Tinubu trusts me; demolitions & branding: What new ministers say

President Bola Tinubu on Monday inaugurated 45 new ministers, finally getting his cabinet take off nearly three months since coming to office.

Ahead of the event, Mr Tinubu assigned roles to the ministers, allowing them at least a week to understand their ministries.

The ministers are already talking, many on what they intend to do in their various portfolios.

This is what they are saying as reported by the News Agency of Nigeria:

Heineken Lokpobiri, Minister of State (Oil) Petroleum Resources

Mr Lokpobiri wants more oil.

“I have got more energy, and I have come to utilise that energy to revamp the petroleum sector.

“I am here with one agenda, which is to increase oil production and in order to increase it, we need to work together to achieve the desired results.

“I am here to provide the leadership so that we can go to the Creeks and resolve all the problems.”

Ekperipe Ekpo, Minister of State (Gas), Petroleum Resources

Mr Ekpo says gas will replace petrol.

“With the removal of fuel subsidy, the enormous responsibility of providing alternative to fuel rests on the ministry,” he said.

He said in line with the presidential approval of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) Initiative, the ministry would examine the utilisation of CNG for mass transit sector and power generation.

“This will support the economy in many ways, including scaling down cost of transportation which will cause multiplier effects, lower food cost and reverse inflationary trend leading to measurable improvement in living conditions of Nigerians,” he said.

Dave Umahi, Minister of Works

Mr Umahi says he would prioritise the use of local content.

“I will challenge our engineers on the issue of concrete technology even with the challenges of forex and petroleum prices and the abundance of limestone in our country.

“We will activate local content during our tenure in administration. I have indicated to see the contractors, meet with them and that will be after taking briefings from the heads of departments.

“I am not an office person, I am a field person. For some of you in that department, we will be inspecting the Lokoja-Benin, Lokoja-Abuja road,” he said.

“We are going to make changes, which means that the bureaucratic tendency of our system will fall.

“Under my leadership, no file will stay for more than two hours. In two weeks, I will be in the field and I will settle down only when I have seen things.

“We will be touring the six geopolitical zones to see things for ourselves.”

Betta Edu, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation

Minister Edu talks about lifting Nigerians out of poverty.

“What is most important is that we will keep our focus on lifting 133 million Nigerians out of poverty.

“We can do it in phases, a step at a time, because with determination and strong-will nothing is impossible.

“We will play down on politics, we are here to face the real business of governance,” she said.

“Different sources of data suggest that we have a population of 200 million Nigerians, which I think we are more than that.

“Out of this population, the sources indicated that 136 million are extremely poor and that is unacceptable.

“We need to bring smiles back to the faces of Nigerians.

“We must reach out to those who are underserved and renew their hope.

“While doing this, we must ensure that we will increase our efforts, be very sincere, transparent and accountable,” she said.

Ali Pate, Minister of Health and Social Welfare

Mr Pate is unhappy about medical tourism.

“When you fly from Addis Ababa to New Delhi you see a lot of people going for medical tourism and it is not a thing we in the health sector should rest on our oars and regard as normal,” he said.

“We should do something about it and improve our health outcomes.

“It is important that we deal with the issues of governance to improve the governance of health.

“The Federal Government, states and local governments and other stakeholders will work together, including those who may be differently abled in the construct of health policy and implementation,’’ he said.

“There is an important signal in the choice of those assigned the health portfolio, and we are very excited about that.

“I think the fact that the president also included Social Welfare in the health portfolio indicates he also considers the people as the basis; the foundational element for what his administration tries to do.

“This is because the welfare of the people is linked to their health; their health and wellbeing are interconnected right from gestation to childhood, to adulthood to elderly, and all across life cycle.”

Tunji Alausa, Minister of State for Health

Minister Alausa emphasises basic healthcare.

“Our people deserve basic, comprehensive, internationally-acceptable level of healthcare and we will start thinking of healthcare as a human right issue.

“Lack of basic healthcare to any Nigerian from now on will be considered as a violation of the human right of that Nigerian.

“We are going to latch onto the staff of the ministry to ensure that we deliver,’’ Minister Alausa said.

John Enoh, Minister of Sports Development

Mr Enoh reflects on his competence for the job.

“I don’t think you need to be an active sports participant for you to be minister of sports.

“I think what is required is who can provide leadership, direction, someone who is transparent, understand the sector and reposition it and that is what am bringing on board,” he said.

“There is no other endeavour in this country that is as uniting as the sports endeavour.

“Inspite of our diversity, the difficulties, the difference, the conflicts, I think Nigerians always unite as one whenever there is a sporting event,” he said.

Doris Uzoka-Anite, Minister of Industry Trade and Investment

Minister Uzoka-Anite wants more investment and branding.

“Our job is to attract investments. There is so much opportunity. One of them I have already witnessed here is the human resources,” she said.

“If we only just harnessed our human resource potential Nigeria will be great even without our mineral resources.

“Even without our non-mineral resources only our human capital alone is enough to take us where we want to.

“Now combine that with the new potential we have with mineral and non-mineral deposits.

“I think it is just for us to open the doors and say investors please come what do you want, we are here to facilitate that,’’ she said.

“So, I want to put that on the table and we will be doing a whole lot of branding and image making for the country because we have to re-introduce ourselves to the world.

“To tell the world what the country has and to tell it in the way that will make them happy to come.

“Secondly, apart from doing that is to ensure that we showcase the resources and the potential that we have in the country very well.

Nyesom Wike, Minister of Federal Capital Territory

Mr Wike will demolish stuff and bring back mass transit system.

“It is not going to be business as usual. Those distorting Abuja master plan: if you build where you are not supposed to, the building will go down,” he said.

“If you build on a green area, sorry, it will go down. Those who were allocated land and refused to develop them, we will revoke such lands and re-allocate them to those who are ready to develop them.

“Those who don’t pay ground rent, we will not notify them to do so, but I will not be tired of signing revocation notices.

“Uncompleted buildings that have become a safe haven for criminals will be reclaimed by the government and put them to good use.”

“If you have a brother, sister, or uncle involved in any of these, please tell him that the time is up. The goal is to sanitise Abuja and make it safe for everyone,” he said.

“We will consult with stakeholders, the natives, and herdsmen to address some of these problems, including open grazing.

“We will provide alternatives to reduce the suffering of the people, particularly those without private vehicles.

“We will bring back mass transit to improve access to public transportation, and therefore, the person in charge of transportation must keep his record clean,” he said.

He said development would also be extended to the six area councils to decongest the city.

“We will provide security agencies with necessary tools and logistics and after that, we will not want to hear any excuses. What we want to see is results.”

Dele Alake, Minister of Solid Minerals Development

Mr Alake says he’s the one the president trusts.

“The ministry is key to the administration and the president wanted someone that he trusts and believes will deliver effectively.

“So, the position was one that I specifically asked Mr president to give me and he obliged,” he said.

“I understand how you civil servants operate, I won’t tolerate any bottlenecks that will hinder my job, so any files that gets to you must be attended to in an hour.

“We won’t allow bottlenecks to stifle our set goals, it’s either you shape in or you ship out.

“If you can really sit down to listen, you will understand that, hydrocarbon is fading out and the attention of the world is shifting to solid minerals. So, we must get it right.

“I understand what results are, having served under the current president as commissioner, and we are here to achieve results. I believe we can do it with all hands on deck,” he said.

Shuaibu Audu, Ministry of Mines and Steel Development

Mr Audu is after Ajaokuta.

“The mandate of Mr president is to ensure that we get it right in the steel sector. As a young ministry, we will work toward the production of steel in the country in no distant time.

“We are set to kick start the Ajaokuta steel machine and Nigeria cannot afford to fail in steel production.” Audu said.

Lola Ade-John, Minister of Tourism

“There is a major emphasis on revenue generation and the Ministry of Tourism will go on tourism revenue drive.

“With everyone’s support, tourism is going to be the number one revenue earner in both foreign and local currencies,” she said.

Festus Keyamo, the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development

Mr Keyamo says he doesn’t plan to disrupt things and his watchword will be transparency.

“I have read your roadmap developed in 2016, read it thoroughly, point for point. Our intention is not to disrupt things that have been done so well. Government is a continuum.

“If there are things that have not been done properly within the road map, we may look at them again,” he said.

“Things that are still in the pipeline, we will look at all of these. My intention is to get my briefings within the few days or weeks. We will do this thoroughly as we can.

“For me, my watch word will be transparency here. At every point in time, the Nigerian people want to understand what we are doing. Nothing will be done in secrecy.

“They must understand what we are doing. We must carry them along so that we will not have the kind of complaints we had in the past.

“We should be as open as possible because we are serving the Nigerian people. My history is people oriented from private practice to public office,” he said.

“Nigerians may not know the work you have been doing behind especially in terms of safety of passengers in the aviation environment. But, they may appreciate few things they see.

“We will look at all these to see how we can improve on them. For every point in time we must put the people first.  This is not a forum I can mention all the things I noticed in your roadmap.”

Abubakar Kyari, Minister of Agriculture and Food Security

“We all know the challenges that we face now. Hunger is one of the big problems that we have in this country.

“And when I say hunger, it also means food and there are challenges in production, and insecurity is one and flooding is another,” he said.

“Our target is not only to secure food and feed the country but also to export food which we have the potentials to and it is just there ready to be tapped,” he said.

Lateef Fagbemi, Attorney-General and Minister of Justice

“We will anchor everything on Mr President renewed hope agenda.

“Considering the strategic role that our ministry is positioned to play, I want you to partner with me, follow the rule, engage in constructive criticism, so that together we can redouble efforts and get the job done,” he said.