…as Osinbajo presides over FEC
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has clarified that the valedictory session of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) to be held on May 22, did not mean that the cabinet would be dissolved on the same day.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Thursday, the minister said it was the prerogative of President Muhammadu Buhari to dissolve the cabinet anytime he chose.
The statement signed by the Special Adviser to the Minister, Mr Segun Adeyemi, clarified the minister’s earlier statement to State House correspondents after Thursday’s FEC meeting in Abuja.
‘’It is inaccurate to extrapolate from my statement – that the FEC valedictory session will hold on 22 May – to say that the President will dissolve the cabinet on the same day.
“They do not mean the same thing,” he said.
Meanwhile, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has presided over the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, as the deadline given to cabinet members for submission of handover notes expires.
President Muhammadu Buhari had on April 17 asked for a comprehensive “status reports on policies, programmes and projects” from cabinet members on their respective ministries, departments and agencies.
Buhari, who is on a visit to Borno, will depart for the UK later in the day.
The deadline for submission of the reports to the Presidential Audit Committee in the office of the Vice President was April 24.
The 9th and 10th FEC meetings were rescheduled for April 25 and May 2 respectively in view of the Easter break and May Day celebrations.
More so, ministers were directed to “ensure that all outstanding memoranda they intend to present to FEC are submitted to the Cabinet Affairs Office, in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, not later than April 30.’’
No fewer than 21 ministers alongside the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, and the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Winifred Oyo-Ita, are in attendance.
