A minister-designate, Senator Chris
Ngige, on Friday disclosed that following the resolve by the present
administration to run a lean economy, members of the soon-to-be
constituted Federal Executive Council would serve without some perks of
office associated with past government officials. He said ministers would not operate with huge retinues of aides and large convoys of vehicles.
Ngige spoke with State House
correspondents at the end of a two-day presidential retreat organised
for ministers-designate by the Office of the Secretary to the Government
of the Federation.
The retreat with the theme, “Delivering
Change: From Precepts to Practice”, was held behind closed-doors inside
the Presidential Villa, Abuja. Ngige said it was the desire of the present administration to block all leakages in the economy.
“Yes, we shall operate a lean economy
because we are going to block areas of leakages, retinues of aides,
protocol staff, large convoys of cars are things that will not fly in
this administration,” he said.
He also said the ongoing debate over a
statement credited to President Muhammadu Buhari that not all ministers
would be assigned portfolios was not necessary.
Ngige said with or without portfolios, it is the responsibility of all ministers to join hands and move the nation forward.
He said, “Whether you have portfolios or
don’t have portfolios, it is one single Federal Executive Council. You
bring whatever it is (you have) to the table. That is not a problem at
all.
“We have the right to discuss things
around the ministries because it is one single cabinet. The important
thing is that we want to move our people from where they are now; they
are in abject poverty, a situation that affects about 75 per cent of the
populace.
“So, we need to actually restructure the
political and social moment of the country and that is what we are
going to do. That means poverty will reduce.”
Meanwhile, the retreat which started on Thursday was rounded off on Friday.
