President Tinubu Swears In 3 New Ministers Ahead Of Second Federal Executive Council Meeting

Nigeria's President Bola Ahmed Tinubu swore in three new ministers into his cabinet Monday ahead of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting.

The three new ministers - Jamila Bio Ibrahim, Ayodele Olawande, and Balarabe Lawal - took oath at 12:15 p.m. at the Council Chamber of the State House before Tinubu presided over the FEC meeting.

The swearing-in ceremony took place almost two weeks after screening the trio. The president nominated Ibrahim as Minister of Youth, Olawande as Minister of State for Youth, and Lawal as Minister of the Environment.

Ibrahim is a medical doctor, politician development expert, and advocate of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Previously, she used to work as the National President of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Young Women Forum.

Olawande served as a community development expert and youth leader within the APC party. He also served as the special adviser on innovation to the former president, Muhammadu Buhari from 2019 to 2023. Lawal, on the other hand, served as secretary to the government under former Governor Nasir El-Rufai.

Following the ceremony, FEC's meeting started, marking Tinubu's second council gathering since he took over the office on May 29.

Previously, FEC meetings used to be held on Wednesdays. However, President Tinubu-led administration has changed that to Mondays. Furthermore, Minister of Information, Mohammed Idris noted that FEC meetings won't happen on a weekly basis anymore unless there is something important to be discussed.

During the meeting, the Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, spoke about the ongoing road infrastructure projects that lack proper funding.

"We also brought to the notice of FEC that a number of projects were awarded, some lasting up to 20 years, abandoned ongoing with no proper funding, and so on and so forth. And there are some new critical routes totaling 12,000 kilometers and 24 bridges," Umahi was quoted as saying by Daily Post.

He further shared that the FEC approved the continuation of these inherited projects, which began during the previous administration, alongside the new proposal and directed that the FEC constituted a committee that should "come up with strategies to source for the funds and everything patterning to the funding."

The committee includes the Chief of Staff, Minister for Finance and Coordinating Minister of Economy, Minister for Works, Minister for Planning and Budget, GCEO/GMD of NNPLC, chairman of FIRS, and SSA on Tax Reform.

"FEC was also informed on the ongoing projects and to mitigate so much inflation and variation of the projects, to have some of the projects that have been completed redesigned on concrete and going forward for new projects to be done on concrete," Umahi added.