According to Daily Trust, presidential spokesman Shehu Garba has hinted that President Muhammadu Buhari might slash the number of ministries in the country from 49 to 19. The reduction of federal ministries was part of the recommendation of the Alhaji Ahmed Joda transition committee.

 Shehu stated that the President believes the reduction would save cost of governance and ensure proper coordination of duties and better service delivery. He however assured that there would be no job losses in the process of pruning the ministries, departments and parastatals, explaining that the process would be a very “painstaking thing” that would be done very carefully.

President Buhari just saved Nigeria N400Million that could have been wasted on government excesses and expensive  lifestyle by stopping the Federal Government from buying 5 new armoured Mercedes Benz S-600 (V222) cars for his use. The cars which cost is about N400m were planned to be purchased by the State House.

A source close to the presidency told journalists on Thursday that Buhari found out about the plan when the Permanent Secretary, State House, Mr. Nebolisa Emodi, briefed him of his ministry’s activities on Wednesday.

Angry at the revelation, the President was said to have told Emodi that the purchase was unnecessary. Describing it as a waste of scarce resources, the source said Buhari told the permanent secretary that the cars he inherited from former President Goodluck Jonathan were good enough for him. 
“I don’t need any new cars. The ones I am using now are just fine,” the source quoted the President as saying.
Top government officials, however, said Buhari welcomed other initiatives presented by the permanent secretary to reduce the operating costs of the State House and strengthen its Finance and Accounts Internal Control Mechanisms. 

However he directed that more efforts be made towards the capture of all State House expenses within the approved national budget, in order to avoid the frequent recourse by past administrations to “Presidential intervention funds.” 

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, confirmed that Buhari had withheld approval for the purchase of the new cars. Shehu said the President would continue to use the cars left behind by Jonathan in keeping with his commitment to prudent management of national resources.


Punch

It seems President Buhari has gotten into gear. The EFCC seems to be working again and we hope the ongoing cases against former governors will be taken seriously. Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari, has rejected the resignation letter of the National Security Adviser, Colonel Sabo Dasuki. According to report, Dasuki’s resignation was rejected on the ground that he must account for funds received and spent under his tenure in the prosecution of the Boko Haram insurgency.

 Information gathered shows that the President said Dasuki’s resignation is ‘unacceptable,’ ” following intelligence reports showing the fake military hardware, consumables and large cache of money unaccounted for due to improper filing of contract papers under the office of the NSA.”

 Sources in the polity also revealed that the unaccounted funds poses a “significant financial risk and demonstrates a lack of internal control over the NSA’s office which diminished the roles and powers of the Ministry of defence and more than $50 billion in which contract files were incomplete or could not be located at all which he has to account for before leaving government”.

 The Colonel has come under increasing pressure over his leadership of the NSA’s office and how it was heavily politicized before and after the political transition process. The Presidency is also concerned about some deals coming out of the NSA’s office, especially the issue of $9.3m South African arms deal and repeated reports that Nigeria was conned into a failed Boko Haram “ceasefire” deal to the tune of almost $500m.