Acting President Yemi Osinbajo has assigned portfolios to two ministers inaugurated into the federal executive council three weeks ago.
The ministers — Professor Stephen Ocheni and Suleiman Hassan — were nominated by President Buhari in March and
were confirmed by the Nigerian Senate on 3rd May.
Ocheni hails from Kogi State which has not had representation in the Federal Executive Council (FEC) as constitutionally required, since the death of James Ocholi who was a former minister of state for Labour in a road accident in 2016.
Hassan, from Gombe State, is to replace Amina Mohammed who left Nigeria’s public service to assume responsibility at the United Nations (UN) headquarters.
Acting President Osinbajo, before the commencement of the federal executive council meeting on Wednesday, deployed Professor Ocheni as Minister of State for Labour and Employment while Hassan has been assigned appointed as minister of state for Power, Works and Housing.
The deployment of the two ministers came amidst mounting speculations that the acting president may have been prevented from carrying out this function by a cabal loyal to the ailing President Muhammadu Buhari.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) recently also described the acting president as a mere figurehead in the APC-led government.
Meanwhile, the acting President who carried out the inauguration at the council chambers of the presidential villa shortly before the commencement of Wednesday’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) also swore-in 15 federal permanent secretaries out of the 21 recently appointed.
