FG to name boards for 58 agencies Next Week Tuesday
Governance. September 22, 2016.
The anxiety which has surrounded the long awaited appointment of members of the All Progressives Congress into various Commissions and Boards may soon be over as the Presidency is expected to name board members of 58 commissions and agencies that are currently being occupied by members of the Peoples Democratic Party who were appointed by former President Goodluck Jonathan, more than one year after President Muhammadu Buhari assumed office.
Most board positions at the moment are held by stalwarts of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who were appointed by former President Goodluck Jonathan.
According to a Daily Trust report, President Buhari who is expected to make about 5,000 board appointments for over 500 agencies has delayed making the appointments because a committee is working to reduce the number of government agencies. Many of them are considered to be redundant.
The report also quotes sources at the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) saying that despite criticisms from various quarters over the delay in making the appointments, President Buhari was not worried, saying he is taking his time to “thoroughly scrutinise the appointees, so as not to reverse himself on issues relating to federal character, competence, corruption charges and legal implications.”
One of the sources at the office of the SGF, said: “If you remember clearly, there were several allegations that the President favoured a section of the country in his previous appointments. In fact, this is one of the reasons that he is delaying the board appointments.
“But, I can confidently confide in you, that latest by Tuesday next week, the first set of board appointments of 58 agencies will be released.
“In fact, what delayed the release of the names is because the president is out of the country.
“Some of agencies that would have their boards on Tuesday include AMCON, CBN, UBE, TETFund, RMRDC, NUC and ARCN,” he said.
He said the president sorted the names himself because of some anomalies.
In October President Buhari set up an eight-member committee, mostly drawn from the ruling APC to compile names of candidates for board appointments.
The committee was chaired by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Engr. Babachir Lawal.
There were allegations that some members of the committee compromised themselves, a development that prompted Buhari to reject the first report the committee submitted.
However, the Director of Press in the office of the SGF, Bolaji Adebiyi, denied the allegation, saying the committee did its best.
“Let me also emphasise once more, that the SGF has not taken one kobo from anybody in order to facilitate his or her appointment into any board of the federal government. But, whoever has any evidence should showcase it; he should come up with facts and evidence. The SGF has not done such thing and will not do it. The appointments were based on merit and at the discretion of the president,” he said.
Another source close to the activities of the presidential committee said: “the committee had submitted its report on time but I can confide in you that some of the report was done based on favouritism and the president was not comfortable with that.
“Most of the committee members did a good job but there were some lapses here and there which the president rejected.
“He said he doesn’t want a situation when somebody will be recommended and he as president, after approving it, reactions would start coming from all over.
“So, the president decided to balance the list based on federal character and competence among other issues.
“This is the best president I’ve seen so far because, the major problem we have in this country is impatience.
“It would take a lot of courage to change the corruption imbedded in the system but that process of change is what people are not ready to accept. How can you give somebody the position of a board chairman when he is facing charges of corruption at the EFCC?
“How can this panel go to as far as recommending some people who have one or two things to settle in respect of security clearance?
“So, the president said he doesn’t want that. In fact, if we were to go with the panel report, the board appointments would have been out since two months ago. But the president doesn’t want that,” he said.
However, one of the presidential committee members said they have done their best.
“We are members of the APC and the fact is that the boards must have significant membership from our party that is the tradition. We all went to our zones and got the names.
“I don’t want to say much on the allegation that we fielded names of questionable people. The president has the right to scrutinise the names,” he said.
Three sacked CEOs to be reinstated
Three Chief Executives (CEOs) of agencies under the Federal Ministry of Education would be recalled latest by Tuesday, our source said yesterday.
President Buhari on August 1 replaced 17 heads of parastatals under the education ministry.
Majority of the CEOs had served their terms and they were replaced but a couple of them were sacked.
It was gathered that three of those sacked would be recalled after a report exonerated them of any wrong doing.
On the recall of some chief executives, the source said: “The president has the power to hire and fire whoever he pleases. But, because of the criticisms that trailed the sack, the president has also ordered, in fact, as I’m talking to you, three of the Directors General (DGs) and Executive Secretaries (ESs) would be recalled.
“You see, a similar mistake was made before, when recommendation was made and the president sacked some Vice Chancellors (VCs), including that of National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN). You will recall that at a public function, the president had to apologise for that action.
“But the same issue repeated itself on the sack of the DGs and ESs in the federal ministry of education. Seventeen of them were relieved on August 1.
However, the president, having gone through the security report that necessitated their sack, directed that most of them, whose tenure did not expire.
FG to name boards for 58 agencies Next Week Tuesday
Governance. September 22, 2016.
The anxiety which has surrounded the long awaited appointment of members of the All Progressives Congress into various Commissions and Boards may soon be over as the Presidency is expected to name board members of 58 commissions and agencies that are currently being occupied by members of the Peoples Democratic Party who were appointed by former President Goodluck Jonathan, more than one year after President Muhammadu Buhari assumed office.
Most board positions at the moment are held by stalwarts of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who were appointed by former President Goodluck Jonathan.
According to a Daily Trust report, President Buhari who is expected to make about 5,000 board appointments for over 500 agencies has delayed making the appointments because a committee is working to reduce the number of government agencies. Many of them are considered to be redundant.
The report also quotes sources at the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) saying that despite criticisms from various quarters over the delay in making the appointments, President Buhari was not worried, saying he is taking his time to “thoroughly scrutinise the appointees, so as not to reverse himself on issues relating to federal character, competence, corruption charges and legal implications.”
One of the sources at the office of the SGF, said: “If you remember clearly, there were several allegations that the President favoured a section of the country in his previous appointments. In fact, this is one of the reasons that he is delaying the board appointments.
“But, I can confidently confide in you, that latest by Tuesday next week, the first set of board appointments of 58 agencies will be released.
“In fact, what delayed the release of the names is because the president is out of the country.
“Some of agencies that would have their boards on Tuesday include AMCON, CBN, UBE, TETFund, RMRDC, NUC and ARCN,” he said.
He said the president sorted the names himself because of some anomalies.
In October President Buhari set up an eight-member committee, mostly drawn from the ruling APC to compile names of candidates for board appointments.
The committee was chaired by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Engr. Babachir Lawal.
There were allegations that some members of the committee compromised themselves, a development that prompted Buhari to reject the first report the committee submitted.
However, the Director of Press in the office of the SGF, Bolaji Adebiyi, denied the allegation, saying the committee did its best.
“Let me also emphasise once more, that the SGF has not taken one kobo from anybody in order to facilitate his or her appointment into any board of the federal government. But, whoever has any evidence should showcase it; he should come up with facts and evidence. The SGF has not done such thing and will not do it. The appointments were based on merit and at the discretion of the president,” he said.
Another source close to the activities of the presidential committee said: “the committee had submitted its report on time but I can confide in you that some of the report was done based on favouritism and the president was not comfortable with that.
“Most of the committee members did a good job but there were some lapses here and there which the president rejected.
“He said he doesn’t want a situation when somebody will be recommended and he as president, after approving it, reactions would start coming from all over.
“So, the president decided to balance the list based on federal character and competence among other issues.
“This is the best president I’ve seen so far because, the major problem we have in this country is impatience.
“It would take a lot of courage to change the corruption imbedded in the system but that process of change is what people are not ready to accept. How can you give somebody the position of a board chairman when he is facing charges of corruption at the EFCC?
“How can this panel go to as far as recommending some people who have one or two things to settle in respect of security clearance?
“So, the president said he doesn’t want that. In fact, if we were to go with the panel report, the board appointments would have been out since two months ago. But the president doesn’t want that,” he said.
However, one of the presidential committee members said they have done their best.
“We are members of the APC and the fact is that the boards must have significant membership from our party that is the tradition. We all went to our zones and got the names.
“I don’t want to say much on the allegation that we fielded names of questionable people. The president has the right to scrutinise the names,” he said.
Three sacked CEOs to be reinstated
Three Chief Executives (CEOs) of agencies under the Federal Ministry of Education would be recalled latest by Tuesday, our source said yesterday.
President Buhari on August 1 replaced 17 heads of parastatals under the education ministry.
Majority of the CEOs had served their terms and they were replaced but a couple of them were sacked.
It was gathered that three of those sacked would be recalled after a report exonerated them of any wrong doing.
On the recall of some chief executives, the source said: “The president has the power to hire and fire whoever he pleases. But, because of the criticisms that trailed the sack, the president has also ordered, in fact, as I’m talking to you, three of the Directors General (DGs) and Executive Secretaries (ESs) would be recalled.
“You see, a similar mistake was made before, when recommendation was made and the president sacked some Vice Chancellors (VCs), including that of National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN). You will recall that at a public function, the president had to apologise for that action.
“But the same issue repeated itself on the sack of the DGs and ESs in the federal ministry of education. Seventeen of them were relieved on August 1.
However, the president, having gone through the security report that necessitated their sack, directed that most of them, whose tenure did not expire.
