Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki has removed Mr. Adaze Ewanta from the ministry of communications and oriented replacing him with Mr. Chris Nehikhare.
In what looks like a major shakeup in the government that has about two years to the end of the administration of Godwin Obaseki, the number of ministries have been reduced from 22 to 18.
Although no official press release about who gets what in the new order, Truthlive.net reliably gathered that Adaze will not be overseeing the newly created ministry of youths and gender affairs.
The three commissioners who have been replaced due to their earlier resignation to pursue their political ambitions are; Donald Okogbe, from Akoko Edo, former commissioner for Chieftaincy and Community affairs Mrs Maria Edeko, former commissioner Social Development and Gender Issues, from Esan North East and Mrs Otse Omoregbe…Otaru of Auchi’s daughter who was the commissioner for budget and planning, from Etsako West.
In what was described as restructuring of ministries, Departments and Agencies, the Edo State Head of Service, Mr. Anthony Okungbowa, explained in details how many ministries were scrapped and those merged.
According to the HoS, “The Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, yesterday, approved a rationalization of the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of government. The essence is to ensure efficiency and reduce the cost of governance.
“This has become necessary because the monies from the federations account is becoming increasingly nonexistent as the monies we used to collect are not there anymore.
“So, we had to look inward because we cannot afford to run a big government. The governor and his team are working to ensure that the government is slim without sacrificing efficiency on the altar of brevity. Hence, the government came up with this idea to reduce the number of MDAs.”
Okungbowa listed the affected ministries to include the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Cooperatives, Ministry of Budget, Ministry of Mining, Oil and Gas, Ministry of Local Government, Ministry of Chieftaincy Affairs, Ministry of Social Development and Gender and the Ministry of Youth.
He noted that the “Ministry of Industry, Trade and Cooperatives has now been changed to Ministry of Business, Trade and Cooperatives; the Ministry of Housing has been moved to become Ministry of Housing, Urban, Regional Planning and Development; the Ministry of Budget has been combined with finance to now become Ministry of Finance, Budget and Economic Planning; the Ministry of Mining, Oil and Gas has become the Ministry Mining and Energy.
“The Ministry of Youth has been taken to Gender which now becomes the Ministry of Youth and Gender, while the Ministry of Social Development and Gender is now called Ministry of Social Development and Humanitarian Affairs. The Ministry of Local Government and Ministry of Chieftaincy Affairs have become one and now called The Ministry of Local Government, Community and Chieftaincy Affairs.”
“The Ministry of Science and Technology, in line with the federal government’s directive for states to create a ministry of digital economy has now been improved to become the Ministry of Digital Economy, Science and Technology,” the head of service added.