El-Rufai restructures ministries, to appoint just 13 commissioners

Emeka Ejere |

Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasiru El-Rufai will not appoint more than 13 commissioners instead of 24 that previous governors had.

This was contained in a statement issued by Samuel Aruwan, the Special Assistant (Media and Publicity), to the governor in Kaduna on Tuesday, adding, “For effective service delivery the governor will also reduce the number of ministries to 13.”

As a matter of fact, plans are ongoing to collapse the 19 ministries to 13, this is intended to cut costs and efficiency to improve service delivery,” the statement said.

The restructuring would see two new departments being created, while former Ministry for Lands, Survey and Country would be moved to the Governor’s Office as a department.

“The former Ministry for Rural and Community Development becomes a department in the Deputy Governor’s Office. Also affected by the restructuring is the Ministry for Information whose functions have now been decentralised,’’ the statement said.

It added that each ministry would henceforth have its own Public Relations Unit attached to the office of the chief executive.

The statement also noted that the governor would also limit the number of aides that the 13 commissioners would recruit to support them in the discharge of their duties.

According to the statement, Rufai has repeatedly stated that the state government must direct more of its resources to delivering public services that require a reduction in the proportion of government.

The new ministries will include Ministries for Justice, Agriculture and Forestry, Commerce, Industry and Tourism. Others are Local Government, Youth, Sports and Culture, Environment and Natural Resources, according to the statement.

Ministry for Women Affairs and Social Development, Ministry for Water Resources, Ministry for Health and Human Services, Ministry for Education, Science and Technology, Ministry for Budget and Planning, Ministry for Finance, Ministry for Works, Housing and Transport.