The Presidency has placed members of
the Federal Executive Council (FEC) under security watch in preparation for the
dissolution of the cabinet. Consequently, President Goodluck Jonathan and his
wife, Dame Patience, have started ignoring programmes obviously packaged by ministers
to curry their favour. Saturday Newswatch gathered that anti-graft agencies
have been given green light to take an intense look at the activities of the
ministers. As a confirmation of the President’s new strategy, he did not only
fail to attend the launch of a rebranding project packaged by the Minister of
Tourism and Culture, Chief Edem Duke, held at the Presidential Villa on
Thursday night, but also prevented his wife from adding colour to the occasion.
The minister had placed a full page advertisement in some newspapers with
photographs of the first family and himself while announcing the launch of what
he called, “Fascinating Nigeria.” Several slots were also bought on radio and
television to herald the unveiling of the project.
But President Jonathan, according to
sources in the presidency, had to send his Vice, Namadi Sambo, to represent him
at the last minute when he learnt that only two governors, Liyel Imoke of Akwa
Ibom State and his Benue State counterpart, Gabriel Suswam with three other
ministers were at the venue. “Three things could ordinarily have prevented Mr.
President from attending; one, the fact that he would want to be careful in
dealing with the ministers now that some of them would be dropped; two, he was
told the attendance was extremely poor; and three, some concerned civil
servants had through some informal channels protested that rather than use
civil servants, the minister contracted the re-branding to event managers,” a
senior presidential aide who does not want his name in print confided in
Saturday Newswatch.
It was gathered that the presidency
might have also begun investigation into the appointment of one Mrs. Chika
Balogun, one of the aides of the minister who signed the advertisement placed
in the newspapers. Mrs. Balogun signed the advertisement as senior special
assistant. It was gathered that ministers are only allowed to appoint special
assistants and personal assistants. Besides, it was gathered that civil
servants were not carried along in the re-branding project which was a minus
point on the launch. Civil service operations, according to sources close
to the presidency, frown at chief executives who carry out projects without
involving civil servants who are expected to continue such projects when such chief
executives are no longer in office. “Mrs Balogun and Stephany Duarte that
signed the advertisement are not staff of the ministry and the ministry is not
actively involved. In fact, staff of the Ministry of Tourism and Culture are
angry,” Ben Okocha, who claimed to be a staff of the ministry, told Saturday
Newswatch yesterday.
Some Nigerians, however, condemned
the rebranding exercise as a waste of public fund. But, the media aide to the
minister, Dr. Taiwo Oladokun, said the rebranding project did not cost the
ministry, and indeed the government, a kobo. This is not the first time the
minister is using event managers to handle ministry projects. During the
Ministers’ Conference in Calabar, he allegedly gave the project to an ex-beauty
queen. This, some senior civil servants said, undermined the structure in
the ministry. An aggrieved Abubakar Tanko, said: “As at now, we should be
silent and see what we can do to build a good and united Nigeria; if there is
indeed a need for rebranding, definitely, it is not now. It is I’ll-timed.”
But a legal luminary, Yusuf Olaolu
Ali (SAN): said: “Some of these challenges are a direct result of lack of
direct foreign investment. What was being launched was with a view to
attracting tourists into Nigeria. You will agree that in other parts of the
world such as Egypt, Syria and South Africa, where there are challenges, they
all still try to attract tourists because they feel that it is a good way of
making money for their countries. “Everything about Nigeria is not gloom; we
have hope. So, I’m not concerned about the cost. I wouldn’t know how much will
be used to do it, but since it’s a socio-economic programme, I think it is not
out of place,” he added.
Source: Daily Newswatch
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