A former Goldman Sachs banker who heads Nigeria’s largest private equity firm has been asked to join Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari’s new cabinet — one of several business leaders nominated to be politicians — according to a Reuters report in News24.
Lawmakers have started screening candidates for Buhari’s long-awaited Nigerian government. Nominees must be approved by the upper house..
Elected in March, Buhari, 72, promised to fix corruption in Nigeria, the No. 1 oil exporter in Africa. He has been criticized for slowness to name a cabinet while the economy has been slammed by falling oil prices.
Cabinet nominee Okechukwu Enyinna Enelamah is founder and CEO of African Capital Alliance, which has raised more than $750 million in managed funds since it began in 1997, Reuters reported.
Other Buhari cabinet nominees include Aisha Abubakar, a banker who headed the Abuja Enterprise Agency, a government body that helps smaller firms.
Buhari has also asked Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, head of the government-controlled Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, to join his cabinet, Reuters reported. A former Exxon-Mobil manager, Kachikwu is expected to become junior oil minister — Buhari wants to be the oil minister, Reuters reported.
Former Lagos Governor Babatunde Fashola, and former governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, are among the Buhari nominees.
Kemi Adeosun, a former investment banker and London-trained accountant may be Buhari’s pick for finance minister, Bloomberg News reported, according to IBTimes.
Humanitarian activist Kayode Fayemi, is another one of Buhari’s nominees, according to the Associated Press. Buhari initially had said he would keep the oil minister title for himself and would appoint a state minister of petroleum to oversee the day-to-day operations, but on Monday a Buhari spokesman said he the post will stay vacant, IBTimes reported.
“He can’t be president and oil minister at the same time,” Femi Adesina told Bloomberg, according to IBTimes.
Nominees addressed Nigerian lawmakers and answered questions about economic development, national security and foreign policy on the first day of vetting Tuesday, CCTV reported.
Buhari must nominate 36 candidates to fulfill the constitutional requirement for a minister from each of Nigeria’s states, according to Reuters.
An initial list of Buhari nominees, published Oct. 6 on Facebook, included the following names, IBTimes reported: Chris Ngige, Kayode Fayemi, Rotimi Amaechi, Babatunde Fashola, Abdulrahman Danbazau, Aisha Alhassan,Ogbonaya Onu, Kemi Adeosun,Abubakar Malami, Hadi Sirika, Adebayo Shittu, Suleiman Adam, Solomon Dalong, Ibe Kachikwu, Osagie Ehanire, Audu Ogbeh, Lai Mohammed, Ahmed Isa Ibeto, Amina Mohammed, and Udoma Udo-Udoma.
A second list, published today on Twitter, included the following Buhari nominees: Bukar Abba Ibrahim, Claudious Omoleye Daramola, Anthony Onwuka, Jeffery Onyema, Brig. Gen. M.M Dan Ali, James Ocholi,Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed, Okechukwu Enelama, Muhammadu Bello, Mustapha BabaShesuri, Aisha Abubakar, Heineken Lokpobiri, Adamu Adamu, Isaac Adewole, Usani Usani Uguru, and Abubakar Buhari Bawa.
