Fully signed up to Tinubu's economic liberalisation plans letting the naira depreciate against the dollar and ending the US$10 billion a year fuel subsidies Cardoso is the second senior banker with extensive experience in the United States after the appointment of finance minister Wale Edun in July (AC Vol 64 No 18 After Tinubu opened Pandora's Box)...

Tinubu's plan to place Wale Edun in a top economic post has been an open secret...

Finance Minister Wale Edun engineered the appointment of Minister of Tourism Lola Ade-John a low-profile management consultant according to sources pulsed by Africa Confidential...

PRESIDENT BOLA TINUBU'S 46-PERSON MINISTERIAL TEAM Post – name (state age profession) SKILL-BRINGERS (7) Communications – Olatunbosun Tijani (Ogun 46 tech entrepreneur) Education – Tahir Mamman (Adamawa 69 academic administrator) Finance – Wale Edun (Ogun 61 banker) Foreign Affairs – Yusuf Maitama Tuggar (Bauchi 56 politician/diplomat/oil executive) Health – Muhammed Ali Pate (Bauchi 54 medicine/public health) Health (deputy) – Tunji Alausa (Lagos 56 medicine) Housing – Ahmed Musa Dangiwa (Katsina 60 banker/construction executive) THE EX-GOVERNORS (9) Budget – Atiku Bagudu (Kebbi 61 ex-governor) Defence – Mohammed Badaru Abubakar (Jigawa 60 ex-governor) Defence (deputy) – Bello Matawalle (Zamfara 61 ex-governor) Federal Capital Territory – Nyesom Wike (Rivers 55 ex-governor) Labour and Employment – Simon Lalong (Plateau 60 ex-governor) Marine and Blue Economy – Adegboyega Oyetola (Osun 68 ex-governor) Petroleum Resources – President Bola Ahmed Tinubu Police Affairs – Ibrahim Gaidam (Yobe 66 ex-governor) Works – David Umahi (Ebonyi 60 ex-governor) ALLIES AND CRONIES (19) Agriculture and Food Security – Abubakar Kyari (Borno 60 career politician) Agriculture and Food Security (deputy) – Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi (Niger 56 politician) Art Culture and the Creative Economy – Hannatu Musawa (Katsina 43 lawyer) Aviation – Festus Keyamo (Delta 53 lawyer) Housing (deputy) – Abdullahi Tijjani Gwarzo (Kano 62 career politician) Information – Mohammed Idris 'Malagi' (Niger 57 newspaper editor) Innovation Science and Technology – Uche Nnaji (Enugu 60 business/politician) Attorney General and Justice – Lateef Fagbemi (Kwara 64 lawyer) Niger Delta – Abubakar Momoh (Edo 62 career politician) Petroleum/Oil (deputy) – Heineken Lokpobiri (Bayelsa 56 career politician) Power – Adebayo Adelabu (Oyo 52 banker) Solid Minerals – Dele Alake (Ekiti 66 journalist) Special Duties – Zephaniah Jisalo (FCT 53 career politician) Sports – John Owan Enoh (Cross River 57 career politician) Steel Development – Shuaibu Abubakar Audu (Kogi 42 banker) Steel Development (deputy) – Uba Maigari Ahmadu (Taraba 57 career politician) Transportation – Sa'idu Ahmed Alkali (Gombe 54 career politician) Water Resources (deputy) – Bello Muhammad Goronyo (Sokoto 58 career politician) Women's Affairs – Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye (Anambra 50 business) THE SPONSORED (11) Education (deputy) – Yusuf Tanko Sununu (Kebbi 56 medicine) Environment (deputy) – Ishak Salako (Ogun 64 medicine) Federal Capital Territory (deputy) – Mairiya Mahmud (Kano 47 medicine) Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation – Betta Edu (Cross River 36 politician) Industry Trade and Investment – Doris Uzoka-Anite (Imo 42 finance) Interior – Olubunmi Tunji Ojo (Ondo 41 business/politician) Labour and Employment (deputy) – Nkiru Onyejeocha (Abia 54 career politician) Petroleum/Gas (deputy) – Ekperikpe Ekpo (Akwa Ibom ~50 career politician) Police Affairs (deputy) – Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim (Nasarawa 43 business/civil service) Tourism – Lola Ade-John (Lagos 60 consultant) Water Resources – Joseph Utsev (Benue 43 administrator) * President Tinubu will name at least one more minister because he has yet to nominate a minister from Kaduna State (Nigeria's constitution requires that the President nominate at least one minister from each state)...

Tinubu has admitted that the removal of subsidy was not in the speech prepared for him by Wale Edun now named as Finance Minister and that 'I got to the podium I was possessed with courage and I said subsidy is gone...

Only eight of the nominees were scrutinised in any detail including Wale Edun now appointed as finance minister; Bayo Adelabu a former central bank deputy governor; Muhammed Pate who was until recently the head of Gavi the vaccine alliance; and Lateef Fagbemi now appointed as Attorney General...

Wale Edun named as Tinubu's Special Advisor on monetary policy in June looks set to become finance minister after playing a lead role in drawing up the government's pro-market economic blueprint...

Beyond the targets Tinubu and his close colleagues – Kaduna state governor Nasir el Rufai and former Lagos commissioner for finance Olawale Edun have pledged more teacher training more police more soldiers more drones for the Niger Delta and student loans for all...

That could mean rebalancing power between the bank and the finance ministry which would probably be run by Wale Edun if Tinubu prevails...

In December chairman of the Trustees Olawale Edun told the London Financial Times that the board had disbursed less than a quarter of the initial $180m payment...

Chairman of the Board of Trustees Chief Olawale Edun said $1bn was not enough and the federal government needed to contribute more...

Also in the team were Abba Kyari a cerebral banker whose friendship with Buhari dates back to the 1970s and Adebayo Olawale Edun a former Commissioner for Finance in the Lagos State government...

Certainly Omoigui-Okauru and Wale Edun have been named as contenders for the Finance or Planning portfolios...