President Muhammadu Buhari has read the riot act to ministers, permanent secretaries and other top officials including heads of agencies.
The warning was issued after the two-day performance retreat organized by Secretary to Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha.
In a brief, Buhari directed that conclusions reached at the recent ministerial performance review be effected by all concerned officeholders.
On security, the Federal Government de-emphasized the dependence on foreign supply of military weapons to fight security challenges.
Buhari instructed the Ministry of Defence to create a modest military-industrial complex for the local production of weapons to meet some requirements of the armed forces.
“This is being implemented under the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON), a military department responsible for arms manufacture”, the brief read.
The federal government is confident that the 12 new A-29 Super Tucano armed turboprops, now in use for training, surveillance and air raids, will further degrade enemies of the state.
Investments in arms, weapons and other equipment are being increased; National Command and Control Centres are extended to cover 19 states and the Nigeria Police Trust Fund as established.
Also, the sum of N13.3 billion has been approved for the take-off of the Community Policing initiative and the recruitment of 10,000 police officers.
On infrastructure, the FG cited the establishment of InfraCo Plc, a development vehicle with combined debt and equity take-off capital of N15 trillion, to be supervised by an independent fund manager.
The Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund has been set up with over $1 billion in funding, and the Nigeria Innovation Fund of the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) launched.
On Transportation, the FG listed the 11.9km Second Niger Bridge, 120 km Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, 375 km Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria- Kano expressway and the East-West Road.
”Railway networks are being extended. Lagos – Ibadan Line commissioned; Itakpe-Ajaokuta rail Line commissioned; work to commence on the Port-Harcourt-Maiduguri line and Calabar-Lagos Coastal Line.
On the economy, the FG mentioned three consecutive quarters of growth, after negative growth rates recorded in the second and third quarters of 2020.
”The GDP grew from 0.8 per cent in 2017 to 2.2 per cent in 2019 but declined in 2020 Q1 due to COVID-19. 2021 Q2 GDP growth rate was at 5.01 per cent, the highest under the administration.
Buhari ordered ministers and permanent secretaries to work in synergy for the delivery of set targets.
”They must “ramp up implementation” of mandates along the nine priority areas of government”, the directive indicated.
The Nigerian leader also directed the SGF to immediately begin the process of convening quarterly coordination of meetings for each priority area.
“All ministers and permanent secretaries must be in attendance. These are not meetings to delegate,” Buhari strongly warned.
The SGF is to start engagement with stakeholders to agree and push forward a framework for the institutionalisation of the Central Delivery Coordinating Unit (CDCU).
“Ministers and permanent secretaries are to promote a robust performance culture across the Ministries, Department and Agencies by setting up intra-ministerial delivery task teams,” the president said.
Buhari further detailed the Head of Service to immediately invest in capacity strengthening of the Planning, Research and Statistics departments in MDAs alongside the CDCU.
Mustapha disclosed that from May 29, 2019, to August 31, 2021, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) held 52 meetings and granted 579 approvals comprising of 381 contracts, 110 policies and 88 briefs/notes.
“The 878 contracts approved by FEC have mostly targeted the provision of infrastructure, geared towards enabling faster economic growth and development”, the SGF added.
