President Removes Heads of PENCOM, BPE, PPPRA, Other Agencies

•  Appoints replacements

Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja

President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday approved the removal of the heads of 23 federal government agencies and announced their replacements.

Key agencies of government affected by the shake-up included the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), Consumer Protection Council (CPC), National Pension Commission (Pencom), Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) and Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), among others.

A statement issued in Abuja by the Director, Press and Public Affairs in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Bolaji Adebiyi, said all the new appointments would take immediate effect.
Notably, the CPC which now has an Executive Secretary rather than a Director General, will be headed by Mr. Babatunde Irukera.

Irukera was a governorship aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2015 gubernatorial election in Kogi State.

The statement equally named Ms. Julie Okah-Donli as Director-General, National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP); Mary Ikpere-Eta, Director-General, National Centre for Women Development (NCWD); and Bayo Somefun as Managing Director, NSITF.

Tijani Suleiman, Jasper Azuatalam and Kemi Nelson were also named Executive Directors of the NSITF.
Ahmed Dangiwa was appointed Managing Director of the Federal Mortgage Bank (FMB) while Melvin Eboh, Hajiya Rahimatu Aliyu and Umaru Abdullahi Dankane were named Executive Directors of FMB.

Alex Okoh was named the new Director General of BPE; Abdulkadir Saidu Umar as Executive Secretary of PPPRA; Ibrahim Musa Goni as Conservator-General/Chief Executive Officer of the National Park Service (NPS), and Nnenna A. Akajemeli as National Coordinator/CEO of Service Compact (SERVICOM).

Other appointees include National Directorate of Employment (NDE), Dr. Nasiru Mohammed Ladan as Director General; Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies (MINILS), Saliu Dada Alabi as Director General; National Research Institute for Chemical Technology, Prof. Jef. T. Barminas as Director General, as well as the Nigeria Institute for Social and Economic Research (NISER), which has Dr. Haruna Yerima, as Director General.

The Nigeria Insurance Commission (NAICOM) has Sunday Thomas as Deputy Commissioner while Federal Character Commission has Mohammed Bello Tukur as Secretary.

Pencoms will now be headed by Dikko Aliyu Abdulrahman as Director General, though subject to Senate confirmation, while Funso Doherty was named the commission’s chairman.

Also, Akin Akinwale, Abubakar Zaki Magawata, Ben Oviosun and Nyerere Ayim were named executive commissioners of Pencom.

Umar Gambo Jibrin was named Executive Secretary of the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA); Mrs. Folashade Joseph, Managing Director, Nigeria Agriculture Insurance Corporation (NAICOM); Cecilia Umaru Gaya, Director General of the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON); and Mrs. Luci Ajayi as Executive Secretary, Lagos International Trade Fair Management Board.

Others are Emmanuel Jimme, Managing Director, Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA); Lanre Gbajabiamila, Director General, Nigeria Lottery Regulatory Commission; and automobile designer, Jelani Aliyu as Director General of the Nigeria Automotive Design and Development Council.