Jonathan directs ministers to prepare handover notes

Posted by admin Goodluck Jonathan (2010-present), Ministries, Presidency Monday, May 16th, 2011

Fourteen days to the end of the present administration, President Goodluck Jonathan has directed his ministers to prepare their handover notes.

Two ministers, who disclosed this to one of our correspondents in Abuja on Sunday, said all of them had started clearing their tables preparatory to the dissolution of the Federal Executive Council.

The dissolution may take place on May 25.

One of the ministers said, “We have been asked to prepare our handover notes. As I speak with you, I have started my own. I have also asked my permanent secretary and some of the directors to join me in its preparation.

“In preparing the handover note, we are expected to state how we met the ministry and what we are leaving behind.

“Definitely, we are going to add our challenges and how we tackled them in the notes. We are also going to add the state of the ministry as at when we are leaving.”

Another minister, who has been having a running battle with some Peoples Democratic Party godfathers in his state, said his handover note was almost ready.

“When I finish preparing it, we will all wait and see what is going to happen during the next dispensation. You know everybody wants to be minister,” he said.

For instance, the Minister of Finance, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, is expected to highlight the unresolved Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation debt of N450bn owed the Federation Account.

Despite several threats by members of the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee to the NNPC, the corporation has not fulfilled its obligation to remit the said amount to the federation account.

The lingering debt, which is believed to have cost the immediate past minister of state for finance, Mr. Remi Babalola, his job last year had been a subject of controversy at every FAAC meeting in the past three years.

Aganga is also expected to include the delay in the passage of the budget by the National Assembly in his handover note.

The 2011 budget is still a subject of controversy between the Executive and members of the National Assembly over its implementation.

The N4.97tn budget, as passed by the National Assembly, was N745bn higher than the N4.221tn proposal submitted by President Goodluck Jonathan on December 15, 2010.

Aganga had while reacting to the budget passage said, “The 2011 budget is supposed to signal the beginning of fiscal consolidation, but we now have another expansionary budget which is unimplementable.”

The budget has since been returned to the National Assembly for further scrutiny.

The minister is also expected to include the delay in the takes off of the Sovereign Wealth Fund.

The SWF bill, which will help to enthrone fiscal federalism by reducing the persistent withdrawal of funds from the federation account, is yet to take off owing to delay in its passage.

Though the Senate has passed the bill, the House of Representatives is yet to do so.

In the case of the Minister of Labour, Chief Emeka Wogu, he is expected to include the passage of the contentious new minimum wage of N18, 000 by the National Assembly in his handover note.

The note, according to one of his top aides, will include the threat by some state governments not to pay the money unless there is a new revenue allocation formula.

In the petroleum sector, beyond the non-passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill is the issue of near permanent scarcity of kerosene, the recurring fuel scarcity as well as the high price of diesel.

When President Jonathan took over power after the death of President Umaru Yar’Adua, the Minister of Petroleum, Mrs. Diazeni Alison-Madueke, in collaboration with all the agencies in the sector worked to ensure that fuel queues disappeared from filling stations.

But recent developments after Jonathan emerged winner in the just concluded presidential election show that Alison-Madueke may not have successfully tackled the issue, especially as it concerns even distribution of the product.

She is expected to highlight all of these and many more in her handover note.

Although the NNPC has continuously assured that the country has enough fuel to meet the need of motorists, the recent scarcity experienced in many northern states and the Federal Capital Territory gave credence to the suspected cold relationship between the marketers under the aegis of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria and the major stakeholders in the industry.

One of the major issues that have continuously vexed the marketers is the price of diesel. The marketers are still lamenting the inability of the Federal Government to control the skyrocketing price of the product, which the President of IPMAN, Alhaji Aminu Abdukadir, said his members could no longer continue to buy at N190.

Although a meeting was held last week to resolve the issues, the IPMAN members still believe that except the government put a price control on diesel, buying it at N190 per litre will end up eroding the 45 per cent increase the Petroleum Equalisation Fund Management Board is expected to pay as freighting cost .

In addition, the scarcity of kerosene has remained unresolved since last year. The development has cost nightmare for many Nigerians, especially the poor who rely on the product for cooking.

In spite of the huge expectation from the gas revolution inaugurated by Jonathan about two months ago, observers still believe that Alison-Madueke might be leaving behind a number of unresolved issues apart from the failure of the government to ensure the passage of the PIB.

-Punchwp_posts