Buhari orders ministers to prepare their Hand over notes

 An indication that President Muhammadu Buhari may dissolve the Federal Executive Council (FEC) earlier than the May 29 terminal date of his first term in office emerged yesterday when he asked ministers and agency heads to turn in their handover notes by Wednesday.

Reports have it that the president was weighing his options on the status of the ministers and that he might ask them to go shortly even as he might not reappoint most of them.

 A statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, Wednesday said the president asked his appointees to come up with a comprehensive status reports on policies, programmes and projects of their respective ministries, departments and agencies.

 According to him, the government officials have Wednesday, April 24, 2019 as the deadline for submission of their reports to the Presidential Audit Committee in the Office of the Vice President.

 Shehu also said a circular to this effect issued by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Boss Mustapha, instructed members of the Federal Executive Council to ensure that all outstanding memoranda they intend to present to the Federal Executive Council are submitted to the Cabinet Affairs Office, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, not later than Tuesday, April 30, 2019.

 He also said the circular also informed members that the ninth and 10th meetings of the council have been rescheduled to Thursday, April 25, and Thursday, May 2, 2019 respectively in view of the Easter break and May Day celebrations.

 Based on the president’s directive, ministries have started directing agencies and parastatals under their supervision to equally submit their handover notes.

For instance, the Federal Ministry of Finance has ordered Customs Comptroller General, Col. Hameed Ali (rtd), the Accountant General of the Federation and 12 other heads of agencies under the Ministry of Finance to submit their hand over notes by April 23.

 The directive was contained in a circular signed by the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed.

 According to the circular obtained yesterday, permanent secretaries and heads of extra-ministerial departments and auditor-general of the federation were also directed to send in their handover briefs.

 Others affected by the circular include, the Debt Management Office, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Security and Exchange Commission (SEC), Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), National Insurance Commission, Investment and Security Tribunal, National Economic Reconstruction Fund, Nigeria Export Import Bank, Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD), Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), Development Bank of Nigeria and Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority.

 The minister revealed that the development was to ensure a comprehensive hand over notes for the smooth and effective transition to the in-coming administration on May 29.

The handover notes, she further revealed, are to be prepared in soft copies, hard copies must as well contain lists of files under the custody of all the MDAs.