By Mathew Dadiya, Abuja

President Muhammadu Buhari Tuesday, announced that his Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha would from now coordinate some of his executive functions as he directed the ministers-designate to at any given time meet either of the duo depending on the issue at stake.

The President announced the new order to his new cabinet members at the end of the two-day presidential retreat for ministers designate and other top government functionaries at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

President Buhari said, “In terms of coordination, kindly ensure that all submissions for my attention or meeting requests be channeled through the Chief of Staff, while all Federal Executive Council matters be coordinated through the Secretary to the Government of the Federation”.

While outlining some of the challenges before the administration in the next four years, Buhari wondered if the timeframe would be enough to deliver on the fresh mandate.

He noted that majority of Nigerians “are poor and are anxiously hoping for a better life” – one in which they do not have to worry about what they will eat, where they will live or if they can afford to pay for their children’s education or healthcare.

The President also tasked the Ministers designate expected to be sworn-in on Wednesday (today) that their responsibility as leaders of “this great country” was to meet these basic needs for our people. 

Speaking further, President Buhari lamented the rot his administration inherited from the previous government under the opposition, emphasizing that this administration inherited many challenges.

“A country in which 18 local governments in the Northeast were under the control of Boko Haram; decayed infrastructure in which our rail lines and roads had severely deteriorated;

“A rent seeking economy that depended largely on oil revenues and imports, significant unpaid pensions, subsidy debts, legacy contractor debts. I can go on and on,” Buhari narrated. 

He scored his administration high boasting that despite those challenges, his government has “largely succeeded in laying the foundation to rebuild our country.”

He said, “We recaptured those 18 Local Governments previously held by Boko Haram, whose activities are now limited to sporadic attacks against soft targets. Our investments in road and rail infrastructure are without precedent, and many of you can attest to this. 

“We also focused on diversifying the economy from oil towards agriculture and industrialization. Despite reduced revenues from oil and gas compared to past governments, we have broadly addressed many of the legacy debts they left behind.

 “Whilst we have obvious successes to celebrate, the challenges ahead are significant as you would have observed in detail over these two days. Nevertheless, from the quality of the deliberations, it is clear that solutions to our problems are well researched and have been well articulated.

“We have discussed solutions relating to addressing Insecurity; Macroeconomic Stability; Agriculture and Food Security; Energy Security for Petroleum products and Electricity; Transportation and Critical Infrastructure; Industrialization and SME Development; Human Capital Development; Social Inclusion; Anti-Corruption; Housing Financing and Consumer Credit.

“Public service is not easy work, and at times it can be thankless. I am therefore charging you all to see this opportunity to serve as an honour, to give your best to deliver on this mandate, for a more prosperous Nigeria, not for some, but for all Nigerians.

 “You will find that working collaboratively and purposefully will enable us to achieve quicker results, recognizing that four years is not a very long time. For the new Ministers, make sure you engage and benefit from the experience of the older Ministers and former Governors in the cabinet”

Earlier, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mustapha who is expected to coordinate the activities of most of the cabinet members and measure their outputs, said they are to consolidate and accelerate on the agricultural agenda to achieve full food sufficiency Increase revenue, implement measures to reduce leakages and drive cost optimisation.

The administration will also ensure effective coordination between monetary and fiscal policy, invest in human capital development with strong focus on early education and health insurance.

The second term administration will also facilitate investment in oil and gas sector by ensuring speedy passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill and Deep Offshore Oil and Exploration & Production Bill includes resolving the liquidity challenge in power sector and facilitate private sector investment.

“It was emphasized that we need to work effectively with all other arms of government such as state government, national assembly for major high impact initiatives such as provision of large scale land for agriculture and food security, passage of critical legislations.

“The work we have done here has been critical to laying the foundation for what we will accomplish in this administration. But this work alone is not why we are here. Now it is time to turn our words into actions – to take everything that we have learned, all the strategies and approaches that we have discussed, and go execute our priorities.

“This work begins now. The people of Nigeria are looking to this administration for results – and they expect them quickly. I will like to reiterate that the Federal Government is committed to delivering on and implementing all agreed initiatives within the stipulated timelines. 

“To ensure effective implementation, the initiatives will be cascaded to the relevant ministries, whose ministers will champion the responsibility for driving implementation and execution. 

“As ministers, you have leading roles in framing issues within your policy domain and developing, implementing and tracking policies and in communicating the impacts and results. It is your responsibility to take ownership over the success of these initiatives.