At retreat, Tinubu tasks new ministers on collaboration

President Bola Tinubu has charged newly appointed ministers on inter-ministerial collaborations for better service delivery to the Nigerian public.

Tinubu gave the charge on Friday at a retreat organised for the seven ministers sworn in last week.

They include Idi Maiha (minister of livestock development); Yusuf Ata (minister of state, housing and urban development); Suwaiba Ahmad (minister of state, education); and Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu (minister of state, foreign affairs).

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Others are Jumoke Oduwole (minister of industry, trade and investment); Nentawe Yilwatda (minister of humanitarian affairs and poverty reduction), and Muhammadu Dingyadi (minister of labour and employment).

George Akume, the secretary to the government of the federation, who represented President Tinubu at the retreat, urged the ministers to collaborate with other ministers, permanent secretaries and key stakeholders in the discharge of their mandates in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of the current administration

“Your roles require close collaboration with your colleague ministers, permanent secretaries, heads of agencies and other stakeholders”, Akume said at the 2-day induction retreat.

He added that effective inter-ministerial cooperation was crucial to addressing the multifaceted challenges facing Nigeria, from economic recovery to social cohesion and sustainable development.

Akume called on the new ministers to imbibe the tenets of transparency, accountability and excellence in the discharge of their statutory mandates as custodians of public trust.

He assured that his office would give the needed support to the ministers in actualising their mandates and urged them to provide leadership for the ministries in the formulation, implementation and tracking of government policies, programmes and projects.

Esther Walson-Jack, head of the civil service of the federation, who also spoke during the retreat, urged the ministers to work in collaboration with the permanent secretaries in the actualisation of their respective mandates.

She further encouraged them to take advantage of the ongoing reform in federal civil service, especially the federal civil service strategy implementation plan 2021-2025 and ensure that their ministries are up-to-date on its implementation.

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Hadiza Bala-Usman, special adviser to the president on policy and coordination and head of the Central Delivery Coordinating Unit (CDCU), said that the retreat was also to avail the new ministers the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the key presidential priority areas and how to relate with other stakeholders in their various ministries in “delivering on the Renewed Hope Agenda.

Adeola Ajayi, the director-general of Department of State Security Services (DSS), also charged the ministers on the need to imbibe discretion in handling sensitive government documents to avoid undermining the security of the country.