FEC Confirms Zainab Ahmed As Substantive Minister Of Finance
The confusion over the appropriate designation of Zainab Ahmed, who was deployed to supervise Nigeria’s Ministry of Finance in the wake of the resignation of Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, seems to have been settled.
On Wednesday, Mr. Femi Adesina, spokesman to President Muhammadu Buhari, confirmed the development while briefing State House Correspondents after the Federal Executive Council meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.
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Ahmed was deployed from the Ministry of Budget and National Planning as Minister of State.
Adeosun resigned from the position as a result of her involvement in the forgery of her National Youth Service Corps exemption certificate.
According to Adesina: “She was Minister of State, Budget and National Planning, she will relinquish that or she has relinquished that to go and oversee the Finance ministry. So, that is her status for now.
“What you call her is a matter of nomenclature but if she is overseeing the ministry, then she is. But note that she is no longer Minister of State, Budget and National Planning for now until anything contrary happens. But for now, she is in charge of the Ministry of Finance.”
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When pressed further for categorical clarification, Adesina recalled the statement which announced Ahmed’s appointment, insisting that it was “written in English and that statement says she will oversee the Ministry of Finance, let’s leave it like that.
“I just told you she is no longer Minister of State for Budget and National Planning. She will be Minister of Finance. In fact, that was how she was addressed at Council (FEC). Don’t forget it is also a legal thing. If a Minister is going to be appointed, there are procedures that is why it is a deployment.”
Before the FEC meeting started, Ahmed’s cabinet colleagues had taken special interest in her when she arrived the Council Chamber of the Aso Rock Villa for the weekly cabinet meeting.
They had milled around her, took turns to congratulate her and the Minister of Defence Mansur Dan-Ali; Minister of State for Agriculture, Heineken Lokpobiri; and the Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, eventually led her to take the seat reserved for the Minister of Finance. It was her first FEC meeting since getting her new portfolio.
