• CHANGES in the Federal Executive Council (FEC) which began with President Goodluck Jonathan dropping four ministers last month continued Wednesdaywith the removal of Sports Minister Bolaji Abdullahi and the swearing-in of 11 new ones.
No reason was offered for Abdullahi’s removal, but in his place, the President appointed Dr. Tamuno Danagogo from Rivers State.
But the Kwara State chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC) has described Abdullahi’s sack as the triumph of politics over excellence.
Also sworn-in were Gen. Mohammed Aliyu Gusau from Zamfara State as Defence Minister; Senator Musiliu Obanikoro (Lagos), Minister of State (Defence); Mohammed Wakili (Borno), Minister of State (Power); Alhaji Abduljelili Adesiyan (Osun), Minister of Police Affairs; and Ambassador Aminu Bashir Wali (Kano), Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Others include Mrs. Ekon Etim Inyekayi (Akwa Ibom), Minister of Lands and Housing; Mrs. Lawrencia Laraba Mallam (Kaduna State), Minister of Environment; Asabe Asmau Ahmed (Niger), Minister of State (Agriculture); Mr. Boni Haruna (Adamawa) Minister of Youths Development and Dr. Khaliru Alhassan (Sokoto State), Minister of State (Health).
In his remarks after the swearing-in of the ministers, Jonathan, who did not make reference to the sack of Abdullahi, however, confirmed that a new list of ministerial nominees would be ready next week.
Later, his Special Adviser, Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, confirmed to State House correspondents that indeed, the Sports Minister had been dropped.
According to the President: “I don’t intend to say much because we have another set of ministers that will come by God’s grace next week. After that, at least we will have a clear discussion about how the Federal Executive Council (FEC) will work for the remaining part of the tenure of this administration that is quite close, May 29, 2015.
“So, for today, let me welcome you on board as you join us and see how we can serve our country, men and women and serve our people. Public office, everybody says, is a public trust and you are expected to serve the people.
“You are just joining and so you must have been reading the papers, listening to the electronic media, and of course you know the concerns of Nigerians in all aspects and nobody is to tell you.
“And we are here to serve the people, so we must listen to the people. I want you to see yourselves as servants to add value to whatever you have been asked to do and of course you know that this government is emphasising on the issue of transformation.
“People look at it from different angles but the key thing is that I believe that if you have been given a responsibility whether as a President, governor, minister for you to serve for a period of time, if by the time you are leaving you cannot look back and say that this is an innovation that I brought to bear based on my own creativity, I have been able to do things differently from what others have done and now things are being done better in my ministry or whatever office you’re holding; if you cannot say that, then you have failed.
“But if you can say that definitely yes I have brought some innovations based on my own creativity and things are being done differently, I have been able to solve these problems within this period, then of course you have succeeded.
“The ability is for you now to adjust. So, your duty is to make sure you bring changes, positive changes and not negative changes. And I believe you will also work closely with others.”
The President, who stressed the need for harmony among ministers, said misunderstanding among government functionaries has led to unnecessary schisms within the government, noting that in order to avoid such, the government was reviewing schedule of duties of ministers.
He added: “For ministries that you have to work with another minister, either a minister of state or the minister; two of you will have to relate, you will have to relate with the permanent secretaries, and heads of parastatals working with you too.
“All of you are ministers working for the Federal Government, working for our country. And the designations do not really matter much but you must relate with one another, and do our work in a way that must add value. And I expect that as you come on board, you will really bring some additional values to whatever you are doing.
“In fact, because of the issues of conflicts between ministers and ministers of states, we will also review schedule of duties in some of the ministries to make sure that we reduce these conflicts to the barest minimum.
“And of course, ministers are assigned to any responsibility not necessarily based on qualifications or what you know best, but is mainly administrative. If you are posted to area that you are good in, then you’re lucky but wherever you’re posted, it is expected that you bring your experience to bear.”
“There are some people when they get a place, they bring unity and make sure that everybody works together for the success of their administration. But some when they get to a place, they create divisions and all kinds of interests and instead of making sure that the top government functionary, either heads of parastatals, heads of departments work together, you see problems and everyday you talk about solving problems.”
Wakili yesterday resumed at the Power Ministry with a call on him to join the ongoing battle against the evil forces allegedly plaguing the power sector.
Wakili promised to work as a team player and learn as much as possible from the existing team. Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, welcomed him to the ministry and urged him to feel free to ask relevant questions.
He takes over from Hajiya Zainab Kuchi who was dropped last year.
Permanent Secretary at the ministry, Ambassador Godknows Igali, who welcomed Wakili, stressed that there were too many devils that needed to be weeded off in the power sector.
“There are too many devils that have been keeping Nigeria dark. He has come to join us in the battle against the devil of darkness against electricity supply. Since Nebo, we have been busy ensuring that we chase the devils away,” he noted.
According to the state’s Interim Publicity Secretary of APC, Sulyman Buhari yesterday, while we concede the fact that the President reserves the powers to hire and fire, in the exercise of such powers however, international best practices demand that excellence and competence should not be traded on the altar of politics. That a President could sack a performing Sports Minister three months to the World Cup speaks volume of the quality of Nigerian Presidency. This nature of politics is anti-people and anti-development.
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