Politics

Experts Kick As 40 Presidential Panels Gulp N20bn

Published

2 years ago

April 11, 2023

Over N20bn was earmarked for presidential committees supervised by the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation between 2015 and April 2023, findings by The PUNCH have shown.

Experts have frowned at the amount the current administration had spent on funding committees.

Speaking, Research Director, Centre for China Studies, Abuja, Charles Onunaiju, said although committees were ad-hoc vehicles to address evolving issues, most had only usurped roles belonging to existing agencies while failing to deliver results.

“We do not see what they have achieved in terms of results and service delivery. Committees, in my view, are supposed to be engaged on issues that are generally not expected or for whom we do not have statutory institutions or organs to deal with.

“But we have seen that some committees have become a hybrid, accountability processes are opaque and they are not held accountable under the traditional process.

“They have been, more or less, usurping roles of traditional government institutions. So, it is not out of place to see that they have gulped so much money and returned so little in terms of service delivery,” he observed.

A development economist and public affairs analyst, Aliyu Ilias, argued that existing ministries, departments and agencies could undertake some committee functions if given the room.

Ilias said, “There are no committees that a director in a ministry cannot spearhead. That is why we have special duties.

“You recall that the National Social Investment Programme was eventually transferred to the humanitarian ministry.

“These monies are uncalled for because you cannot put your hand to what they are doing exactly and they are meant to last for some time. So, it is better to pick from the ministries, departments and agencies.”

On his part, a foundation member of the All Progressives Congress, Osita Okechukwu, argued that the committees were essential ingredients of policy formulation.

“We cannot formulate policies in the marketplace. So, it is always more beneficial to society when the committees are primarily made up of experts in that area.

“That is why it becomes important to set up committees so that the policy in question will be reviewed upside down until the government says ‘this is the best model or strategy that we should use to pursue a given policy to achieve a given result’.

“It is as they say in the parliamentary language that most results are not achieved in the general house, but at the committee levels because a few good heads can bring up good ideas and present them to the general house,” Okechuwu said.

The Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation could not be reached at the time of filing this report.

This came as the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), inaugurated at least 40 committees and councils to drive various government agendas, since assuming office in 2015

The committees comprise various sectors: education, health, security, the digital economy, and the civil service.

Most recently, the President inaugurated a 14-member Steering Committee on Petroleum Products Supply and Distribution management to address fuel scarcity, a 56-member National Advisory Committee on Women’s Economic Empowerment and the Presidential Transition Council to usher in a new government on May 29.

Others include the National Steering Committee of the National Poverty Reduction with Growth Strategy, an 18-member Presidential Steering Committee on Alternate School Programme, the Health Sector Reform Committee with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo as Chairman, the reconstitution of the Standing Committee on National Honours Award, a 17-member committee for the development of Nigerian football, amongst others.

In 2022, the President inaugurated an 11-member presidential committee on the national economy and a Presidential Steering Committee on reviewing the Integrated Payroll and Personal Information System, the Treasury Single Account, and the Government Integrated Financial Management System.

In the same year, the President also set up a committee to consider the demands of the Academic Staff Union of Universities in the Union’s eight-month faceoff with the Federal Government.

He also inaugurated the National Council on Climate Change, the Nigeria End Malaria Council, in line with the African Union Assembly Declaration for the Establishment of EMCs continent-wide.

On August 19, 2022, while receiving the Central Working Committee of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria at the State House, Buhari revealed that he had created a committee to harmonise salaries in the Public Service.

He also set up a 27-man Presidential Council on Digital Economy and E-government, the reconstitution of the membership of the governing body of the National Anti-doping Committee and the Presidential Committee on the Repatriation, Return and Resettlement of Internally Displaced Persons in the North-East of Nigeria.

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Politics

Coalition: Why Tinubu Must Not Sleep —Primate Ayodele

Published

2 hours ago

July 5, 2025

Editor

Primate Elijah Ayodele of INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church has warned President Bola Tinubu to be vigilant, stating that the All Progressives Congress (APC) is already making mistakes that could cost them victory in the 2027 elections.

According to Primate Ayodele, the APC’s national convention will mark the beginning of the party’s crisis.

“For APC, their convention is dangerous, and the convention will mark the beginning of APC’s crisis. Tinubu must not sleep because mistakes are being made already. I see serious problems in the party, but they are not yet seeing it,” he revealed.

Primate Ayodele also revealed that there are several things God has shown him regarding the 2027 elections, and more will be revealed at the launch of his annual prophecy book, “Warnings to the Nations,” on July 5, 2025.

The book, which has been published annually since 1994, features prophecies concerning various nations, world leaders, and influential individuals.

In addition to his warning to President Tinubu, Primate Ayodele advised opposition candidates against relying on their proposed coalition platform, All Democratic Alliance (ADA), saying it will fail.

Instead, he suggested they adopt the African Democratic Congress (ADC) platform, which he believes has the capacity to build something strong.

“ADA Party will not give you anything, ADC is better for a coalition front than ADA. Even SDP cannot make any tangible movement, let them use ADC so they won’t build on an infertile ground.”

The upcoming edition of “Warnings to the Nations” spans over 600 pages and features prophecies on Nigeria’s 2027 presidential election, Ghana’s President John Mahama, and prominent Nigerian billionaires such as Mike Adenuga, Aliko Dangote, and Abdul Samad Rabiu.

The book has a track record of accurately foretelling significant global events, with over 15,000 prophecies coming to pass since its inception.

Politics

Amaechi: I Will Resign As FCT Minister If… Wike

Published

17 hours ago

July 4, 2025

Editor

Federal Capital Territory FCT minister, Nyesom Wike has begged President Bola Tinubu to release the report of the forensic audit on the Niger Delta Development Commission NDDC, which he said indicted the former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi.

Wike vowed to resign if the report is released and its contents do not indict Amaechi.

Speaking on ‘Politics Today’ on Channels Television monitored on Friday in Abuja, Wike who was responding to allegations by Amaechi that he was corrupt, said Amaechi’s wife received N4 billion monthly from the NDDC to train Niger Delta women.

He said, unlike Amaechi, he does not come from a poor background, hence his sophisticated taste.

Wike said, “First of all, Amaechi’s wife was not an industrialist. She has never been, and that is why I call on Mr President to release the forensic audit of NDDC.

“Amaechi’s wife company, every month, got N4 billion to train Niger Delta women. That is N48 billion in one year alone, and the forensic audit report is there. Who killed it? It was Malami, then the Attorney General.

“That is one of the people who is now talking. Mr President should help Nigerians. You see, this is what I have always said. Mr President should help Nigerians. Please, release the forensic audit of the NDDC.

“I have said, let Mr President please do us a favour to release that document. Former Attorney General, Malami, killed that document to protect those who were concerned.

“I am not just saying what I am saying, let them release the document. If what I am saying is not in the document, I will resign at the Minister of the FCT. I said I will resign.

“I don’t worship office. What I am saying, let them release the forensic audit of the NDDC. I didn’t say the forensic audit was right, but I said, release the report of the forensic audit.

“That is how the wife became an industrialist – N4 billion every month to train Niger Delta women”, he stated.

Wike challenged the academic qualifications of Amaechi, describing them as less than average, and also faulted Amaechi’s claim that a Senator gave him (Amaechi) a Rolls-Royce but that he does not use it.

According to the FCT minister, the vehicle was given to Amaechi by a contractor who was executing about -0 percent of the projects in Rivers state. In contrast, the former Transport Minister was the governor.

Politics

Coalition: Abure-led LP Gives Obi 48 Hours To Leave Party

Published

2 days ago

July 3, 2025

Editor

The Abure-led faction of the Labour Party has given the presidential candidate of the party in the 2023 election, Peter Obi, a 48 hours ultimatum to leave the party haven formally joined the coalition party.

This was contained in a statement signed by the faction’s National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, in Abuja, on Thursday.

He explained that the Labour Party under Abure’s leadership remains vehemently opposed to joining the coalition while dismissing members of the coalition as “power mongers whose only interest was self and not the people.”

The party warned Nigerians that the often mouthed ‘new Nigeria is Possible’ is a ruse and cannot be achieved with the assemblage of old, recycled, desperate and frustrated politicians in the coalition.

Ifoh said the party is aware that all those who mismanaged Nigeria over the years are the ones that gathered themselves in the coalition while noting that desperate politicians can’t birth new Nigeria.

He said, “We are aware of several nocturnal meetings between Peter Obi and some of our members, lobbying them to join him in his new party. We’re also aware that a number of them has refused to defect with him.

“Labour Party has consistently said it is not part of the coalition and therefore, any of our members who is part of the coalition is given within 48 hours to formally resign his membership of the party.

“Labour Party is not available for people with dual agenda, people with deceptive persona. The party will not avail itself to individuals who have one leg in one Party and another leg elsewhere.

“People who in the morning they will claim to be in the Labour Party and in the evening they are in coalition.

“Nearly 70 per cent of the Nigerian population are youths who are tired of the old order, tired of gerontocrats deciding their fate. The new Nigeria that the youths are dreaming of, is not what can be realized from what we are seeing in the coalition.

“These people are opportunistic politicians who are only interested in relaunching themselves into circle of power, people who are desperate to continue holding on to power.

“The new Nigeria of our dream can only be realised through the Labour Party, and the party is willing to lead Nigerians along that trajectory.

“I therefore urge all members of the party to remain loyal and keep the party structure intact ahead of future elections.”