INAUGURAL FEC HOLDS REDEFINES ROLES, SETS CRITERIA FOR ASSESSMENT
The first Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in the life of the new administration held yesterday at the council chambers of the Presidential Villa, presided over by President Goodluck Jonathan. The meeting focused on major policy directions on new methods of doing things and set criteria to assess performance of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
It has also said Nigerian embassies in Europe, Asia and America would focus more on investment promotions and that henceforth, foreign policies would be tied to investments with Nigeria business community interacting with their counterparts in other countries.
Addressing State House correspondents, the Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, in accompany of the Foreign Affairs Minister Ambassador Olugbenga Ashiru said President Jonathan warned the new ministers against actions capable of compromising their integrity.
Maku said the President also charged them to take complete charge of their ministries and offer strong and committed leadership, do things properly according to due process and in such a way that would show commitment, passion and vision. He also asked them to ensure that their consciences guide their actions, even as he added that he would rely on them for his transformation agenda to be realized.
According to the Information minister, 'in addition to that, the minister of National Planning also re-emphasized the need for measurement and evaluation of the work that we do in our ministries, so whatever we do, there will be an assessment. It is not enough to initiate programmes, the nation will want to know how much of those programmes have been realized and how much they have impacted on the lives of the citizens. So the work in the new dispensation will involve proper measurement of the deliverable indicators in every MDA and the ministers have been asked to go and take a look at the major documents in their areas of focus.'
According to Maku, the President noted that the FEC was not just a body for awarding and approving contracts, but for making major policies, as it concerns the citizens of the country. He said it was new policies that would bring development. He added that this dispensation would review policies that no longer had impact on the lives of Nigerians.
Speaking on the supposedly newly carved out ministries, the Information minister noted that for clarity purposes, the Ministry of Communications Technology was created from both the Ministry of Information and Communications and Science and Technology. The Ministry of Science and Technology would retain its name, while the Ministry of Information and Communications was now, Ministry of Information.
Maku said members of the council took turns to speak but all agreed they had a challenge that must be met and every MDAs must matter. He said there were three areas of focus in governance, which took into cognizance vision, due process and integrity, second being infrastructure development and third, human development.
The council commended the Minister of Labour, Emeka Wogu, the Nigeria Labour Congress, the Trade Union Congress and the Governors Forum for doing everything to reach a truce that prevented the planned strike over minimum wage from going on.The council also noted that the national economy at this time could not afford disruptions and both sides - government and labour agreed and shelved the strike and to maintain industrial peace.