President Bola Tinubu has directed all ministers who were recently redeployed or removed from office to complete their handover process by October 30, 2024.
The President issued this order following a reshuffle of the Federal Executive Council, which resulted in the reassignment of 10 ministers, the termination of five others, and the appointment of seven new ones.
In ministries where a successor has not yet been appointed, outgoing ministers are required to hand over to the Permanent Secretaries to ensure a smooth transition.
This is intended to maintain continuity in government operations while new ministers are being appointed or vetted by the National Assembly.
The directive was made public in a statement by George Akume, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
Akume explained that ministries affected by the recent changes include the Ministry of Tourism, which has now been merged with the Ministry of Arts, Culture, and Creative Economy.
The Ministry of Sports Development, which has been dissolved, will also see its duties reorganized as part of the broader government restructuring.
It partly read, “Necessary directives have been issued on the implementation of the approval of Mr President, accordingly. All handing over and taking over processes should be completed on or before Wednesday 30th October, 2024.
“In the case of Ministries where there are no ministers to take over, the out-going ministers should hand over to the Permanent Secretaries. The processes for the seamless merger of the Ministry of Tourism with the Ministry of Arts Culture and Creative Economy as well as the winding down of the defunct Ministry of Sports Development are being coordinated jointly by the Offices of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and the Head of Civil Service of the Federation.
”Similarly, the renaming and the expansion of the mandate of the defunct Ministry of Niger Delta Development is to take immediate effect.
”The releasing supervising authorities as well as commissions under the new ministry have been duly notified of this development.
”Respective Permanent Secretaries are directed to ensure seamless implementation and also forward one copy of each of the handover notes to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation for the records.”
