By Adedapo Adesanya
President Bola Tinubu has removed Mrs Doris Uzoka-Anite as the Minister of Industry, Trade, and Investment and has replaced her with his Special Adviser on Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) and Investment, Mrs Jumoke Oduwole.
Mrs Uzoka-Anite, who had been in charge of the ministry since August 2023, has now been appointed as the Minister of State for Finance in the much-awaited cabinet reshuffle on Wednesday.
The new Trade Minister will handle the position that will see her outline Nigeria’s dwindling trade and investment policies evidenced by the decline in foreign investments.
Her predecessor had promised to attract more investments into the country with a determination to promote a business-friendly environment for indigenous businesses to grow.
The medical doctor turned career banker had vowed to ensure the creation of jobs, more employment, lifting of people above the poverty line, and ensuring that small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) and industries that are already existing expand and grow better.
“Our job is to attract investments. There is so much opportunity. One of them I have already witnessed here is human resources,” she had said in her first engagement in August 2023.
However, critics pointed out that she was ineffective in the position, and scored low hence her demotion to the position of junior minister in the capacity of Minster of State for Finance, where she will answer to Mr Wale Edun, Minster of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Nigerian Economy.
The new occupier of the position will be expected to use her networks to attract investments into the country, having served from November 2015 to May 2019 under the last administration of Mr Muhammadu Buhari as the Senior Special Assistant on Industry, Trade & Investment in the Office of the Vice President in which she worked to form the Nigerian Office for Trade Negotiations (NOTN).
She has also served on the Technical Working Group of the Presidential Committee for the Impact and Readiness Assessment of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) (Sub-Committee on Ease of Doing Business) and is currently represented on Nigeria’s AfCFTA Implementation National Action Committee (NAC).
In 2023, Mrs Oduwole was conferred with the National Award of Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON) by Mr Buhari.
She has been at the forefront of the National Single Window, a central portal for Nigeria’s trade ecosystem, and the PEBEC’s mandate, which highlights the essential steps needed to deliver this critical tool for trade facilitation for the Nigerian economy.
Earlier today, Mr Tinubu reorganised his team.