Ministers of Interior in Nigeria (1957 To Date)

The first Interior Minister in Nigeria is Adegoke Adelabu while Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo is the present Minister of Interior, he is expected to assume office on August 21, 2023.

The government of Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa constituted the first cabinet in Nigeria. In his first cabinet as the primer minister, Balewa appointed Adegoke Adelabu as the interior minister but he was replaced by Chief Johnson Modupe Johnson as the first interior minister in Nigeria.

In the 50s and 60s, the Ministry of Interior was known as Internal Affairs, it was charged with the mandate of taking care of the internal affairs of Nigeria.

When Balewa first cabinet dissolved, he constituted another one and appointed Usman Sarki while Shehu Shagari was the last internal affairs when soldiers took over power on January 15, 1966 coup, bringing to an abrupt end of the first republic.

Since then, succeeding governments have appointed either civilian or military men as ministers of interior.

At the time of publication, the former governor of Osun State, Rauf Aregbesola is the incumbent head of Nigeria’s Ministry of Interior since August 21, 2019. He took over from Abdulrahman Bello Dambazau, a retired Army General.

List of present and past ministers of interior in Nigeria from 1957 till date

Sani Abacha cabinet

On assumption of office in a palace coup against the Interim National Government, Military dictator Sani Abacha constituted a 32-member cabinet. He did not state their portfolio until days after the bloodless coup. 30 members of his cabinet were civilians purposely to gain the acceptability of Nigerians and the international community.

Sunday Afolabi

A former deputy governor in the old Oyo state. He was later involved in National Identity card corruption. Obasanjo fired him.

Patrick Abba Moro

Now a senator at the National Assembly. He’s notorious for his involvement in an employment scam that led to the death of 20 job seekers in 2014 during immigration recruitment.

The ministry which he headed was accused of pocketing NGN677 million as a recruitment fee from millions of unemployed Nigerians.

Note:

If you have information about Aguiyi-Ironsi’s cabinet, Cabinet of Yakubu Gowon, Cabinet of Murtala Muhammed, Cabinet of Olusegun Obasanjo, Abdulsalam Abubakar cabinet, kindly send us a message. His government lasted for less than seven months.

Note:

Between December 1979 to October 1983, Janet Akinrinade was the only cabinet member under the administration of Shehu Shagari. She was appointed as Minister of State (Interior)

During the Abacha era, he appointed most of those who opposed his government as cabinet members to reduce the agitations against his rule.