Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Jonathan plans to handover May 28

President Goodluck Jonathan will formally handover to the President-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari at a dinner on May 28th, 2015.

The Minister of Information, Patricia Akwashiki disclosed this to State House correspondents on Wednesday at the end of Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Jonathan.

According to her, May 29th has been reserved for the incoming government while many activities have been lined up all through that week to showcase what Jonathan’s administration has achieved.

She said that the President has also directed all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to submit their transitional briefs to the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) by 20th of this month.

Stressing that the Council is already in transition, she said that all the MDAs have also been directed to submit before the 13th of May, 2015 anything requiring President Jonathan’s approval.

Valedictory FEC session, she say will be held on the 20th of May, 2015, while there will be dinner on the 28th of May, 2015.

She said: “By May 28th the president intends to have the formal handing over done at a dinner so that we can reserve the 29th for the incoming. By May 28th we expect to have concluded our governance and we are welcoming incoming government.”

“Also you know May 29th is our democracy day so we have activities lined up all through that week, showcasing all what we have achieved and all other things we do normally on our democracy day except that this year is special with the inauguration of our new president that is coming up on the May 29th.” She said

She went on: “You know we are already in transition so there is very little to report. What we discussed with the President in council, he emphasized on the need for all MDAs to submit their handing over notes to the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation by 20th of this month, that is next Monday.”

According to her, a format has been developed for all the MDAs to follow in preparing the notes.

She said: “So we are going to be very busy this weekend putting our handing over notes together. The president also emphasized that he would require another little briefing from all MDAs to indicate inherited projects, how far it has been executed and initiated projects by his administration and the level of completion, whether completed, ongoing or abandoned.”

“If they do that it will be easier for the president to compile everything. The formate is to ensure you submit everything before they pass it to the incoming government.”

Continuing, she said: “We discussed other issues but we are particularly paying attention to the transition and how to make it effective. As you are all aware we have transitional committee already set up by president, headed by the Vice President. Other than that we have an inaugural committee that is headed by the SGF.”

“So everything we are doing we are doing to achieve smooth transition, getting all our notes together.”

On whether the FEC meeting will continue to hold, she said: “It is for the MDAs to submit their notes to the SGF who will handle the total package of the handing over to the incoming administration. It doesn’t mean that is the exact notes that will be passed on.”

“That is not to say that governance has stopped, of course we are in government until the day the president-elect takes oath of office.”

“There is no space vacuum there are things happening. And if you have any pending contract approval it has to be submitted before the 13th of May. Everything that requires the president’s approval should be submitted before May 13th.”
“We also do not want the incoming administration to accuse us of rushing projects which is normal so we are guided by that. And if you have approvals we are going to have federal executive council every week, the last one that will be the valedictory one will be on May 20th.”

“So governance is not stopping, we are still working and in the event you have approvals it must be concluded before 13th.” She stated.

Source: The Nation