Buhari makes first appointments, appoints Adesina, Shehu, spokespersons

President Muhammadu Buhari Sunday announced the first set of appointments into his administration.
The President, named Mr Femi Adesina and Mallam Garba Shehu as his spokesmen. Adesina will serve as Special Adviser, Media and Publicity, while Shehu will be the Senior Special Assistant Media and Publicity. The statement for the appointments was made by Shehu.
Adesina until the appointment was President of the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) and Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of The Sun newspapers.
Shehu served as the Director, Media and Publicity of the APC Presidential Campaign Council. He was the President of the Nigerian Guild of Editors 16 years ago.
Buhari also approved the appointment of Mallam Lawal Abdullahi Kazaure as the State Chief of Protocol (SCOP).
Kazaure is a career Foreign Service official and currently serves in Aso Rock Villa as a Special Assistant on Presidential Matters

See more photos from the presidential Inauguration Gala night

More photos from the Inauguration gala night which held at the Presidential villa on Friday night May 29th. 

Photo credit: Dele Momodu/Ovation

Ijaw youth want amnesty programme extended

The Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, has expressed mixed feelings and concerns over the inaugural address of President Muhammadu Buhari in relation to the Niger Delta region. According to a statement issued by Eric Omare, the spokesman of IYC, and made available to journalists in Yenagoa on Sunday, there is need to review the terminal date of the Amnesty Programme to accommodate those who are yet to complete the scheme.

"President Muhammadu Buhari in his speech said that the amnesty programme for ex-Niger Delta agitators would end by December 2015. The IYC appreciates the fact that the amnesty programme cannot continue forever and therefore must have a terminal date. However, the questions on the lips of beneficiaries and stakeholders in the Niger Delta region are: what would happen to those that have not been trained at as December 2015. And what about those still undergoing training or have not completed their training?”

Mr. Omare said that the termination of the programme would throw up challenges for beneficiaries of the programme who were still undergoing training and were at different level of training. The IYC spokesman said the group expected the Federal Government to allay fears of beneficiaries who were in different parts of the world and were worried that their trainings might be affected if the programme was terminated in December 2015. He added that the case of substantial number of ex-agitators who had not been trained was even more worrisome.

He, therefore, appealed to the Federal Government to address challenges before the programme was terminated. On streamlining projects and programmes in the Niger Delta region to make them more effective, IYC said it would support any step of the Federal Government to strengthen institutions responsible for the development of the Niger Delta region.

The group applauded the planned streamlining of policies to rapidly develop the region. “We, however, wish to advice that any effort toward restructuring developmental institutions and projects should have the input of the people of the region at the heart of the process. “The people of the Niger Delta must be the ones to decide the shape of developmental institutions in the region.’’

The IYC said it had expected President Buhari to address issues such as cleaning up of the Niger Delta environment, implementation of the UNEP report on Ogoni. He added that also left out of the inaugural address was the menace of oil theft which had greatly contributed to environmental degradation in the Niger Delta region, which Mr. Buhari promised to tackle during the presidential campaigns.

(NAN)

President Buhari receives former Kosovo President in Abuja

President Buhari today received former President of Kosovo, Mr. Behgjet Pakolli at the State House Abuja.

Ambode shuns official residence, opts for Alausa office

Determined to surpass his predecessor, the new Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, yesterday said he would vacate his official residence to reside at Alausa, in Ikeja in order to serve the state better and attend to the state’s matters as early as possible. Ambode also promised to return some agencies to their original supervising ministries to ensure the control which used to be in place in those agencies.

The governor said that unlike his predecessor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, he would not live in his official residence in Marina, so that he could get to the office as early as 8am daily to attend to some files and other state functions. Ambode said he expect every worker in the state public service to also be at their desk by 8am so that if he had cause to get in touch with anyone, they would be readily available.

Speaking at his inaugural meeting with the Body of Permanent Secretaries in the State Public Service, he said that the state civil service would drive the change and continuity which he intended to put in place in the next four years. At the meeting were the Deputy Governor, Dr (Mrs.) Oluranti Adebule, the Secretary to the State Government, Mr. Tunji Bello; Chief of Staff, Mr. Olukunle Ojo and all the Permanent Secretaries and Tutors General in the State Public service.

He reaffirmed his commitment to strengthen the civil service and continue with the reforms through which he would carry out his policies, urging the permanent secretaries, who are the administrative heads of the ministries, to see themselves as front runners of the present administration.

Noting that he would take advantage of the experience he had gathered as a retired public servant to improve on the service delivery, he reiterated that new offices would be created just as some present ones would be streamlined in order to ensure that cost of governance was reduced while ensuring greater efficiency.

He said: “Part of my speech at my inauguration ceremony yesterday dwelt on the creation of a Ministry of Wealth Creation which would ensure that not only do we create wealth but ensure that when investments from foreign sources drop, a pro-active situation is in place to take care of them.

According to him, since the APC has already formed a government at the centre, investments are also bound to drop from the centre and that when such investments come, the state should have a front desk office that will attend to such people bringing in the investments or people with interest to bring them in. Governor Ambode stressed that he would saddle the Body of Permanent Secretary with the task of taking a look at the draft which the administration of Fashola could not conclude work on and which he had gone through but streamlined according to his vision.

The governor, who also spoke on a revisitation of ministerial responsibilities of all ministries, departments, and agencies, said that the ministerial responsibilities were last reviewed in 2001. He explained that he would ensure that Permanent Secretaries exercise the authority that comes with their positions efficiently and ensure that each officer works for the position he has attained.

Cristiano Ronaldo shows off his dance moves aboard luxury yacht

The 30 year old footballer was seen busting some moves aboard a yacht in St. Tropez. Cristiano was on board with his rumoured girlfriend Chloe Green, the Topshop heiress. The boat is owned by her dad, billionaire Sir Philip Green.

The Portuguese hunk happily showed off his honed footballer physique in all its glory and looks like he may have taught his buddies some of his moves. More photos after the cut.