By Ayo Yusuf
For the third time since he became president on May 29, President Bola Tinubu has hired another set of senior aides to beef up his cabinet.
The president who is yet to appoint ministers barely three weeks before his constitutionally allotted deadline, has however made many strategic appointments in the media, security and economic sectors.
President Tinubu’s most recent appointments include those of senior special assistants (SSAs), personal assistants (PAs), personal physician, and photographers.
Among the new appointees, according to a list available to this reporter, are veteran journalist, Tunde Rahman, who has been designated SSA (Media); Abdulaziz Abdulaziz (SSA Print Media); and Ibrahim Masari (SSA Political).
Others are Adekunle Tinubu – Personal Physician; Damilotun Aderemi – Senior Special Assistant (Private Secretary); Toyin Subair – Senior Special Assistant (Domestic); O’tega Ogra – Senior Special Assistant (Digital/New Media); Demola Oshodi – Senior Special Assistant (Protocol); Tope Ajayi – Senior Special Assistant (Media & PublicAffairs); Yetunde Sekoni – Senior Special Assistant; Motunrayo Jinadu – Senior Special Assistant; Segun Dada – Special Assistant (Social Media); and Paul Adekanye – Special Assistant (Logistics).
Also on the list are Friday Soton – Special Assistant (Housekeeping); Shitta-Bey Akande – Special Assistant (Catering); Nosa Asemota – Special Assistant (Visual Communication) Personal Photographer; Kamal Yusuf – Personal Assistant (Special Duties); Wale Fadairo – Personal Assistant (General Duties); Sunday Moses – Personal Assistant (Videography); and Taiwo Okanlawon – Personal Assistant (State Photographer).
Mr Tinubu has already issued some of the new aides appointment letters and the rest are expected to get theirs soon.
Third Set
The new set of appointments will be the third major one by the president since his inauguration on 29 May.
On 2 June, Mr Tinubu had made three critical appointments: the secretary to the government of the federation, chief of staff and deputy chief of staff.
On 15 June, he appointed eight advisers, including Dele Alake, as special adviser on special duties, communications and strategy and Wale Edun as special adviser on monetary policies.
He thereafter, on 19 June, appointed another set of people comprising the national security adviser, service chiefs, the inspector general of police and others.
Last Friday, Mr Tinubu set up a committee on tax reforms headed by Fiscal Policy Partner and Africa Tax Leader at PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC), Taiwo Oyedele.
Too Many Aides
The prospect of another 20 aides to the president has again brought to fore the issue of the rising cost of governance. Between the executive and the legislative arm, the number of aides is expected to rise to a whopping 5000.
The President is also expected to announce his list of ministers soon, which insiders say will number about 45, each of whom will also have their retinue of aides numbering three or four.
As for the National Assembly, NASS, where both the Senate President and the Speaker are traditionally known to have at least 150 aides between them, the complete list of legislative aides to members of the National Assembly, NASS, may end up to be nearly 3000.
Specifically, the Senate is made up of 109 members while the House of Representatives has 360. Each of these 469 members are supposed to have between three and five aides, all paid for by the Federal Government.
Since 1999, the number of appointees by the members of NASS and their burgeoning salaries and emoluments have been an issue of concern to Nigerians, especially given what it costs taxpayers to maintain them.
With the size of its membership, aides, allowances, office furnishings and official vehicles, NASS is one of the institutions that consume a huge portion of the national budget annually.
This is especially galling at a period when the government has removed all kinds of subsidies and plans to raise electricity tariffs, leading to high cost of living, 22.41 percent inflation, decreased Foreign Direct Investment, FDI, acute unemployment rate and high debt portfolio among others.
Below is the full list of the president’s newly appointed aides :
1. Dr. Adekunle Tinubu – Personal Physician to President Tinubu
2. Tunde Rahman – Senior Special Assistant (Media)
3. Damilotun Aderemi – Senior Special Assistant (Private Secretary)
4. Ibrahim Masari – Senior Special Assistant (Political Matters)
5. Toyin Subair – Senior Special Assistant (Domestic)
6. Abdulaziz Abdulaziz – Senior Special Assistant (Print Media)
7. Demola Oshodi – Senior Special Assistant (Protocol)
8. Tope Ajayi – Senior Special Assistant (Media & Public Affairs)
9. Yetunde Sekoni – Senior Special Assistant
10. Motunrayo Jinadu – Senior Special Assistant
11. Segun Dada – Special Assistant (Social Media)
12. Paul Adekanye – Special Assistant (Logistics)
13. Friday Soton – Special Assistant (Housekeeping)
14. Mrs. Shitta-Bey Akande – Special Assistant (Catering)
15. Nosa Asemota – Special Assistant (Visual Communication), Personal Photographer
16. Kamal Yusuf – Personal Assistant (Special Duties)
17. Wale Fadairo – Personal Assistant (General Duties)
18. Sunday Moses – Personal Assistant (Videography)
19. Taiwo Okanlawon – Personal Assistant (State Photographer)
20. O’tega Ogra – Senior Special Assistant (Digital/New Media)
