EXCLUSIVE: May 29 Handover: Nigerian govt directs Ministers, Service Chiefs, others to prepare handover notes

According to Premium Times, the Federal Government has directed all ministries, agencies and extra-ministerial departments to prepare their handover briefs ahead of the May 29 inauguration of the incoming administration of Muhammadu Buhari.

Also asked to prepare handover notes are the service chief, the police inspector general and the Central Bank of Nigeria.

The directive was contained in a memo dated April 13 and signed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Pius Anyim.

It was addressed to the Chief of Staff to the President, Deputy Chief of Staff to the President (Office of the Vice President), Ministers/Ministers of State, Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Special Advisers/Senior Special Assistants and Service chiefs/Inspector General of Police.

Others are the Chairman Federal Civil Service Commission, Chairman, Code of Conduct Bureau, Chairman, Code of Conduct Tribunal, Chairman, Federal Character Commission, Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, Chairman, Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission, Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Chairman and National Drug Law Enforcement Agency.

Permanent Secretaries and Heads of Extra-Ministerial Departments, Auditor-General of the Federal, Accountant-General of the Federation, Director General/Chief Executives of Parastatals, Agencies and Government-Owned Companies were also directed to send in their handover briefs.

Mr. Buhari had defeated President Goodluck Jonathan, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the March 28 presidential poll.

The memo entitled “REQUEST FOR HAND OVER BRIEFS” with reference no SGF/OP/1./S.3/111 says:

“You may recall that President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR has constituted a Transition Committee to midwife the handover of Government from the present administration to the in-coming one. The Committee which is chaired by the Vice President, Arch. Namadi sambo, GCON, has the following Terms of Reference: (a) Collate and prepare all the Handover briefs from MDAs; (b) Arrange a formal presentation of the Handover briefs to the in-coming Administration; Interface with the in-coming Administration’s transition Committee as to provide clarifications on the status of the briefs where required; (d) Prepare the President’s Handover note.

2. It is in furtherance of this Committee’s mandate that this circular is issued to request all MDAs to prepare and submit their briefs to the Secretariat of the Committee (i.e Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation) on or before the 20th of April, 2015. In preparing the briefs, be……. as much as possible.

1. Hon Ministers shall collate all inputs from the Parastatals under their supervision and accordingly process such inputs as part of their submissions;
2. Briefing format shall as much as possible follow the following pattern:
a. A brief Statement of the mandate of the MDAs;
b. Presentations shall flow from a definite policy, scheme or initiative (a highlight of the target and implementation strategy of the policy may be necessary);
c. (b) above shall be followed by the programmes and activities being implemented under the policy, scheme or initiative;
d. (c) above shall be followed by brief status report on the programme/activities under each policy, scheme or initiative. In articulating the report the following may be considered necessary:
i. Where data are presented, they should be accurate and precise;
ii.The following may be indicated:
-Commitments and liabilities
-Matters for immediate decisions
-Legislative issues
-International obligations, etc
(e) (d) shall be followed by a brief statement on the impact of the policy and its programmes;
(f) Conclusion: This may be a brief summary with recommendations.

You are expected to be precise, there is no restriction as to the volume or quantity of attachments that can follow thereto.
3. Above for your strict compliance please.”

Meanwhile, in a separate memo, the Transition Committee on Tuesday gave all MDAs Thursday as deadline for the submission of their handover notes.

A memo to that effect obtained by PREMIUM TIMES asked the MDAs not to exceed six pages in their submission and should detail the summary of their key functions, achievements between 2011 and 2014 and issues, challenges and proposed solution to tackling them.

The memo reads: “Please I have been directed to request that you kindly ensure that your Agency/Departmental Handover notes reach me on or before Thursday 16th April, 2014.

“Be reminded that your submission should be a maximum of 6 pages, detailing the following: Summary of key functions of Agency/Department; Summary of achievements 2011-2014; Key issues/challenges and proposed solutions to tackling same.

“Please ensure prompt response as we are working with very tight deadlines.

“Thank you for your kind cooperation and prompt response.”

The Committee met on Monday to fine-tune modalities for handover of power to the incoming APC administration.

Members of the Committee, apart from Mr. Sambo are the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Pius Anyim, the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke, Police Affairs Minister, Abduljelili Adesiyan, Transport Minister, Idris Umar and the Minister of State for Finance, Bashir Yuguda.

Mr. Anyim had told journalists after the Committee’s closed-door meeting on Monday at the Presidential Villa that it would meet with the one set up by Mr. Buhari to address any grey areas.

“After we have collected our own briefs from the MDAs and we put them together we will then interface with the other (Buhari Committee) so that whatever clarification they want, the questions they have, then we will be able to address them,” he said

The Committee is expected to meet again Monday.