President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Wednesday announced the appointment of seven individuals as ministers pending their screening and confirmation by the Senate.
RAYOPOST compiled the profiles of the newly appointed Ministers
(1) Dr. Nentawe Yilwatda – Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction
(PLATEAU STATE)
Yilwatda was born in Dungung, Kanke LGA of Plateau state to the family of a clergy, Late Rev and Mrs Toma Yilwatda on the 8th of August, 1968. He went to LGED Primary School, Dungung where he obtained his First School Leaving Certificate in 1981. He was at the prestigious Boys Secondary School Gindiri and got his GCE (O/Level) in 1986. He went to the Federal University of Agriculture Makurdi for his First Degree in Electrical/Electronic Engineering in 1992, to Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Bauchi for his Masters and of University of Nigeria, Nsukka for Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Digital Systems and Computer Engineering. He also received training at the United Nations University International Institute for Software Tech., Macau, China on Building Electronic Governance Structure in addition to numerous other training and academic research works.
Yilwatda’s first career job was in 1995 with the Department of Electrical/Electronic Engineering, Plateau State Polytechnic, Barkin ladi. He spent over 20 years lecturing in the Federal University of Agriculture Makurdi. He was appointed REC in July 2017 and posted to Benue State by the then President Buhari. He served in Benue state before he tendered his resignation letter in December 2021 and moved to his state to fully pursue his political ambition where he contested the 2023 election as the governorship candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Plateau State.
(2) Maigari Dingyadi – Minister of Labour & Employment (SOKOTO STATE)
Mohammed Maigari Dingyadi was born in 1953 in Dingyadi, Sokoto State. He had his Secondary Education at Government College, Sokoto. After his secondary education, he went to the School of Basic Studies for a 2-year course.He later gained admission to the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and graduated in 1978. He represented Bodinga Federal Constituency at the House of Representatives.
He was one time, the Secretary to the Sokoto State Government and Chairman National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) Abuja and was appointed as the Minister of Police Affairs in 2019 by former president Muhammadu Buhari. He is married with 7 children. His hobbies including reading and engaging in associations.
(3) Bianca Odinaka Odumegu-Ojukwu – Minister of State Foreign Affairs
(ANAMBRA STATE)
Bianca Odinakachukwu Odumegwu-Ojukwu (née Onoh) born 5 August 1968 is a Nigerian politician, diplomat, lawyer, businesswoman and beauty pageant titleholder. The widow of former Biafra president Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu. She is a multiple international pageant titleholder, having won Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria, Miss Africa, and Miss Intercontinental. Formerly a presidential advisor,she was the country’s ambassador to Ghana and became Nigeria’s Ambassador to Spain in 2012.
(4) Dr Jumoke Oduwole- Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment
(LAGOS STATE)
Meet Dr Jumoke Oduwole From Lagos State, The Newly Appointed Minister Of Trade And Investment.
Jumoke Oduwole was born in Lagos State, Nigeria, where she completed her primary and secondary education. She graduated from the University of Lagos with a second-class upper LL.B. degree in law in 1998 and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1999.
She obtained a LL.M. degree with a slant in commercial law from the Cambridge University, England in 2000 where she was as a DFID-Cambridge Commonwealth Trust scholar.
In 2007, Oduwole received a master’s degree in international legal studies from Stanford University, USA and was a graduate fellow at the Stanford Center on International Conflict and Negotiation (SCICN) from 2007 to 2008.
Jumoke Oduwole was Special Adviser to the President Buhari on Ease of Doing Business in the Office of the Vice President. Until her appointment to this role in August 2019, Oduwole was Senior Special Assistant to the President on Industry, Trade & Investment (OVP) from November 2015 to May 2019 in which she worked to form the Nigerian Office for Trade Negotiations (NOTN). She also served on the Technical Working Group of the Presidential Committee for the Impact and Readiness Assessment of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) (Sub-Committee on Ease of Doing Business) and is currently represented on Nigeria’s AfCFTA Implementation National Action Committee (NAC).
Oduwole was the executive secretary to the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, with the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment as Vice Chair, and coordinates the activities of its secretariat where policies and business reformations that would make Nigeria a progressively easier place to do business are developed and implemented.
Oduwole was on leave of absence from the Department of Jurisprudence and International Law, Faculty of Law, University of Lagos, Nigeria, where she is a Senior Lecturer during her appointment. She joined the faculty in 2004 and was a two-term elected member of the University of Lagos Senate.
She taught various subjects, including International Trade Law, International Economic Law, Law of Banking and Negotiable Instruments, Contract, and Commercial Transactions. Her current research interests include International Economic Law, Development, and Human Rights in Africa, and she is widely published.[citation needed]
In 2013, Oduwole was appointed as the 2013-2015 Prince Claus Chair holder, a Visiting Professorship of development and equity in honour of the late Prince Claus of The Netherlands by the Curatorium then chaired by H.M. Queen Maxima of the Netherlands.
In April 2015 she convened an inaugural Prince Claus Chair Roundtable in Lagos, Nigeria on the sidelines of the 3rd Biennial African International Economic Law Network hosted by Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Lagos; she also convened a second Roundtable in the Hague in the same year.
Oduwole was a member of the Executive Council of the Society of International Economic Law (SIEL) from 2016 to 2018. She was the only African nominated to the World Economic Forum Global Future Council on Trade & Investment in 2016 and served on the executive committee of the African International Economic Law Network (AfIELN) for two terms.
Oduwole was Vice President on the executive board of the Africa Association of International Law (AAIL), representing West Africa. She is a member of both the Nigerian and American Societies of International Law (NSIL and ASIL). She serves as a trustee of the Mandela Institute for Development Studies, an Africa-wide think tank on governance, economic development, and evolution of African institutions.
She was previously on the Boards of Ecobank Nigeria Plc and Positive Action for Treatment Access (PATA), an HIV/AIDS advocacy NGO in Nigeria. She was a 2013 Archbishop Desmond Tutu Fellow of the African Leadership Institute. In 2019, she was one of three women recognized by ALN Women at the 10th Anniversary Dinner of African Leadership Network (ALN) at its Annual Gathering for their impact on Africans through career accomplishments.
In January 2020 Oduwole was selected as one of 15 women leaders across the African continent with high leadership potential to form the inaugural cohort of The Amujae Initiative, the flagship undertaking of the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Presidential Center for Women and Development.
(5) Idi Mukhtar Maiha – Ministry of Livestock Development
KADUNA STATE.
Mukhtar Maiha is the Managing Director of Zaidi Farms Limited.
(6) Rt. Hon. Yusuf Abdullahi Ata – Minister of State, Housing and Urban Development
KANO STATE
He was born on the 22nd June, 1962 at Fagge Local Government of Kano State. He started his Quranic education at the age of three and later began his western education in 1968 at Fagge Primary School.
He attended the Kano Community Commercial College, which is now called Aminu Kano Commercial College for his secondary education. He obtained a degree in Economics from the Bayero University, Kano.
Ata was first elected as member, Kano State House of Assembly to represent Fagge constituency in 1999. He served for three terms after winning elections in 2011 and 2015.
Ata became Speaker, Kano State House of Assembly in 2021 when the former Speaker, Kabiru Alhassan Rurum, resigned, following attempts to impeach him.
(7) Suwaiba Said Ahmad PhD – Minister of State Education
JIGAWA STATE
She is a trained educationist, gender advocate and consultant. She served in various capacities in the university including level coordinator, examination officer, PG coordinator, Sub Dean Academics, and Head of Department, Science Education.
Her consultancy portfolio centres on governance and development. Dr Ahmad research interests focuses around political economy and institutional analysis, policy planning, development and strategy, capacity building and training.
She has participated in funded researches as a consultant, including for the British Council (won a research grant in 2015 as team lead), Education Data, Research and Evaluation in Nigeria (EDOREN), Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn (PERL) and Aafaaq Educational Foundation.
