President Bola Tinubu has approved that ministers of state be given full powers to supervise the agencies under them.
Until now, files pertaining to
departments and agencies under their supervision were sent by their permanent
secretaries to the senior ministers.
With the new dispensation,
ministers of state can now grant all necessary administrative approvals on the
governance process of these agencies and departments.
According to a source in the
office of the head of service of the federation, “the president was not pleased
with the prevailing governing framework in which ministers of states were just
ministers in name”.
This, Tinubu reportedly said,
led to the “underutilisation of the expertise and capabilities” of most
ministers of state.
“The president believes
ministers of state should have the right to make decisions and direct action
within their areas of responsibility,” the official added.
The source said the idea —
first mooted by Hadiza Bala Usman, special adviser to the president on policy
coordination and head, central delivery coordination unit — got an instant
buy-in from the president.
With the new directive, the
administration hopes “to unleash” the potential of all the ministers, the
source added.
Tinubu’s cabinet is made up of
48 ministers, but 16 of them are junior.
Ministries with ministers of
state are: agriculture and food security, defence,education, FCT, foreign
affairs, health, petroleum (oil), petroleum (gas), humanitarian and poverty
reduction, and women affairs.
Others are: works, regional
development, labour and employment, finance, trade and investment, and housing
and urban development.
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