The new Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha has made it clear that President Muhammadu Buhari is fully in charge of the affairs of Nigeria, contrary to insinuation in some quarters that the government is being run by cabal.
Boss Mustapha, who spoke to news men shortly after a close door meeting with the President at the Aso Villa, Abuja, said that Buhari looks more robust and dynamic than ever before.
“The President, in his normal candor and humor, just cracked jokes and he was in very high spirit. I was pleasantly gladdened in my heart when I saw how robust and how uplifting he is in his spirit and in spite of the enormity of the fact that he has to deal with navigating the affairs of this nation.
“But he looked in-charge, quite calm and calculated, and the beauty about it is that his recovery process has been very very remarkable. It is just a miracle and I just want to thank God for that.
Boss Mustapha said that he hoped to hit the ground running immediately the oath of office is administered on him
What are we expecting to see very different?
“Once that is done, I will now begin to take briefings from the office and begin to chart a roadmap. It is always not too fashionable to begin to talk about an office you have never occupied. That will be too presumptuous and I wouldn’t want to do that at the moment.
“I will want to step into the office first. But I have a general picture of where we should be going, and I can assure you that my responsibility is that of coordination and ensuring the implementation of government policies as generated.”
The new SGF said that Nigeria is not in lack of information and policy formulation, but that sometimes, it is the synergy of those policies for the purposes of attending the goal that has been lacking.
He said that those are some of the things that he will bring to the office, even as he stressed that there should be coordination and synergy “so that we can have a thrust that can move us forward.
“We need an emergency acceleration to get out of where we are, and I can assure you that Mr President is focussed on the three-pronged approach to take his government to fight corruption, diversify the economy and also the other aspect of security.
“We have done so much in the area of security. Even the diversification of the economy so much has been achieved.
“There are no poor farmers in Nigeria again. Honestly, for anybody that is able we can deploy our hands and our energy to growing our agriculture.
“I have spoken to some of the governors, they are doing remarkable work with the ANCO grower outgrower scheme and other schemes that are coming up.
“I believe that if we can do that consistently for a number of years, we’ll get out of this quagmire. Because a nation that cannot feed itself has a long way to go in terms of institutional and industrial development.
“So, like I said, I will not be too quick to say what I am going to do in office, but I have a general picture. Mr President has cast the vision, all of us that are appointees of government have the singular responsibility to ensure that we run with that vision.
“He has made it plain and whichever vision that has been made plain for those that are being charged with responsibilities we are supposed to run with that vision to ensure that at the end of the day, the dividends of democracy is delivered to the people of Nigeria.”
Boss Mustapha recalled how he and others went round campaigning and seeking for the mandate of Nigerians, adding that those of them charged with responsibilities would their best to ensure that they do not disappoint the citizenry.
“The expectations are great out there. You live with families and you know the expectations of families. You live in communities, you know the expectations of those communities. You live in geographical jurisdictions and you know the expectations of those people. But we’ve come at a time when the resources are very very lean, in some cases not available, but I believe with prudent management as being put in place by Mr President, we’ll be able to navigate these very difficult terrain and at the end of the day, every Nigerian will have a smile on his face.
“We are not promising heaven on earth, but we can move our people from this state of squalor in which they are to a state where there will be hope. And hope does a lot of things, because your desire for living for tomorrow is to rekindle back hope. And if there is hope that things will be better, the people of Nigeria are very understanding people and I can assure you that they will continue to give this government the kind of support that will require to push the nation ahead.” [myad]
