Buhari not in a hurry to appoint ministers

For those who have been wondering why President Muhammadu Buhari is yet to name his ministers, they might have to wait a little bit longer, because the president says he is not in a hurry to name his ministers.

Buhari, who spoke to newsmen at the Summit of the African Union in Johannesburg, South Africa, said he was being careful in order not to make mistakes in appointing individuals especially to key positions such as in the finance and petroleum ministries.

According to him, he is yet to appoint his ministers because his predecessor’s transition committee submitted its report on the previous administration to him late.

“I was waiting for this report because I would like to know the position of things in the government especially in terms of finance and petroleum industry. So, I am not in a hurry to get ministers.

“I want to get ministers after at least I have seen the report because I don’t have to appoint a minister today and sack him the next week because this report would give me what actually happened in terms of security, and economy of the country”.

His words: “I don’t know why people are so anxious about ministers. But eventually we will have (them). But the main reason is that I have an interim committee which I agreed with the former President Jonathan that the ministers of the outgoing government should hand over their notes or their documents to this interim committee so that a position can be prepared for the new government to start from with clear records from ministers”.

He said that the planned examination of the hand-over notes had to be suspended when the outgoing ruling party accused his then incoming administration of forming a parallel government.

The President, who recalled that during his time as Minister of Petroleum during the Chief Olusegun Obasanjo military regime, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) had only three accounts, said that during the immediate past administration, the NNPC and the Ministry of Finance did not know how many accounts they had. He described the development as improper.

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