About 31 women are to be part of President Muhammadu Buhari’s team in his second term in office. These women who come from different backgrounds have been carefully selected to head various ministries and agencies in a bid to encourage Nigerian women.
The release of the list by the presidency following the recently concluded presidential polls, has further raised the hope of Nigerian women who had been skeptical of Buhari’s operation in his first term.
Perhaps, the President is also joining the rest of the world to act on the theme of the 2019 International Women’s Day, #BALANCE FOR BETTER which is highlighting the all-important quest for a gender-balanced world.
Among the high profile female appointees are Zainab Ahmed, Honourable Minister of Finance, Aisha Abubakar, Honourable Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Winifred Oyo-Ita, Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Marilyn Amobi, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading Plc, NBET, and Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, Senior Special Assistant, SSA to the President on Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs.
Others include Sharon Ikeazor, Executive Secretary, Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate, PTAD, Toyin Adeniji, Executive Director, Micro Enterprises, Bank of Industry (oversees the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme, GEEP), Aishah Ahmad, Deputy Governor, Financial System Stability, Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Mojisola Adeyeye, Director-General, National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, Stella Okotete, Executive Director, Business Development, NEXIM Bank.
Photographer: Sunday Aghaeze/AFP via Getty Images
Also included are Patience Oniha, Director-General, Debt Management Office, DMO, Damilola Ogunbiyi, Managing Director, Rural Electrification Agency, REA, Yewande Sadiku, Executive Secretary, Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission, NIPC, Mariam Uwais, Special Adviser to the President on Social Investment, Fatima Waziri-Azi, Rule of Law Advisor, Office of the Vice-President, Julie Okah-Donli, Director-General, National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, NAPTIP, Hadiza Bala-Usman, Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, Amina Ado, Senior Special Assistant, SSA to the President on Oil and Gas, Edirin Akemu, Coordinator, Nigerian Industrial Policy and Competitiveness Advisory Council.
The Executive Director, Lagos International Trade Fair Complex Management Board, Lucy Omosefe-Ajayi, also made the list, while Folashade Joseph, Managing Director, Nigeria Agriculture Insurance Corporation, NAIC, Cecilia Gaya, Director-General, Administrative Staff College of Nigeria, ASCON, Rahimatu Aminu-Aliyu, Executive Director, Loans and Mortgage Services, Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, FMBN, Kemi Nelson, Executive Director, Operations, Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund, NSITF were included.
According to the report, these women have contributed immensely to the success of the administration.
“Without their vision, drive and hard work, the story would have been very different; a much less successful and inspiring narrative,” a statement from the presidency last Friday reads.