L-R, Hadi Sirika, Dambazau take their oath

Ministers sworn in Wednesday by President Muhammadu Buhari reported swiftly at their various places of engagement with one unifying message: Change.

But a number of them after meeting with senior officials of their ministries said they would not start work immediately as they needed to give the permanent secretaries, appointed less than 12 hours before their appointment settle on the job for some days.

Muhammadu Bello, the newly appointed Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT)  who arrived at about 3p.m. left at about 4.30 p.m. after addressing over twenty directors and the media.

He advised them to work together to make the FCT better than the preceding ministers left it.

He said that while the services of a minister could be dispensed with civil servants would remain.

“Jobs like mine are transient and I hope that we will be able to achieve the mandate of Mr President. Our success and failure can easily be seen and both will affect the rating of Mr President by Nigerians,’’ he said.

Bello said that since the Permanent Secretary had just assumed duty, he should take his time to get used to the operations of the FCT.

“ Next Tuesday, we will resume. I think we will make FCT better than what we met,” he assured.

Mr Adebayo Shittu, Minister of Communications during his maiden meeting with the management staff of the ministry on Wednesday in Abuja said  God has blessed Nigeria with a large population that if explored in a fair manner,  communications can become the cash cow of the nation in place of petroleum.

“There are many graduates without the knowledge of ICT; many of them end up paying exorbitant fees to engage in entrepreneurial ventures to learn these things.

“We must evolve a policy that will engage the usage of ICT in our universities and polytechnics, which can generate a lot of income for government without being oppressive in our charges.

“The current economic downturn may be an inhibiting factor, however, we must be resolute in our resolve to make a difference serving Nigerians with utmost dedication, transparency and honesty.

“This we must do in order to achieve for our people the highest good possible in our circumstance, ‘’ he said.

Shittu frowned at a situation where just about ten per cent of the budget is capital project and the rest stands as overhead.

He stressed that if there were no capital projects, it would be difficult to achieve any level of development because hardly would jobs be created.

“It will not be business as usual, there will be zero budgeting, every budget must outline its programmes and everything budgeted for must be actualised to its last detail.

Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the new Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism Development, has urged the directors of the ministry to key into the change agenda of the Buhari administration.

Mohammed gave the charge on Wednesday while addressing the directors and other management staff of the ministry in Abuja.

“Our business is to ensure that every day, we put in our best because if you take care of small things, big things must take care of themselves.  You must see yourselves as very vital part of the valid change of this administration.

“Because no matter what this administration does, until and when it is out there in the public domain, you have done nothing. So, you have a very big challenge.

“We are not just spokespersons for the government, (but) we must also see ourselves as change agents for this government.

“We must see ourselves as people that will drive that change. We must see ourselves everywhere and every time what we do as representing this government.’’

Dr Chris Ngige, the newly appointed Minister of Labour and Employment, has assured Nigerians of the readiness of the ministry to tackle the menace of unemployment in the country.

The minister gave the assurance in Abuja on Wednesday while addressing management and staff of the Ministry on his assumption of duty.

A statement signed by Mr Samuel Olowookere, Deputy Director, Press quoted Ngige as saying that under his leadership the ministry would work in partnership with the private sector to generate jobs through developmental focused labour laws.

He said: “We will be at the fore front of the battle to stop the scourge of unemployment in the country.

“We must as a people put on our thinking caps so that we can chart the way forward for employment generation.

“We are the catalysts, the change agent of the change era.

“If we block leakages in our system, the country will be better because resources will be made available for economic growth of the nation.’’

In his remarks, the Minister of State in the ministry, Mr James Ocholi (SAN) said that the management and staff of the ministry should work in partnership.

Also speaking, the Permanent Secretary y of the ministry, Mr Clement Iloh assured the ministers that staff of the ministry would cooperation with them to actualise their mandate.