Smartsyn:
Please pardon my ignorance, but can someone on the know put me(us) through on the difference between a Minister and a Minister of State in the Ministry.

We usually see somethings like The Minister for Education and then The Minister of State for Education and it is so in all ministries..

So please what is their different job description and all that.....

PassingShot:
It was OBJ's strategy to share positions and money to his PDP cronies when he became president in 1999.

He was reported to have said that " No need to fight, there is enough for all to share". The result was all the useless positions including those of PAs, and Special PAs.

brownlord:
Party faithful need to be rewarded

0merta:

And for those saying the Minister of state is like a deputy Governor, I think you're all wrong. The Minister of state is independent of the "real" Minister with respect to portfolio assignments. The Minister of state functions as an intermediary between the federal government and the respective state ministries. For example, if the commissioner of education in Osun state wants to liaise with the Federal ministry of education in Abuja, he does that via the minister of state for education.

donroxy:
The only dichotomy I experienced is :

The minister is the substantive CEO of a ministry who interract with both foreign governments on Nigeria and domestic affairs while in order to ease off the duty of the Minister, we have minister of state whose duty is predominantly on domestic affairs and rallying round states on Federal Government policy and frameworks to ensure uniformity as far as such ministry is assigned and I think He should report to the substantive minister and/or Presidency !!!

Pennywise:


Sometimes we try too hard to find solutions to problems that do not exist or we go rigmaroling/sommersaulting looking for answers that stare at us in the face.

Minister of state is a creation of the Obj Goverment to deputize for a substantive minister. The real essence is for political jobs to go round. It was an expedient decision of Obj to spread the goodies among supporters and loyalists not minding that state resources can ill-afford it. If GEJ had any leadership spirit in him, he would have since abolished that position. I suppose we all have to wait for Buhari.

donroxy:
Some Nigerians and problems with issues !

The Op asked a good question regarding difference Minister of the federation and Minister of state and we provided answers regarding established difference between both !!

It is not as if both are doing same job so wetin be all this Obasanjo this , obasanjo that ..... If you don't know the difference just say so and zoom-out ! .....

The op never asked you for Obasanjo,GEJ and /or Buhari ... !!

Pennywise:

Understand what I am trying to say. Besides the obvious that the minister heads the ministry, the new creation is essentially a duplication of his function. The next logical question then is why?

Why do you think dictionaries sometimes give u the historical basis in their definitions? To have explanation in perspective. Think. It ain't hard.

donroxy:
My brother you are the one that should think harder because that is why this country is failing due to undue criticism in a wrong manner !!

It is not a duplication of function since both of them don't do the same thing .... Each of them knows the matters they are addressing ... ......Where a memo belonging to minister of state is mistakenly address to substantive minister then he has to reject and/or redirect viceversa ........

My only criticism is that : maybe there is room for functions of minister of state to be included to the functions of substantive minister and the latter would still do both effectively and efficiently but due to our love for wastage (which is your arguement) we wouldn't do that!!

We would have attached seriousness to your criticism if you were able to atleast provide the difference between both, as the thread/op rightly required, then launch your discontentment regarding the creation as many posters rightly did !!

Imagine a test asked you difference between Minister and Minister of state and you doll out Obasanjo, Jonathan and Buhari ...

there is no suggestion in the Op that he wants criticism , he wants the ''difference'' and you wanna make politics outa holistic question without providing any difference ..... Within twinkle of an eye ....... You will turn here to APC vs PDP battle ground .... Mba abeg !!

InyinyaAgbaOku:


both functions can be merged for one ministry / minister nah. its mere corruption

Demdem:


Jonathan came in and adopted the same rot. The fool even went further to appoint ambassador at large. Yeye dey smell.

segend:


The issue is that we must have 36 ministers, if 10 new states are created today, then we must have 46 ministers, whether there is a ministry for them or not. I think the real issue should be why should each state have a minister, each state is already well and equally represented in the senate and house of representative. The job of a minister is not to represent his state, will make more sense if ministerial appointment is by zone, maybe 3 per zone.

donroxy:
My brother you are the one that should think harder because that is why this country is failing due to undue criticism in a wrong manner !!

It is not a duplication of function since both of them don't do the same thing .... Each of them knows the matters they are addressing ... ......Where a memo belonging to minister of state is mistakenly address to substantive minister then he has to reject and/or redirect viceversa ........

!

0merta:
The creation of the posts of a "minister" and a "minister of state" is to afford representations of all the 36 states of the federation and the FCT in the federal cabinet. This wouldn't be possible if the minister of state position is non-existent as the number of ministries is not up to 36.

But I think the representative capacity should have been based on Geo-political zones and not on the number of states to eliminate duplicity of functions.

And for those saying the Minister of state is like a deputy Governor, I think you're all wrong. The Minister of state is independent of the "real" Minister with respect to portfolio assignments. The Minister of state functions as an intermediary between the federal government and the respective state ministries. For example, if the commissioner of education in Osun state wants to liaise with the Federal ministry of education in Abuja, he does that via the minister of state for education.

Conclusively, I think the position of the "Minister of state" was intrinsically created to make the "chopping of money" go round!

Awon Ole jati jati!

Gbogbo waa ni ole sha.