Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
President Muhammadu Buhari has given ministers another week to prepare in order to contribute to discussions at the inaugural Federal Executive Council (FEC), which will now hold next week.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, in a statement said this week’s FEC meeting will not take place due to the fact that all the memos earlier submitted to the council for consideration had been returned to the various ministries.
“This action will allow ministers who were recently sworn in have their inputs in the memos sent by their predecessors in office.
“Similarly, the period is to enable the ministers who are still taking briefs from bureaucrats in the ministries and familiarising themselves with their workspace, have more time to contribute to discussions at the meeting.
“They will also utilise the period of the break to work towards the early preparation and submission of the 2020 budget estimates.”
Last week’s meeting did not hold due to the absence of President Muhammadu Buhari, who was in Yokohama for the 7th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD7).
The ministers were given two weeks from the day of their inauguration to sign and return the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) form to the office of Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha.
Buhari had also reminded the ministers that the FEC meeting would be held every week.
He stated: “Dear honourable ministers, as you are aware, the Federal Executive Council meeting is held on a weekly basis.
“As part of efforts towards ensuring effective delivery on our priorities, I have directed the Secretary to the Government of the Federation to track the progress against what we have committed to do to achieve these objectives.
“He is, therefore, expected to report the process of implementation and outcome to the Federal Executive Council.”