President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday morning assigned portfolios to the newly appointed ministers, while a minor cabinet was effected.
Letters were given to the new ministers by the Secretary to the Federal Government, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, after the swearing inand oath taking before the commencement of the Federal Executive Council meeting.
President Jonathan assigned the former Governor of Kano State, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau as the new Minister of Education.
Jonathan also directed the erstwhile Minister of State for Works, Ambassador Bashir Yuguda, to take over as the substantive Minister of National Planning, as well as, function as the Minister of State, Finance.
Others that have been assigned are Dr. Stephen Oru, Minister of Niger Delta Affairs; Mr. Adedayo Adeyeye, Minister of State, Works; and Dr. Abdul Bulama -Minister of Science and Technology.
In his short remarks, President Jonathan said the ministers’ appointment could not be described as enviable because they were brought in at a time when Nigerians expected a lot from them.
He urged them to perform not only to satisfy him but all Nigerians.
“Let me congratulate you for this appointment, but it is not an enviable appointment because in football match when you get to the injury time and a player is brought in you expect goals from the player. This government has less than a year to go and you have been brought in this time, so you know the reason why you have been brought in.
“You have no time to sleep, unfortunately for you because first you have to learn how to climb the ropes, maybe because it is a different setting, no matter how experienced you are if you go into something different you will need sometime to adjust.
“But from your background we know that all of you are eminently qualified to be here and we know that it will not take you too many hours to settle down. We believe that you will perform not just to satisfy Mr President but to satisfy Nigerians. You are not just serving the President as a principal aide, but you are serving our motherland and in this we will expect the best from you especially at this time when there is global competition” he said.
Good talk, Mr President, I hope they had heard you very well. 7 months is short, but long enough for them to make impact and not time to take away from the govt.