Today's Headlines: Kind of ministers I expect from Tinubu – Gbenga Daniel, Nigerians still need your services, Tinubu, Osinbajo, Jonathan, others tell Ex-SGF

GLatestJuly 17, 2023

4 minutes read

Kind of ministers I expect from Tinubu –Gbenga Daniel

Photo Credit: Sun Nigeria

Senator Gbenga Daniel believes that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will appoint only competent people to his cabinet. The former governor of Ogun State in this interview said Tinubu that he knows will not sacrifice merit for political patronage. He spoke on various issues.

Considering the manner in which the current leadership of the Red chamber emerged, do you agree with those who think that the 10th Senate may be just a rubber stamp to the executive arm of government?

I have a different view about rubberstamping and things like that. I think people who come with this view are coming from the angle that the objective of the executive is different from that of the legislature. My own understanding is that both this executive and the legislature are coming from the same party. Ordinarily, if they interrogate their manifesto and do what they have to do, to a large extent, they should be on the same page. I also come with the view that when the executive and the legislature are on the same page, the society is better for it. I have looked at the 9th National assembly; I was not part of it; I have looked at the number of bills that they have been able to have successfully passed, it seems that they have been much better than the previous ones. I mean the 8th assembly where you would say that we did not have a rubber stamp leadership. Ordinarily, if we are all on the same page, believing that we are all out there to serve the interest of the masses, that is the common denominator, there should not be any reason why there should be a difference. There could be differences in ways and means of the methodology but in terms of the fundamentals, in my opinion, it should be the same.

Nigerians still need your services, Tinubu, Osinbajo, Jonathan, others tell Ex-SGF

Photo Credit: The Guardian Nigeria

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has told former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, that Nigerians still need his services in a higher capacity.

Speaking at a Thanksgiving Service organised for Mustapha in Yola, the Adamawa State capital, yesterday, the president said the former SGF discomforted his family to provide effective services to the country.

The president, who was represented by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Sen. George Akume, pointed out that the former SGF was not only a transparent leader but also helped to unite the country through his unbiased decisions.

He said the Mustapha should be expecting to serve Nigerians in a higher capacity in the nearest future.

Also speaking at the event, former president Goodluck Jonathan, who was represented by Dr. Godbless Erunia, said that Mustapha was the engine room that stabilised the immediate past government.

He urged Nigerians to emulate the selfless services provided by the former SGF to ensure that the country becomes free from corruption and other issues holding it down.

I suffered worst personality attacks, assaults in Osun’s political history, says Osun gov

Photo Credit: Sun Nigeria

Osun Governor, Ademola Adeleke, yesterday, recalled the controversy that trailed his educational qualification during the 2018 governorship election saying he was subjected to the worst personality attacks and assaults in the political history of the state.

He, however, stated that he is a living example of how best to pursue an educational degree despite age.

In his remarks at the convocation of Adeleke University, Ede, he maintained that getting well educated is not time-bound and age must not be a barrier to educational pursuit.

He noted that July 16 makes a year he was elected as governor despite how he was subjected to personality attacks and assaults in 2018 as a result of discussion over his academic qualification.

We’re committed to delivering exceptional services to pensioners –Ejikeme, PTAD boss

Photo Credit: Sun Nigeria

The Executive Secretary,Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD), Dr Chioma Ejikeme, has said that she would not relent on current efforts to deliver exceptional services to pensioners.

Ejikeme, who was in Awka, the Anambra State capital recently to attend a stakeholders’ engagement forum for the South East region organised by her directorate, spoke with Daily Sun on a number of issues bordering on federal pensions and pensioners.

What would you sayare your achievements since assuming office?

Our achievements are numerous. We’ve been able to complete the field verification for all pensioners in the operational departments.

When I started, we finished the payment of 33 per cent arrears inherited from 2010. By December of 2019, we had completed the payment of that 33 per cent arrears across all the operational departments of PTAD.

When we now finished with the verifications, we started validating verifications. I started with declaring a state of emergency on civil service pensioners because we had finished their verification between 2015 and 2017 but we hadn’t validated the verification. So, we went into a project that looked into all the pensioners’ complaints, looked at the people who were not on payroll, put them on payroll; looked at people who were not properly placed, placed them properly, paid gratuities, paid arrears to the tune of over eight point something billion. And when we finished with that, we now started with the parastatals’ pensioners. And with the parastatal pensioners, we first of all started with paying off arrears to some of the defunct agencies. A lot of them came with pension arrears ranging from 84 to 200 and something months. So, what we have been doing is that we have paid off New Nigeria newspapers, we have paid off NICON Insurance, paid off Nigeria Reinsurance Corporation, paid off Aluminium Smelter Company, paid off Nigerian Ation Handling Company (NAHCO), paid off Delta Steel Company and a whole lot of them. All the defunct agencies that we inherited, we have paid all their arrears except for Nitel/Mtel.