• Presidency unfair to Culture, says Soyinka
NEW ministers, new style.
Barely 48 hours after President Muhammadu Buhari inaugurated his
37-member ‘round- pegs-in-round-holes’ cabinet to man the 25
restructured ministries, some of them are already raring to go.
They have been reeling out statements that indicate the direction of
the present government.
Among such ministers is Power, Works and Housing’s Babatunde
Raji Fashola, who has commenced inquiry into the problems of the
power sector and why it allegedly failed to deliver the desired
promises to the country.
Fashola, who met with directors at the ministry shortly after he
resumed Wednesday wanted to know if some of the problems of the
sector were systematic or man made.
He urged the management of the ministry to be open with
information, as he was determined to find a solution to the lingering
power issue.
“We are here to work with you, in solving problems on ground as
quickly as possible. We want to know if some of those problems are
man-made or systemic,” he noted.
A meeting that took place on the day of inauguration was attended
by the Minister of State, Alhaji Mustapha Baba Shehuri, the
Permanent Secretary, Mr. Louis Edozien and directors.
The minister said his thoughts are on how to bring together
processes and activities of all the ministries now under his
supervision for effective service delivery.
He assured the ministry’s leadership of his willingness to learn from
them as career people who had been on the job for a long time.
“We want information on what has been done, what remained to be
done, and what are the future plans; we want to continue from
there.”
Also speaking, Shehuri requested a detailed Ministerial Briefing
Document to serve as guide for proper takeoff.
Director, Human Resources, Mrs. Grace Papka, gave copies of the
requested documents to the two ministers, in addition to a
timetable for proposed briefings by departments and agencies in the
power sector.
Already concerned Nigerians have hailed President Buhari’s choice
of Fashola as ‘placing square peg in square hole.
Speaking under the aegis of Gateway for Empowerment and Justice
for Peace Initiative (GEJPI), the group at a media briefing yesterday
in Abuja said that considering the requisite experience and records
of performance in maintaining sustained economic growth and
unprecedented infrastructure development in the last eight years in
Lagos State, it is only appropriate that Fashola be given a heavy
portfolio to handle.
Leader of the group, Jide Cole, an engineer said: “Yes, we are aware
that the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Buhari were
determined to bring on board the best technocrats and
administrators into the new government. Our expectations have
been met and even surpassed as the President gave Nigerians a
pleasant surprise.
“Therefore, we want to lend our voice, joining other well-meaning
citizens of this great nation in thanking Buhari for such great show
of wisdom and administrative finesse by putting square pegs in
square holes.
We also congratulate Fashola for being best suited as minister for
the combined portfolios he got because he is a hard working,
unassuming and transparently so. He is a person who never gets
tired of whatever he sets his eyes to achieve. He came in as
governor of Lagos State in 2007, and after eight years turned Lagos
into the state to beat in Nigeria.
“We also believe that President Buhari saw Fashola as a disciplined
man just like himself who was ready to work assiduously. He
ensured that he implemented his predecessor’s idea for a Bus Rapid
Transport System which eased the transportation problems of
Lagosians. And of course, this trait is one of the things Fashola will
bring to bear in his new assignment.”
Meanwhile, there is anxiety among directors and other senior level
workers in ministries affected by the restructuring like Aviation,
Police Affairs, Housing, Urban Development, Power and Works,
Youths and Sports even as Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka,
yesterday decried the fact the Culture Ministry was a victim of the
exercise.
To him, the Culture Ministry is ‘missing in action.’
“We all know that culture is, at best regarded as an orphan, but
does General Buhari have to make it so obvious? Even orphans are
entitled to a foster home,” he lamented.
Culture is now subsumed by the Ministry of Information, while
Special Duties was scrapped and the Department of Budget and
National Planning excised from the Ministry of Finance and now a
substantive ministry headed by Senator Udo Udoma.
However, the workers in the affected ministries, yesterday gathered
in groups discussing the development as many expressed the
concern that they could soon be rendered redundant.
But, it was a blend of joy and sadness in many of the merged
ministries, while some workers wore long faces, others were happy
that their arrears of salary had been paid.
The Federal Government had compulsorily retired 17 permanent
secretaries from the Federal Civil Service, sending mixed signals to
directors, deputy directors and other junior officers, especially
cleaners.
In a related development, Minister of Science and Technology Dr.
Ogbonnaya Onu had said that Nigeria could “not do it without
science and technology.”
He spoke at a reception organised in his honour by Concerned
Ebonyi State natives in Abuja, where he pledged to revive the
Technology Village Project in Abia.
His words: “Science and technology will take Nigeria to a height
unimagined today; we will do our best to be the instruments that
Nigeria will use to get to that height. And I need your prayers; I
need your support,” he said.
He noted: “One assurance that I will always give you and I have said
it repeatedly, is that as your son, I will never do something that you
will be ashamed of. It is better for me to leave politics than for me
to do something for my own selfish interest that will make you to be
ashamed of your son. I will continue to act in a way that Nigerians
will know that Ebonyi State is truly the Salt of the Nation.”
Defence Minister expected to resume today
The newly appointed Minister of Defence, Brigadier General Mansur
Mohammed Dan-Ali, will formally resume today.
A message from the office of the Department of Information and
Public Affairs in the ministry to Defence correspondents yesterday
evening said the minister would be resuming today at 8 a.m. local
time.
It is expected that, like in all other ministries, Dan-Ali, on
resumption, set the ball rolling as issues relating to the ministry
form some of the major concerns of the present administration.
The Guardian
No comments:
Post a Comment