By Felix Onuah
ABUJA (Reuters) -Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has reshuffled his 45-member cabinet, naming seven new ministers, sacking five and reassigning 10 others to new portfolios, a spokesperson said on Wednesday.
The ministers of finance, defence, national planning and two junior energy ministers all retained their positions.
The reshuffle includes renaming the Ministry of Niger Delta Development to the Ministry of Regional Development, the winding up of the Ministry of Sports, and the merger of the ministries of tourism and arts and culture.
Tinubu’s lightning reform push after taking office last year had sparked hope that his administration would be an antidote to mounting economic troubles facing Africa’s top energy producer.
But 16 months on, the key planks of his economic overhaul – devaluing the naira and slashing petrol and electricity subsidies – have sent inflation soaring to 32.70%, triggering a cost-of-living crisis.
Presidential spokesperson Bayo Onanuga said in the reshuffle, Tinubu appointed new ministers for humanitarian and poverty reduction, trade and investment, labour, livestock development and junior ministers for foreign affairs, education and housing.
The ministers for education, tourism, women affairs, youth development and the junior housing minister were sacked, Onanuga said.
Tinubu’s cabinet remains bigger than that of his predecessor Muhammadu Buhari, who had 43 ministers in his second term in office, despite calls by critics to streamline government bureaucracy and trim costs. Under the law, the president must include a member from each of the country’s 36 states.
Tinubu has yet to appoint his main petroleum minister, though he has two junior ministers in place.
(Reporting by Felix Onuah; Writing by Elisha Bala-Gbogbo; Editing by Bill Berkrot and Hugh Lawson)
