President Muhammadu Buhari said Wednesday that ministers and government functionaries must work hard to meet the expectations of Nigerians that returned the administration for a second term.
The president said this at the opening session of the maiden Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting at the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
“In the recently concluded elections, the majority of Nigerians who voted for us, gave us a clear mandate to enhance the security of lives and property across the entire country, to create a diversified and inclusive economy, that will bring prosperity to all and install governance and accountability in our systems and processes, thereby eliminating corruption.
“Therefore, all ideas and projects that will contribute to achieving these goals shall be foremost in our deliberations.
“The safety, security and prosperity of Nigeria’s 200 million people are our responsibilities we must not fail them,” he said.
The president said ministers must maintain a cordial working relationship among themselves and redouble their effort and work for the overall good of the Nigerian people.
“I have instructed the Secretary to the Government of the Federation to draft a schedule of Ministerial responsibilities for my review and final approval. As I said during the recent retreat, we must work in harmony with each other.
“Communication and team work are the hallmarks of success. I hereby remind you of the oath you took in this same room three weeks ago. As a government, our focus must remain that of selfless service,” he said.
The president also spoke on the creation, merger and split of some ministries, saying it was done for efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery.
“To enhance service delivery, we decided to restructure some functions which led to the creation of new ministries to achieve our goal of economic diversification and inclusive growth.
“For example, we merged the ministry of finance with that of budget and national planning, we also created a ministry for humanitarian affairs and disasters management and social development to fully institutionalized our various interventions that support some of the poorest and most distressed citizens of our country.
“Furthermore, we split the ministry of power, works and housing and ministry of transportation and aviation to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our infrastructure delivery programmes and projects.
“On security, keeping in mind the need to improve on our achievements we created the ministry of police affairs with the purpose to oversee the development and implementation of strategies that will enhanced Nigeria’s internal security in synergy with other security and intelligence agencies, this will include supporting the re-establishment of civil authority in the liberated areas of the north east.
“We also created a new ministry of Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs, this ministry will manage key projects and initiatives of the presidency. The minister’s role will include coordinating of multi-agencies and inter-ministry functions as designated by the President,” he said.
