The Presidency on Saturday explained why there were names of dead
persons on the list of newly appointed chairmen and members of board of
government parastatals and agencies.
The list was released on Friday by the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF).
The
Senior Special Assistant to the on Media and publicity, Garba Shehu
said that the list was prepared before President Muhammadu Buhari took
ill and was subsequently released by the SGF, Boss Mustapha without any
alteration.
According to him, the President requested for the
submission of 50 names each by the state chapters of the All Progressive
Congress (APC) in 2015 which were later complied by the National
Secretariat of the party.
He also pointed out that the names were then submitted to the immediate past SGF, Babachir Lawal.
He
said: “However, complaint arose from some governors who felt they were
not carried along in the process. To answer this, the president
constituted a committee under the vice president to review and reflect
the interest of the governors.”
He said that action on the report
submitted to the President by the committee headed by Vice President
Yemi Osinbajo was delayed because of President Buhari’s illness and his
subsequent medical vacation abroad.
“The president’s trips for medical attention slowed down completion of the process,” he said.
According
to him, the president only decided to revisit the matter recently and
therefore directed the new SGF to release the list.
“The current
SGF was only directed to complete that process by releasing the list
which he apparently did without altering it,” he stated.
He said that the appearance of dead persons names on the list was a mistake which would be corrected.
The
President had approved the constitution of the Governing Boards of
Agencies and Parastatals, under some Ministries, as well as the
appointment of eminently qualified Nigerians to fill the Board
positions.
It is made up of 209 Chairmen and 1,258 members.
According
to a statement issued by SGF, in Abuja on Friday said the President
considered the approval for the constitution of the Boards as well as
the appointments as they were “very necessary, so as to provide a proper
Governance and oversight structure for Government Agencies and
Parastatals.”
The statement added: “The constitution of the
boards with the appointments, is a demonstration of this Government’s
efforts aimed at building strong institutions of Governance, and by
extension, improving the quality of Policy formulation and supervision.
“While
these appointments represent a substantial number of hitherto pending
board appointments, some more appointments are still being processed and
will be released in due course.
“The appointments take immediate
effect and Honourable Ministers are advised to inaugurate the boards
after letters of appointment have been issued.”
