President Goodluck Jonathan has sounded a warning to the incoming administration of General Muhammadu Buhari to stop what forming what he called a parallel government when he is still in charge until May 29.

The President whose position was made known to newsmen shortly after the weekly Federal Executive Council (FECT) meeting today, expressed dissatisfaction with the way some functionaries of General Buhari’s side have been going about as if his government has come to an end after March 28 election.

Minister of National Planning, Dr. Abubakar Suleiman and his Information counterpart, Mrs. Patricia Akwashiki spoke the mind of President Jonathan when they jointly briefed newsmen after the FEC meeting that was presided over by the President himself.

They said that President Jonathan insisted that his magnanimity should not be interpreted by General Buhari to mean he is a coward even as he raised an objection to some terms of reference tabled before it by the transition committee of the incoming All Progressive Congress (APC) government.

The ministers said that in opposing the terms of reference of the incoming government’s transition committee, FEC advised its members to comply strictly with “the terms of reference as formatted by our (federal government’s) transition committee.”

The minister said that FEC observed that the terms of reference of the incoming government’s inauguration committee looked as if the outgoing Jonathan’s government was being intimidated, adding that the council warned against parallel government.

“We did receive from in-coming government transition committee some terms of reference which we looked at critically. And ‎council did agree that the Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan government remains the current government of this country.

“The incoming government should avoid creating a parallel government while the government is still on. We take exceptions to some utterances of some of the terms of reference that look as if the current government is being stampeded or intimidated.

“Council frowned at ‎most of the statements and most of them mm l provisions and council members are advised to work in line with the terms of reference of the current government.

“The magnanimity of ‎Mr. President should not be taken to be cowardice and that is why Mr. President and indeed council members enjoined Nigerian people to see the olive branch extended to Nigerians and international community as a way of keeping this country intact, as a way of ensuring peace in Nigeria and as such whatever the outcome of the election, what is important is Nigeria’s national interest and that national interest should be protected, enhanced and promoted at whatever level we are.

“When the incoming government takes over government they can come out with their programmes, they can come out with their own ‎agenda; they can decide to come out with policies the way they feel like.

“This government remains resolute to the various programmes and projects ‎it is pursuing and the government will continue to do that until morning of May 29^th.

“While Council enjoined members to be steadfast, Mr. President also enjoined members to come out with programmes, projects to be commissioned, that needs to be inspected and members in council should work as government, should perform their work without intimidation and that government especially civil servants, directors, director generals should see this government as the current government and not do anything that will rock the boat so as not to put this country in a bad light.

“‎These are issues before the transition committee, these are issues that were raised on transition programme.”

The ministers said that FEC further discussed the state of the transition programme and as chairman of sub-committee of transition committee, he and others were asked to update council on the progress report.

“We did mention to council that as at yesterday 28th April, almost all the MDAs that ‎were advised to submit briefs, handing over notes have compiled except for one or two ministries.

“The committee is having on ground right now two versions of presentations. We have the executive summaries of all the MDAs hand over notes ‎and the entire hand over notes from almost all the MDAs. The transition process is on course in terms of hand over notes and briefs. We have covered almost 80 per cent of our assignments.

“I want to tell you that as at yesterday, the chairman of the incoming transition committee Mallam Ahmed Joda‎ conferred with the chairman of the transition committee of the current government, Vice President Namadi Sambo, they had a very robust discussion and they are working together as a family and I want to believe for the good of this country things will work.” [myad]

President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari has listed eight ills that have held down Nigeria for a long time, even as he sought the support of members of the National Assembly to tackle them within the shortest possible time.
Buhari, who addressed the newly elected of the National Assembly today at their induction in Abuja made it clear that these eight development challenges are the mission of his presidency, adding: “I need the support of the Members of National Assembly on the battle front. I need your support in many respects.”
The induction was organized by the National Institute for Legislative Studies
General Buhari named what he called general insecurity and insurgency as the first ill, that has caused extreme human hardship and destruction of lives, livelihoods that may take Nigeria over a decade to rebuild across most of North Eastern Nigeria and some parts of North western Nigeria.
The second one, he said, is the devastation and environmental degradation in the Niger Delta area which he said must be attended to.
The third, according to the President-elect, is the decline in revenues due to fall in oil prices which he said, posed a threat to Government’s capacity to deliver on reconstruction of devastated areas and the new government development agenda.
Others, he said, are endemic corruption that has crippled human and infrastructure development for decades, unacceptably poor provision of power supply that has had a crippling effect on development of small businesses and indeed the wider economy. General Buhari noted that de-industrialization for the past three decades has led to the closure of many industries and migration of many to other African countries.
“Unacceptably high levels of unemployment and especially Youth Unemployment reaching over 40%.
“High cost of governance that has been crowding out capital and human development.
“Erosion of public social services such as infrastructure, health and education.
“Lack of development in the agricultural and solid mineral sectors.”
General Buhari said that appropriate policies needed to be put in place and that such policies might have to be translated into laws, adding that the oversight functions of the legislature is critical in ensuring that policies are implemented effectively and transparently.
“Therefore, my mission to bring integrity into governance would better succeed if complemented with a strong culture of transparent oversight.”
He stressed the need for the executive and the legislature to collaborate on the budget process and restructuring of the public sector so as to collectively tackle the menace of high recurrent cost at the expense of capital and human development.
He also stressed the urgent need for the two to contain the high state of insecurity, adding: “all of you are representing various communities. We need to work together to address the problem from both its roots and manifestations. The strongest mitigating forces at this point are to redress the power sector deficits, encourage investments that are job creating and focus on human development and reconstruction. We also need to deploy efforts in conflict resolution and peace building in all our communities.
“Together, we can make this nation great and as a role model in Africa and other emerging economies and democracies.”
The President-elect reminded the lawmakers that they are standing on the threshold of history saying that for the first time in the nation’s post independence history, power is going to be transferred from an incumbent ruling party to an opposition party.
“This is in spite of predictions of calamitous outcomes. Nigerians have indeed proven once again that they are a united people and stand resolute to protect its growing democracy.
“I wish to specifically acknowledge and laud the maturity exhibited by the political class, the professionalism of our security agencies, the competence and resilience of INEC, but above all the doggedness of Nigerians and their commitment to ensuring that their wishes are represented and respected.
“I dare say, it is equally a victory for all political parties and their leaderships for according due respect to the electoral process and accepting the results in most cases. I wish to specifically acknowledge the role played by the President, H.E Goodluck Ebele Jonathan for accepting the results of the election before final announcement was made.” [myad]