Federal Ministries in Nigeria are made up of employees who are actually career civil servants in Nigerian ministries.
The Federal Ministries of Nigeria are saddled with various functions of government service, with each ministry headed by a Permanent Secretary who reports to a Minister in the Federal Cabinet upon approval by the President and Senate respectively.
Basically, we have about 25 federal ministries in Nigeria, each of which is saddled with specific responsibilities and assignments.
In this post, we shall bring out the Federal Ministries in Nigeria, their various functions that may be independent or associated with a ministry. All the Federal ministries are very important.
Below are Federal Ministries and their functions, as listed below:
- Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development: This federal ministry is key to all the sectors of the government of Nigeria, charged with the responsibilities of:
- Regulating and enhancing agricultural research in the country
- Training of agricultural workers and relevant stakeholders through proven techniques
- Rehabilitation of degraded agricultural land and national resources, forestry and veterinary research.
- Ministry of Information and Culture: is another important ministry charged with the functions of:
- Providing citizens with the latest events in the various arms of government.
- Ensuring proper dissemination of local and international information as it concerns the well-being of Nigerians.
- Promotes the country’s Tourism potentials.
- Ministry of Defence: The ministry is the pillar upon the country’s security is based. It consists of the defence services headquarters, the Nigerian Army, the Nigerian Air Force, the Nigerian Navy, and other defence agencies and departments. It also prepares national defence policies that will ensure Nigeria’s safety and security.
- Ministry of Education: is saddled with the function of maintaining uniform standards of education in every institution in Nigeria.
- Ministry of Environment: Is another important ministry charged with the responsibility of liaising with other state agencies to ensure the protection of the country’s environment.
- Ministry of Finance and Economic Development: Manages, controls and monitors federal revenues and expenditures. The ministry offers a good number of services to the country, including preparing the country’s budget and formulating economic policies. The Ministry of Finance does not reach out directly to the citizens of the country, their services are indirect.
Furthermore, the Ministry of Finance has a good number of parastatals and agencies under it. These parastatals and agencies include Office of the Accountant General of the Federation Of Nigeria, Federal Inland Revenue Service, Investment and Security Tribunal, National Insurance Commission, Nigerian Export-Import Bank [NEXIM], Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation, Nigerian Customs Service, and Security and Exchange Commission.
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Charged with the responsibility for the formulation, articulation, and pursuit of Nigerian foreign policy and objectives. The ministry also has the functions to:
- Defend state interest in interest in international conference and forums.
- Political negotiation between the government and international bodies.
- Ministry of Federal Capital Territory: Administers the Federal Capital Territory (Abuja) by ensuring infrastructural and physical development in the state.
- Ministry of Health and Social Services: Is created to develop and implements policies and programs and undertakes other actions to deliver health services. It is also saddled with the function health care and hospital development in Nigeria.
- Ministry of Interior: Is loaded with the responsibilities of:
- Regulating passport and immigration in Nigeria
- Granting of Nigeria citizenship
- Management of national emergencies and other functions.
- Ministry of Justice and Attorney-General: Is headed by Minister
of Justice and Attorney-General of the federation. The ministry:
- Ensures access to justice for all and sundry
- Tracking of any recovered government assets
- Ensures collaboration with the government, international communities to enhance proper justice delivery.
- Ministry of Labour and Employment: Is essentially to formulate policies for the development of labour policies by ensuring peaceful relations between labour and government workers.
- Ministry of Niger Delta: Created recently to handle:
- Issues relating to safety and security of the Niger Delta region
- Liaise with private oil companies for pollution control in the environment
- Initiation and supervision of policies governing the oil and gas sector
- Ministry of Petroleum Resources: Now headed by the President and Commander In-Chief of Nigeria. The ministry is charged with the function of implementation and regulation of policies in the Oil and Gas sector.
- Ministry of Power: It handles the establishment and maintenance of power plants across the country.
- Works and Housing: To facilitate the provision of adequate and affordable housing for all Nigerians
- Ministry of Solid Mineral Development: The ministry is charged with the responsibility of exercising overall control in the regulation of sales, consumption and transport of solid minerals in the country.
- Ministry of Science and Technology: The world is advancing technology. The ministry is therefore saddled with the function to enhance the development of science and technology apparatus available in Nigeria institutions in line with global practice.
- Ministry of Transportation: Is another key federal ministry in Nigeria charged with the responsibility to:
- Develop transportation policies.
- Oversee the construction and maintenance of Government infrastructural projects.
- Ministry of Water Resources and Rural Development:
- Ensures effective production and distribution of potable water in Nigeria.
- Support and evaluate programmes such as the National Water Resources Institute.
- Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development: Is created to handle women issues. The ministry has the function to:
- Protect the rights of women in the society to ensure that no woman’s right is victimized.
- Ensure that women are integrated into national processes.
- Ministry of Youths and Sports Development: Is another very important and big federal ministry charged with the responsibility to:
- Initiates youth development programmes for young Nigerians
- It supervises sport policies and developments in other to ensure effective sporting activities in Nigeria.
- Ministry of Civil Aviation: Regulates air travel and aviation services.
- Ministry of Humanitarian and Disaster Management: Takes care of humanitarian needs and disaster matters like ecological problems in the country.
- 25. Ministry of Mines and Steel: Encourages development of the country’s solid mineral resources
In summary, the Federal ministries in Nigeria are the constituents of the government that handle key issues of the entire country. As a matter of fact, without ministries, there will be no government, no development and everything will be centralized, giving room to total disarray without clear cut direction.
In most cases, ministries are joined or amalgamated and in other cases splited for easier, effective and less cost management. They are good and very important in the country’s management of human and natural resources.