Gabriel Enenche —
President Muhammadu Buhari has relieved two ministers of their appointments. They are the Ministers of Agriculture, Alhaji Sabo Nanono, and his Power counterpart, Saleh Mamman.
Special Adviser to the President (Media & Publicity), Femi Adesina, confirmed this development yesterday in Abuja.
He said the Minister of Environment, Mohammed Abubakar, has been redeployed to the Ministry of Agriculture while the Minister of State for Works, Abubakar Aliyu, is to take over as Minister of Power.
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In a reaction, stakeholders have called on Abubakar to build on the legacies of his predecessor.
Mr Daniel Hassan, National Assistant Secretary General, National Soyabean Association of Nigeria, said Nanono had lofty plans and programmes for the agricultural sector as well as the value chain sector.
”Obviously the news of Nanono’s removal came as a shock to me,” he said.
He wished the former minister well in all his future endeavours and urged the new minister to build on the legacies of his predecessor for the good of the Country.
Hassan noted that agriculture is the pilot of development as it has to do with gross domestic products generation as well as internal and external revenue generation.
”Agriculture is also the pilot of import and export because it has the highest employment of labour,” he said.
Also Mrs Comfort Sunday, FCT, Coordinator, Small Scale Women Farmers Organisation (SWOFON), thanked Nanono for his contributions towards ensuring women farmers’ participation in agriculture.
She urged the in-coming agric minister to build on the legacies of his predecessor and be gender sensitive.
Sunday also wants the new minister to address the issue of land ownership for women as well as other demands.
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She equally called on the new agric minister to key into the Federal Government‘s efforts to address not only food security but ensure security at the farm level.
Experts in the power sector have called on the newly-appointed Minister of Power, Mr Abubakar Aliyu, to do everything possible to address the crisis in the power sector.
The experts spoke shortly after President Muhammadu Buhari removed Mr Saleh Mamman as the Minister of Power and appointed Mr Abubakar Aliyu as the new helmsman in the ministry.
Aliyu until the new development was the Minister of State for Works.
Mr Sam Amadi, former Chairman, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), said that the power ministry needed someone who could manage complexities.
“I hope this new one will do better and beyond managing the sector there is need to review the roadmap and policy framework of power sector.
“The power ministry is not a straight forward one; it is not like building roads; it is not like other sectors.
“This is a sector that is managing many stakeholders, managing a complex market that is difficult to grow and regulate,” he said.
According to Amadi, the ministry needs somebody who has some experience in the sector and somebody who has a history of creative thinking and strategic management.
“It is not a routine ministry to be filled with engineers.
On his part, Mr Dimeji Macaulay, a Human Rights Activist, said that the power sector needed a new minister that could look deeply into the crisis in the sector.
He said, “This isn’t the first time that a minister of power will be sacked. But as things stand the crisis in power sector needs a new minister.
“I will also propose that the new minister should reverse the privatisation of power sector. The privatisation has failed.
“So far, the privatisation of the power sector has been major reason that the crisis remains unsolved.
“The Distribution Companies (DisCos) and Generation Companies (GENCOS) licences should be revoked.
“So, we join Nigerians to demand for renationalisation of the sector under democratic control and management and should include elected representatives of electricity consumers in different communities and workers in the electricity sector.”
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