President Bola Tinubu on Monday swore in Mr. Joseph Olasunkanmi Tegbe as the new Minister of Power and Ambassador Sola Enikanolaiye as the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs.
The brief ceremony was held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, in the presence of the ministers’ spouses and senior government officials.
The appointments followed the resignations of former Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, and former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, who stepped down to pursue political ambitions. Both nominees were subsequently screened and confirmed by the Senate on May 6, 2026.
According to a statement issued by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, the President formally inaugurated the two ministers following their confirmation by the National Assembly.
“The appointments followed the resignations of the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, and the Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, to further their political careers,” the statement said.
The new Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, is a renowned fiscal, economic and institutional reform strategist with more than 35 years of experience across the public and private sectors.
“Joseph Olasunkanmi Tegbe is a renowned fiscal, economic and institutional reform strategist and stakeholder engagement expert with over 35 years of professional experience across the public and private sectors,” Onanuga stated.
A First Class graduate of Civil Engineering from Obafemi Awolowo University, Tegbe also holds master’s degrees in Business Administration and Public Administration. He previously served as Senior Partner and Head of Advisory Services at KPMG Africa, where he led several transformational initiatives, including major presidential reform programmes and strategic development projects for subnational governments.
The statement noted that Tegbe had worked with several prominent organisations, including the Nigerian Communications Commission, Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, Shell, Huawei, General Electric, MTN and Odu’a Group.
Also sworn in was Ambassador Sola Enikanolaiye, a veteran diplomat and former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Highlighting his credentials, the Presidency said: “As a career diplomat, Ambassador Enikanolaiye served in many of Nigeria’s diplomatic missions, notably Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Belgrade (Serbia), Ottawa (Canada) and London (UK).”
Enikanolaiye, who hails from Igbagun in Kogi State, earned a First Class degree in Political Science from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where he emerged as the best graduating student in his faculty. He later obtained a Master’s degree in International Law and Diplomacy from the University of Lagos with distinction.
The statement further noted that he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1982 and rose through the ranks to become Permanent Secretary in 2016 before retiring in 2017 after 35 years of service.
Before his appointment as Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Enikanolaiye served as Senior Special Assistant to President Tinubu on Foreign Affairs and International Relations in the Office of the Chief of Staff to the President.
The Presidency expressed confidence that both ministers would bring their wealth of experience and expertise to bear in advancing the administration’s objectives in the power and foreign affairs sectors.