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Early last month, President Muhammad Buhari had promised that his ministerial list would be out by the month of September. He said this in France and during his visits to a host of international gatherings. Many Nigerians were apprehensive when the list was not released by the second week of September, but Femi Adesina, the media aid to the President came out to say, the list would be out by Wednesday of this week. Just as Femi Adesina had promised, the ministerial nominees list was made available yesterday and it was sent to the Senate, who promised to sit on it by next week Tuesday and commence screening at the earliest possible.

Many individuals had been expecting lots of surprises in the list, but they may be disappointed; the list made available to newsmen contain names of many individuals that had been on the tongues and minds of Nigerians long before the list was released for public digestion. There are however a number of other names that enact bits of surprises.

President Muhammadu Buhari’s ministerial list contains a number of familiar All Progressives Congress (APC) names such as Babatunde Fashola, former governor of Lagos state, and Rotimi Amaechi, former governor of Rivers state, it can now be confirmed.

Also nominated to be minister is national publicity secretary of the All Progressive Congress, Alhaji Lai Mohammed and Kayode Fayemi, who lost his Ekiti governorship re-election bid in 2014 to Ayodele Fayose of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). From the south-east are the likes of Chris Ngige, former governor of Anambra state and former senator of the federal republic; and Ogbonnaya Onu, first executive governor of Abia state and former national chairman of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), on whose ticket Buhari contested and lost the 2003 and 2007 presidential elections. Udoma Udo Udoma, a former senator who represented Akwa Ibom south senatorial constituency at the national assembly, made it as well. Buhari also nominated for ministerial appointment, Aisha Alhassan, who was on the brink of becoming the first elected female governor before eventually losing the Taraba state governorship election to Darius Ishiaku of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

From his days at the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Buhari picked Malami Abubakar, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and former legal adviser of the defunct party; Hadi Sirika, a former pilot and former CPC senator who represented Katsina north senatorial district; as well as Adebayo Shittu, former governorship candidate of the legacy party in Oyo state. Ibe Kachikwu, group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum (NNPC), is a surprise appearance on the list. But with Buhari already declaring himself minister of petroleum resources, it is likely that Kachikwu will combine his current portfolio with that of the minister of state for petroleum resources.

Amina Mohammed, former special adviser to the Nigerian president on millennium development goals (MDGs) and current special adviser to United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon on post-2015 development planning, is also a nominee. Kemi Adeosun, former commissioner for finance in Ogun state, was nominated as well.