The newly appointed Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Sen. George Akume, assumed duties on Wednesday with a pledge to coordinate the implementation of government policies and programmes.
Akume, a two-term Governor of Benue – from 1999 to 2003 and 2003 to 2007 – was Minister of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs in former President Muhammadu Buhari’s government.
Akume appreciated his predecessor, Boss Mustapha, for the smooth transition programmes handled by him, noting that the SGF’s office was a sensitive one.
“I will do my best; I will continue from where the former SGF stopped.
“We will do our best in the interest of the country. I have an open-door policy and we will continue to do our best, starting from where you stopped.”
Akume also appreciated President Bola Tinubu for the opportunity to serve his fatherland.
Earlier, Mustapha had said that it was his pleasure to be present to formally hand-over the affairs of the office of the SGF to Akume.
He used the occasion to highlight some of the important responsibilities and the functions of the office to Akume.
Mustapha briefed Akume on pending issues such as report of the Inter-Ministerial Committee to consider pending Bilateral Agreements between the Federal Nigeria and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Others are the report of the Presidential Committee on the Review of Number and Strategy for Resourcing Nigeria’s Diplomatic Missions World-Wide, and the approval of the recommendations of the reviewed white paper on the Presidential Committee on the restructuring/rationalisation of Federal Government Parastatals, Agencies and Commissions.
Others, he said, are the Ama Pepple Report on the new agencies created after the Oronsaye Report, which WhitePaper was produced by the Ebele Okeke-led Committee, and the report on the Presidential Implementation Committee of the White Paper on the Commission of Inquiry into the Alienation of Federal Government Landed Property.
He also briefed the new SGF on the Report of the Presidential Steering Committee [formerly Presidential Task Force (PTF)] on COVID-19; implementation committee on Special Detainees Linked to Boko Haram Insurgency and report of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry for the investigation of Mr Ibrahim Magu, the former Acting Chairman of the EFCC, among others.
(NAN)
