Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has blamed former President
Goodluck Jonathan's outgoing government for delaying
his ministerial
appointments. Buhari said Monday the previous administration had stalled
a committee report that was meant to assist him in the transfer of
power, according to wire service News Agency of Nigeria.
Last month, Buhari slammed Jonathan’s government for hindering a smooth transition
one week before his May 29 presidential inauguration. An interim
committee was set up to write a report on the issues of good governance
within the various arms of the administration, as well as with
infrastructure, power, national security, education, health and social
welfare. But ministers and government leaders under Jonathan’s outgoing
administration failed to provide any input, which delayed the report, Leadership newspaper reported.
“I don’t know why people are so anxious about ministers. But
eventually we will have [them],” Buhari told reporters Monday at the
25th African Union summit in Johannesburg. “But the main reason is that I
have an interim committee...I agreed with former President Jonathan
that the minister of the outgoing government should hand over their
notes or their documents to this interim committee so that a position
can be prepared for the new government to start from with clear records
from ministers…but unfortunately, the outgoing government did not
cooperate.”
Buhari said he was also taking his time appointing individuals to key
positions such as the finance and petroleum ministries. “I want to get
ministers after...I have seen the report because I don’t [want] to
appoint a minister today and slack him the next week because this report
would give me what actually happened in terms of security [and the]
economy of the country,” he added.
Jonathan and Nigeria’s former head of state, Gen. Abdulsalami
Abubakar, initially allowed the former ministers to submit notes to the
interim committee. But the committee was forced to suspend review of
those notes when the outgoing People's Democratic Party (PDP) accused
Buhari’s incoming All Progressives Congress (APC) of forming a parallel
government. Buhari said Monday he had received the committee’s report
three days ago.
Buhari, a former military dictator, beat
the incumbent Jonathan in the March 28 presidential election with more
than two million votes, marking the first time an incumbent president
was defeated in the West African nation. Jonathan’s PDP also lost majority legislative power for the first time in 16 years.
Source: ibtimes
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