Global Health and Population at Harvard University.

He was born on September 6, 1968, in the Misau local government area of Bauchi State in Nigeria. He attended Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) medical school in and moved to Gambia where he worked in rural hospitals for a few years.

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 between 2011 and 2013.

Prof. Joseph Utsev. Professor Joseph Terlumun Utsev is a Tiv from Buruku LGA of Benue State. He is a former Rector of Federal Polytechnic, Wanune, Tarka LGA of Benue State. He is a close ally of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and has served previously as a commissioner in Benue State under the administration of Governor Samuel Ortom.

The President’s Ladies

Hannatu Musawa – Special Adviser elevated to Minister, Katsina State.

Hannatu Musa Musawa is a lawyer, poet, intellectual and activist, who served as the deputy spokesperson of the APC Presidential Campaign Council for the Tinubu/Shettima presidential campaign. She is an indigene of Katsina State.

Hannatu is considered a triple asset to the campaign and the Tinubu team – brains, beauty and activism. She attended the University of Buckingham, United Kingdom from where she graduated with a degree in law. Hannatu also holds a Master’s Degree in the Legal Aspects of Marine Affairs and another from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland where she obtained a Postgraduate Masters Degree in Oil and Gas Law.

A Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, ‘who has had a varied and rich working experience including working as a Litigation lawyer and legal advisor to private Companies and  Federal Government of Nigeria’, she is a human and women’s rights activist who has ‘dedicated a department in her law firm just for Pro Bono legal assistance and representation to women who are victims of violence and abuse of every kind including victims of rape,’ according to her biography.

A politician since 2003, she contested for the position of a member of the Federal House of Representatives in Katsina State of Nigeria in 2011.

Dr Betta Edu – Cross River.

Betta C. Edu, born October 27, 1986, medical doctor and former commissioner for health in Cross River State, was both the face of youth and women.

She traversed the length and breadth of Nigeria for the Tinubu campaign and in the process showed that she was all beauty and brains. Elected National Women Leader of the ruling APC in 2022, in March 2022, she is seen as a very potential player in the next administration.

She graduated from the University of and is a Physician and Public Health Specialist, member of the Presidential Health Reform Committee and also of the All progressives congress (APC) Reconciliation Committee.

In May 2016, she was appointed pioneer DG of Cross River State Primary Health Care Agency until 2019, when she was appointed Cross River State Commissioner for Health.

Dr Doris Uzoka-Anite – Imo State. Dr. (Mrs) Doris Uzoka-Anite hails from Oguta, Imo State. A medical doctor turned banker, Uzoka-Anite is Commissioner for Finance and Coordinating Economy, Imo State.

A trained medical doctor, she also holds a CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) charter, specialising in Financial Risk Management and Portfolio Management. She joined the banking industry in 2002, becoming a General Manager of Zenith Bank Plc and later becoming the youngest commissioner under Imo state Governor, Hope Uzodinma.

Hon Nkiru Onyejeocha

Nkeiruka Chidubem Onyejocha was born on 23rd of November 1969. She has been in Politics for a good number of years having served as an Executive Transition Chairman of Umunneochi Local Government Area of Abia State in 2002 under the PDP administration of then Governor (now Senator) Orji Kalu before her appointment as Commissioner for Resource Management and Manpower Development in Abia State in 2003.

She thereafter ran for public office and was elected to the Federal House of Representatives, representing Isuikwuato/Umunneochi Federal Constituency of Abia State.

Stella Okotete, Delta State.

Stella Okotete is the immediate past National Women Leader of the APC. She was a member of the APC presidential campaign council as well as of the All Progressives Congress caretaker extraordinary convention planning committee.

Okotete who is an executive director of NEXIM, is considered a very influential voice for the election of Tinubu and a potential appointee of the president elect. She is a graduate of Benson Idahosa University, Benin City, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Studies and Diplomacy. She also holds a Diploma in Law from the Rivers State College of Arts and Sciences, a Master’s degree in Public Administration and a Master’s Degree in Peace and Conflict Resolution.

Uju Kennedy Ohaneye, Anambra.

Uju Kennedy Ohanenye was a presidential aspirant on the platform of the APC and stepped down for Tinubu on the day of the primary. She thereafter became Vic Chairman of the APC Presidential campaign council for the Southeast.

Uju is a lawyer, entrepreneur and filmmaker. 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.

Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, Nasarawa State. Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim who hails from Keffi, Nasarawa State, was born in Jos, Plateau.

She attended the University of Abuja from where she graduated with a degree in sociology at the age of 19. At 21, she received two master’s degrees from Webster University, an MBA and an MA.

She was a political appointee in the immediate past administration of President Muhammadu Buhari where she served first as the director-general of National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) from and then as a Federal Commissioner of the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants, and Internally Displaced Persons.

The Former Governors

David Umahi – Ebonyi State. A former Deputy Governor and then immediate past Governor of Ebonyi State, David Umahi is also a current Senator having been elected to the 10th National Assembly in the last general election.

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. He had previously dumped the PDP for the APC.

Umahi was adjudged one of the most effective governors during his time with the amount of work he undertook to transform the physical infrastructure of Ebonyi State, especially its capital city Abakaliki.

Ezenwo Nyesom Wike – Rivers State. Nyesom Wike, who is the immediate past governor of Rivers State, was born December 13, 1967 and has established himself as one of the hardworking and result oriented politicians in government.

His track record as Governor is one that is The talk of the country having built roads and bridges and other infrastructure across the state, including 12 standard bridges in the Port Harcourt metropolis alone such that even though he is a member of the opposition PDP, President Muhammadu Buhari presented him with the “Distinguished Award in Infrastructure Delivery” at the Nigeria Excellence Awards in Public Service (NEAPS) ceremony in Abuja in October last year.

The Ikwerre-born lawyer-turned politician was a two-time Executive Chairman of Obio Akpor Local Government Area from 1999 to 2007. Thereafter, he served as Chief of Staff to the Rivers State Governor before becoming a minister in the Goodluck Jonathan administration in 2011. He was minister of state for Education and subsequently supervising minister.

Wike read political science at the University of Port Harcourt before obtaining a Bachelor of Law from the Rivers State University of Science and Technology. He graduated from the Nigerian Law School in 1997.

Abubakar Badaru – Jigawa State. Mohammed Abubakar Badaru was born on 19 September 1962 and is a graduate of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria where he obtained a B.Sc Accounting degree. He is also an alumnus of the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) in Kuru.

A successful businessman before he joined politics, he was the governor of Jigawa State from 2015 to 2023 and served as Chairman, Presidential Committee on Fertilizer and also the Chairman, Presidential Committee on Non oil Revenue.

Nasir El Rufai – Kaduna State. Nasir El-Rufai, a first-class graduate of Quantity Surveying from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and a successful technocrat before joining politics, is a well-known name for his progressive ideas and his fantastic work in cleaning up the mess and restoring the Abuja City masterplan when he served as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory from 2003 to 2007. He is the immediate past Governor of Kaduna State and a founding member of the ruling APC.

He has solid experience in managing privatisation and structuring public sector enterprises having served as the director of the Bureau of Public Enterprises during the early years of the Olusegun Obasanjo administration before he was appointed Minister in 2003.