President Tinubu Gives Appointment to Ayo Fayose, 25 Others

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved the appointment of 26 persons into the boards and management of 10 federal government agencies and commissions, with former Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose, emerging as the new Chairman of the Rural Electrification Agency (REA).

The appointments were announced on Monday in a statement issued by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.

All the appointments take immediate effect.

According to the statement, Fayose will head the board of the Rural Electrification Agency alongside Alhaji Ahmadu Abubakar and Engineer Ilyasu Ibrahim Makinta, who were appointed as members and non-executive directors. The board will also include the agency’s incumbent Director-General, Abba Abubakar Aliyu, and three executive directors who had earlier been appointed.

President Tinubu also appointed retired Major General Junaid Bindawa as Chairman of the National Salary and Wages Commission and named eight other members to serve on the commission.

Former member of the House of Representatives from Lagos State, Olajumoke Okoya-Thomas, was appointed Secretary of the commission, while Dr. Ogbole Ene Lilian, Oladele Olatubosun and Yakubu Umar Barde will serve as commissioners representing Benue, Oyo and Kaduna states respectively.

Other members appointed into the commission are Dr. Mai Adamu Yau from Borno State, Ginika Florence Tor from Enugu State, Engineer Lawrence Okoh from Edo State and Bello Morenike Iyabode from Kogi State.

The President also redeployed Tosin Johnson Adeyanju, who had earlier been appointed Executive Secretary of the National Lottery Trust Fund, to serve as Secretary of the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission.

In another set of appointments, Dr. Abuh Mohammed was named Director-General of the National Population Commission, while Dr. Akinola Odeyemi was appointed Managing Director of the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET).

President Tinubu also appointed Dr. Anthony Inalegwu Godwin as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission.

Engineer Julius Oloro, a former local government chairman, was named the new Chief Executive Officer of the National Centre for Agricultural Mechanisation (NCAM) in Kwara State. He replaces Dr. A.R. Kamal, who died in January.

The President also constituted the board of the Fiscal Responsibility Commission with Dr. Abdullahi Maikano Saidu as Chairman.

Other members of the board are Mohammed Asmau, Mohammed Aliyu Makama, Dr. Suleiman Gidado, Louis O. Ndukwe, Amaechi Ugwele and Olaniyi Idowu Onikola.

Shuni Muhammad Dahiru was appointed Executive Secretary of the National Commission for Mass Literacy, Adult and Non-Formal Education, replacing Professor Shu’aibu Shehu Aliyu, who was reassigned to the Petroleum Trust Development Fund in April.

President Tinubu also approved the appointment of Gisaor Vincent Iorja as Executive Director, Finance, of the Federal Housing Authority. He replaces Mathias Byuan, who resigned from the position to contest the Benue State governorship election. Iorja is an economist, legal scholar and academic who currently serves as Secretary of the Benue State Independent Electoral Commission.

Human rights lawyer Inibehe Effiong had earlier criticised what he described as the growing trend of naming public infrastructure after the President, accusing senior government officials, including Works Minister Dave Umahi and FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, of promoting the personalisation of governance.

He made the comments while reacting to the recent decision by the Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, to rename the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway after President Tinubu.