Tinubu Scraps Niger Delta, Sports Ministries

* Presides over FEC meeting 

* Swears in Bello as new CCB Chair 

Deji Elumoye in Abuja 

President Bola Tinubu has scrapped Niger Delta Ministry and the Ministry of Sports Development. 

The Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, in his verified X page on Tuesday, stated that there will now be a ministry of regional development to oversee all the regional development commissions, such as Niger Delta Development Commission, North West Development Commission, South West Development Commission and North East Development Commission.

He said the National Sports Commission will now take over the role of the Ministry of Sports. 

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) also approved the merger of the Ministry of Tourism with the Ministry of Culture and Creative Economy. 

The decisions, Onanuga said, were taken Wednesday at the FEC meeting in Abuja.

President Tinubu is at the moment presiding over the FEC meeting at the State House, Abuja.

The meeting, taking place at the Council Chambers, is the first to be held by the president since he returned from a two-week working vacation last weekend. 

The ongoing council meeting has almost all members present, with the exception of a very few, who are said to be out of the country for various national assignments. 

Those absent at the meeting include Vice-President Kashim Shettima, who is currently attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Apia, Samoa. 

Also absent at the meeting are the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun; Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar; Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo; Power, Adebayo Adelabu; Environment, Professor Joseph Utsev; and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike. 

Shortly before the commencement of the FEC meeting, the president sworn in Dr. Abdullahi Usman Bello as Chairman of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB). 

Speaking to newsmen after his swearing-in, the new CCB Chairman, Bello, outlined his commitment to addressing corruption through the commission, Nigeria’s foremost anti-corruption agency.