John Alechenu, Fidelis Soriwei, Adelani Adepegba, Olalekan Adetayo

There are strong indications that incoming ministers will not enjoy some perks of office hitherto enjoyed by their predecessors.

Saturday PUNCH gathered in Abuja on Friday that some of the perks, including foreign trips at the slightest opportunity, long convoy of vehicles and the latitude to commit Nigeria to hosting international events without prior clearance from the President would become a thing of the past.

Other perks slated to give way are the tradition of having a large retinue of security aides, the latitude to dispense patronage using contracts and the use of private jets at public expense.

A high ranking member of the governing All Progressives Congress, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, noted that these among other things were part of measures being considered by the President to cut cost of governance.

The source said, “By now you should know that the President chooses his words.

“If you recall, he had said more than once that during his time in the federal cabinet, no commissioner (as Ministers were then called), could travel out of the country without taking the matter before the Federal Executive Council.
“I believe he is now more than ever before prepared to ensure that scarce foreign exchange is not wasted by ministers through frivolous foreign trips.”

One of the President’s acolytes, Osita Okechukwu, explained that the Buhari he knew would not hesitate to fire any of his minister found wanting.

He said, “Those who try to arrogate to themselves powers that they do not have are likely to leave the cabinet early. When somebody over the years had adopted a Spartan life and is transparent, I don’t see him changing at 73.”

Former spokesperson for the defunct Congress for Progressive Change, Mr. Rotimi Fashakin, said, “Nigerians need to listen between the lines (when Mr. President speaks).

“The President has already told us that these people (ministers) are noise makers that it is not going to be business as usual. They are not going to have absolute authority to do the kind of impunity they did under ex-President Jonathan.”

He explained that most Nigerians appeared not to understand why President Buhari delayed in appointing his ministers.

According to him, the President used the period to get insight into loopholes in the various ministries with a view to blocking them.

Fashakin maintained that the briefings the President received from permanent secretaries gave him an insight into how ministries are run.

He said, “Save for the privilege that it’s in the CV that I was once a minister of the Federal Republic which will be there or if you do well it may earn you national honours, that is what these ministers can be sure to get. This is the time for service.”
Saturday PUNCH also leant that in line with a directive by the President, the Force headquarters has put in place a machinery to reduce policemen attached to governors from 150 to 62 as part of plans to increase the number of personnel available for public security and protection.

The Force Public Relations Officer, Olabisi Kolawole, however, explained that the police had not taken a final decision on the number of policemen that would be attached to governors and ministers, noting that the issue was still being considered.

“As the IG said earlier, we are reducing the number of policemen attached to dignitaries as security detail, but the number of personnel that would be attached to the VIPs has not been determined yet, we are still looking into it, but once it’s done, we would let you know,” she said on Friday.

President Muhammadu Buhari recently ordered the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase, to prune the number of policemen attached to dignitaries, and to redeploy all policemen withdrawn from that role to regular police duties.

The president gave the directives when he met with the Police Service Commission, the IG and the Ministry of Police Affairs.

Buhari had announced plans by the Federal Government to recruit about 10,000 officers and men into the Force.

Findings also indicated that the Department of State Services might toe the same path as the police by reducing the number of operatives attached to dignitaries.

It was gathered that only those statutorily entitled to DSS protection like governors, ministers, and presidential advisers who are cabinet members would be given attention by the leadership.

It was learnt that private citizens including politicians and rich businessmen who hitherto enjoyed the protection of DSS operatives would no longer enjoy such privilege.

In response to plans by the Buhari administration to restructure the bureaucracy, labour unions have warned that any restructuring which leads to job cuts will be resisted.

Also, the Buhari led- administration has also expressed its desire to restructure the nation’s bureaucratic machinery.

However, the specific terms of the planned restructuring will only emerge after he would have inaugurated his cabinet, Saturday PUNCH has learnt.

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo had while speaking at the National Economic Summit in Abuja during the week reiterated the Federal Government’s determination to restructure its bureaucratic machinery.

Saturday PUNCH learnt in Abuja, on Friday that most of the major decisions on the matter would be taken after Buhari’s cabinet had been formed.

The Senate had during the week cleared 18 out of the 36 ministers expected to constitute the cabinet.

Special Assistant to the Vice President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Laolu Akande, confirmed to our correspondent on Friday, that the specific details on the restructuring would soon be made public.

“Those specific terms are going to be rolled out very soon, at least when cabinet is in place,” Akande said.

When asked about the plans by the government to reduce the cost of governance in Ministries, Departments and Agencies, he said the government’s conviction is that the adoption of the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System would go a long way in reducing costs in MDAs.
This, he explained, was the reason why the President directed that all agencies, including the military, should be on the platform.

He said, through IPES, significant amount of money would be saved.

“That is why the President has directed that all agencies should be on it.

“It is the government’s conviction that there will be a significant reduction on expenditure.”

Akande also said that the monetisation policy initiated by the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration is still in force.

“The monetisation policy is still in force. There are however exceptions for personal staff that must leave close to their principals,” he explained.

Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government have over the years continued to violate the monetisation policy of the government.

The National Assembly is also not spared from this violation which has continued to defeat government’s policy aimed at cutting down the cost of governance and increasing productivity in the public service.

Several ministries and agencies of government continue to purchase exotic and utility vehicles in the name of pool and project vehicles.

These vehicles are subsequently attached to high level officials who use them for purposes other than which they were purchased for.

Although the Buhari-led administration is likely to enforce compliance with the monetisation policy, investigations however revealed that ministers would not be compelled to follow the example set by President Buhari and Vice President Osinbajo by taking a pay cut.
It was learnt that the incoming ministers would be allowed to make their choice since the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission is constitutionally empowered to fix their salaries.

It will be recalled that the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, had told The PUNCH in July that Buhari would not force those who would emerge as his ministers and aides to cut their salaries.

Shehu had said that the decision taken by Buhari and Osinbajo on their salaries was personal to them.

He said the fact that the President and the Vice President decided to follow that path did not make their decision a government policy.

He said if Buhari wanted to make it a government policy for public office holders to cut their salaries, he would issue a directive to that effect through the proper channel.

He said, “The decision taken by the President and Vice President was a voluntary thing.

“The decision is not a government policy, it is personal.

“You will observe that the President did not say they should issue a circular.

“If he wants it to become a government policy, he will issue the directive through a proper channel. He won’t make it compulsory, that is the position for now.”

The General Secretary, Nigeria Labour Congress, Mr. Peter Ozo-Eson, said that the NLC was in support of restructuring of the Ministries, Departments and the agencies only if it would not be implemented to aggravate the problem of unemployment in the country.

He said that the NLC would embark on the necessary processes to enable its organs to take a decision against any job cuts emanating from the planned restructuring.

He said, “We have expressed our positions on that several times. While we are not opposed to restructuring in order to enhance efficiency, we nevertheless, envisage that that would be done in such a way that it does not result in job losses.

“We already have enough unemployment in the country and therefore restructuring can be done without job loss.

“So as long as the aim of the restructuring is not targeted at cutting jobs, we are receptive to it.

If it does, we will engage them on the issue; we are opposed to job cuts. We stated that clearly and we will continue to stand by that.

“I have just told you, there are processes we go through to take our decisions, we will engage them; when it comes to engaging, our organs would take the necessary decisions as to what steps to take.”

Similarly, the President of the TUC, Bobboi Kaigama, said that the congress would resist any restructuring executed to throw people out of jobs.

He said that the workers who might be affected in the exercise should go to their new postings with their job description.

Kaigama added that the exercise was expected to affect only ministers and permanent secretaries and not the workers.

I am assuring that any restructuring that would result in job losses would not be accepted by the organised labour.

“TUC will resist any restructuring that would make our workers to lose their jobs. Wherever the workers are going they are going with their job descriptions.

“It is only the ministers and the permanent secretaries that would lose their jobs, the professionals would not lose their jobs,

“They should not tamper with workers; they have not invited us, we are just waiting for them to do their jobs. If they feel we are not critical stakeholders, when the time comes, we will let them know that we are.

“We are not against restructuring. Restructuring should be carried out in such a way that there would be no job losses.”