What the ministers said

Soon after they took their Oaths of Office, the ministers immediately swung into action, meeting their management staff and subordinates. Some even visited project sites and others addressed press conferences. Below is what some of the cabinet members said.

David Umahi
Minister of Works

“I have inspected about eight projects on the Abuja-Lokoja roads and was disappointed with what I saw. How can you collect money to do something and you didn’t do it right? Do you people fear God at all? We must do work for the people instead of ours. This last time there was a flood overflow here, they stayed over one week. You know, from my assessment, suppose there is a medical emergency, food supply, petroleum supply, and I think it was causing a food shortage in Abuja.”

“There is a need to use concrete technology. It’s going to make our roads last for a minimum of 50 years. A lot of contractors have complained that it is cheaper to import, but we are not allowed to import cement because we have to help the cement industries, but they also have to be reasonable with us if we are going to be patronising them.”

“We are looking at the figures but it looks like a lot of contractors are not willing, but I will make them to make the change – we are all engineers.”

Dr Bosun Tijani

Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy

“The minister can formulate policies and regulations but if we are not working closely with industry, the things we want to see will never be built to the point where prosperity can come to our nation.

“If we do not collaborate with countries all over the world, we are going to be limited by what is available at the minute in terms of knowledge. We are going to be partnering with the best organisations and institutions in the world. So, part of our challenge is how do we connect people to opportunities so that they can build?”

“This ministry is critical to unlocking opportunities for our people regardless of where they are. We are the face of the ministry which means, we have to update and upgrade our skills, ensure that we are connected to modern knowledge, but most importantly, ensure that there is dignity in everything.”

 

Festus Keyamo SAN

Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development 

“The president did not send me here by mistake. I think he has clear ideas as to why he sent me here. I will need your maximum cooperation to make us succeed.”

“I have read your roadmap developed in 2016, read it thoroughly, point for point. Our intention is not to disrupt things that have been done so well. Government is a continuum. Things that are still in the pipeline, we will look at all of these. My intention is to get my briefings within a few days or weeks. We will do this thoroughly as we can.

We will develop our ideas and take it to the President for approval so that we can kick off. That is what I intend to do here.”

Wale Edun

Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy

“It is the wish of Mr. President to create jobs, reduce poverty, control micro and macroeconomic policies to create a stable environment to attract investors, stabilise the exchange rate and drive the economy to reduce poverty to the lowest level.” 

“The era of the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) per capita falling by 30 percent over the past 10 years will be a thing of the past with Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.” 

Gboyega Oyetola

Minister of Marine and Blue Economy

“Experts say the Blue Economy is estimated to be worth more than $1.5 trillion per year globally. Therefore, given our size as a country and considering the size of our blue economy, we should be a significant player in this sector, to contribute immensely to the revenue generation of our country and also provide jobs for the unemployed.

“We must come up with practicable ways of ensuring that our inland rivers, lakes and waterways are well utilised, both in terms of cargo shipment and passenger transportation. This can be done by embarking on a holistic dredging campaign for most of our strategically important inland waterways to make them navigable for the passage of goods and people.”

Abubakar Kyari

Minister of Agriculture and Food Security 

“We all know the challenges that we face now. Hunger is one of the big problems that we have in this country. And when I say hunger it also means food and there are challenges in production, and insecurity is one, flooding is another and there are other issues.

“I think we have a big challenge but not that it is insurmountable. Our target is not only to secure and feed the country but also to export food which we have that potential and it is just there ready to be tapped.”

Abubakar Badaru

Minister of Defence

“We’ve to deliver and for the sake of our country, we know without security, there’ll be no investment and without investment, there’ll be no economic growth, even our food security is threatened. Farmers can’t go to their farms. The president is ready to give us all the support to do this, so from now on I want the service chiefs to give me a timeline and their requirements on how we’ll begin to solve these problems one by one.

“This timeline and target will be passed on to the president and trust me, he’ll be monitoring us and he doesn’t have the patience to work with lazy people. So, all our jobs are at stake if we don’t deliver.”

 

Dele Alake

Minister Of Solid Minerals 

“Now if you all can sit down to analyse the global trend of economic development, you would note that the hydrocarbon that is the oil is fading out and the world is moving towards alternatives like gas, electric cars, and the rest. So what is the next economic growth factor? It is solid mineral.

“Given the nature of this sector to our economic growth and vitality of this country which is dear to the heart of Mr President, it’s just very apt and proper for him to send me here because he knows and trusts that I have a demonstrable sense of responsibility and courage to drive the agenda, that is why I am here. We are going to drive that agenda with the full cooperation of everyone.”

“In my world, where I come from, you know you are in the civil service and have your rules and regulations but in my world, there are no strictures, I have been in the civil service as a commissioner before. My modus operandi is results, I really don’t care how you get me the results as long as you use legitimate means to get the result. I am going to set an agenda with focus and objectives, we would get the results. Now we are not going to be allowing civil service structures and strictures to stifle us from creativity and flourishing, what we need is attitudinal change.”

Prof. Tahir Mamman SAN 

Minister of Education 

“I need your support and cooperation to help the government achieve its desire in the education sector. For me, I work like a bricklayer who lays blocks one after another, and watch the structure grow through his daily contribution. I am also a good rewarder of hard work, hence I will give reward where necessary and punishment where necessary also.”

 

Prof. Ali Pate

Minister of Health and Coordinating Minister of Social Welfare 

“We will reverse medical tourism, improve health outcomes. There is a gap in health outcomes that need to be improved. When you fly from Addis Ababa to India you see a lot of people going for medical tourism and it is not a thing we in the health sector should rest on our oars and see as normal. We should do something about it and improve our health outcomes.

“It’s important that we deal with the issues of governance to improve the governance of health. Federal government, States and Local Government other actors would work together, including those who may be differently abled in the construct of health policy and implementation.”