Tinubu sacks heads of NCC, NIGCOMSAT, NIPOST, appoints replacements… 

President Bola Tinubu, on Wednesday, announced the removal of Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of three agencies under the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy.

The president appointed new heads to the agencies just as the heads of two separate agencies retained their positions.

The appointments were made known in a statement issued by the president’s Special Adviser on Media & Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, in Abuja.

According to the statement, the appointed chief executives (new and returning), are heads of agencies such as the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited (NIGCOMSAT), National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) and Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST).

A review of the appointments indicated that the president has replaced three top executives with new individuals, while two of the executives retained their seats for another tenure of five years.

According to the statement, Mr Tinubu approved Aminu Maida as the new Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the NCC, following the removal of Umar Danbatta, while Nkechi Egerton-Idehen was announced as the new Managing Director/CEO of NIGCOMSAT to replace Tukur Funtua.

Similarly, the president appointed Tola Odeyemi as the new Postmaster General/CEO, to replace Sunday Adepoju at NIPOST.

However, the Director General of NITDA, Kashifu Abdullahi and the National Commissioner of NDPC, Vincent Olatunji, retained their seats.

The removal of some of the chief executives might surprise some of them as they had a few years to spend in office before the expiration of their tenures.

For instance, the removal of the former EVC of the NCC, Mr Danbatta, came three years after he was reappointed and confirmed by the Senate in July 2020 for a second term of five years by former President Muhammadu Buhari.

On his part, the former NIPOST boss, Mr Adepoju, was sacked barely a year after he assumed office. Similarly, the replacement of the NIGCOMSAT chief, Mr Funtua, came less than a year after he was appointed last December by Mr Buhari.