President Muhammadu Buhari has forwarded names of seven ministerial nominees to the Nigerian Senate for screening and confirmation as ministers.
Recall that in the build up to the presidential primary of the All Progressives Congress, which held June 6th through 8th, some of Buhari’s ministers resigned their appointment to pick the APC presidential nomination and expression of interest form.
In the letter read by the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, on Tuesday, on the floor of the Red Chambers, Buhari said the nominees would replace the former ministers that resigned from his cabinet.
Here’s what to know about the ministerial nominees:
Henry Ikechukwu Ikoh – Abia State
Henry Ikoh is a politician, who hails from Abia State. An active member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Abia State Chapter, Ikoh was adopted as consensus candidate for the post of National Vice Chairman, South East for the APC Convention, which was held earlier in March this year.
His adoption was signed by fourteen eminent members of the party, including Uchechukwu Sampson Ogah, minister of State, Mines and Steel; Senator Chris Adighije; Senator Nkechi Nwaogu; Emeka Wogu, former minister of Labour and Productivity, and Stanley Ohajuruka.
Ikoh is a former Governorship Candidate and former Commissioner for Industry, Science and Technology in Abia State. He was a former member of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) in the state, before he resigned his membership from the party.
Umar Ibrahim El-Yakub – Kano State
El-Yakub is an All Progressives Congress APC chieftain from Kano State and member of the House of Representatives in 1998 and from 2003 to 2007 representing Kano Municipal Federal Constituency.
Umar Ibrahim el-Yakub was appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 as a Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (House of Representatives).
Ademola Adewole Adegoroye – Ondo State
Adegoroye is an indigene of Ondo State. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and International Business from London Metropolitan University in 2012.
Until his appointment, he was a Senior Special Assistant to the Executive Governor, Ondo state, Rotimi Aderedolu.
Umana Okon Umana – Akwa Ibom State
Umana was born August 20, 1959 in Calabar, Cross River State. He is a renowned economist and politician.
He has held the positions of the State Director of Budget; Permanent Secretary Budget (October 2000 – August 2003) and Hon. Commissioner for Finance in Akwa Ibom (Aug 2003 – May 2007). He was the immediate past Secretary to Akwa Ibom State Government (June 2007 – July 2013).
He has a degree in Economics in University of Calabar (1980) and an MBA (Finance) 1987. He has attended specialized management courses and these include the Senior Executive Program (2002) of the Columbia University Graduate School of Business as well as the Senior Executive Program (2009) of the London Business School.
Goodluck Nnana Opiah – Imo State
Goodluck Nanah Opiah was born on 12 February 1964. He is also known as Ugwumba Ikeoha. He is a politician, ex-Speaker of the Imo State House of Assembly and former member representing Ohaji/Egbema, Oguta, Oru West in the Federal House of Representative.
He represented Ohaji/Egbema constituency in the Imo House of Assembly from 2003 to 2011. He is currently the Special Adviser/Coordinator to the Imo state Governor on Oil and Gas matters. He is a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Opiah is from Abacheke Egbema of the Ohaji/Egbema Local Government Area of Imo State in Nigeria. He started his primary school at Abacheke Primary School Egbema. In 1977, he was admitted into Egbema Secondary School, where he obtained the West African School Certificate in 1982 and later proceeded to the Rivers State University of Science and Technology (RSUST) in Port Harcourt, wherein he received a Bachelor of Science (Hons.) degree in Business Administration in 1987.
He also holds an Msc in Corporate Governance from the Leeds Metropolitan University, United Kingdom.
Opiah worked in the private sector between 1989 and 2003 in multi-national companies such UTC Plc and Bewac Plc Port Harcourt, Rivers State where he retired as the general manager/CEO in 2003 before joining active politics.
Egwumakama Joseph Nkama – Ebonyi State
Nkama is Barrister of law. Until his appointment, Nkama served as a Commissioner of Investment and Abuja Liaison in Ebonyi State.
As a commissioner under Governor Dave Umahi, Nkama was vocal about positioning Ebonyi State as investors’ destination choice in Nigeria. He was also bent on infrastructural revolution and enabling the business environment.
Some of the infrastructural projects, which claims to have opened Ebonyi State for business to include the ultra-modern fertilizer blending plant in the South East and South South zones, the construction of flyovers, rehabilitation of urban roads, construction of rural roads, ring road, water reticulation in the urban areas, three world standard 700-metre twin Trans-Sahara bridge linking Enugu and Ebonyi States with Cameroon; the Senator OffiaNwali flyover; the 14.5km Abakaliki-Afikpo road.
He also facilitated remodeling of Abakaliki Towns, completed concrete-based reconstruction of over seventy 70 roads/streets.
Odum Odih – Rivers State
Born on July 24, 1972, Odum Udih hails from Abua/Odual Local Government in Rivers State. In 1986, he received his first school diploma. Fourteen years later, he passed the National Examination Council (NECO) exams in 2000.
Odih is a politician from Abolga and two time Chairman, Abua/Odual Local Government Area, Rivers state.
He was the leader of the ruling APC in Abua Odual and core loyalist of Rotimi Amaechi.
During his time in office, Odih was recognized to be a productive local government chairman.
Odih was regarded as “the empowerment machine,” a “large farmer,” and “philanthropist,” among other things, by his coworkers.
Vanguard