President Bola Tinubu has tasked members of his cabinet to perform assiduously towards achieving the mandate of their ministries or face the option of leaving his government.
Tinubu in his address at the three-day 2023 Cabinet Retreat for Ministers, Presidential Aides, Permanent Secretaries and Top government functionaries on Tuesday reminded the ministers of their responsibility to serve the people who entrusted their mandate to him.
The President at the retreat with the theme: “Delivering on the Renewed Hope Agenda,” reiterated the commitment of his administration to lift 50 million Nigerians out of poverty.
“Poverty is not a shameful thing, it is only unacceptable. And we have to banish it because it is unacceptable,” he said.
He also enjoined the ministers to focus on the progress of their respective ministries and come up with bold endeavours, stressing that his administration was determined to turn the nation’s population into an asset.
Tinubu who assured cabinet members would have “a free hand” to operate, however said they “must be intellectually inquisitive to ask how, why, when, and why it must be immediate,” warning them not “to be a clog in the wheel of Nigeria’s progress.”
Mentioning members of his cabinet are great intellectuals, who possess the requisite experience, he ruled out anyone inviting “any foreigner to give me a lecture about governance,” stressing he possesses all the requisite experience.
“That is why we established Results Delivery Units. At the end of this retreat, you are going to sign a Bond of Understanding between the ministers, the Permanent Secretaries and myself.
“If you are performing there is nothing to fear. If you missed the objective, we review, if no performance you leave us. No one is an island and the buck stops on my desk.
“I assure you will have a free hand. You must be intellectually inquisitive to ask how, why, when, and why it must be immediate.”
“I have taken a young lady, a very dynamic Hadiza Usman, to head that delivery unit. If you have any complaints about her, see me. If you are ready to work with her, stay there. Delivery? Yes! We must achieve it for the sake of the millions of people,” the President said.
Noting that the country was blessed with great talents around the world, he said that Nigeria is the biggest intellectually sound country in Africa.
“Yes we have challenges in the Sahel, we have challenges of climate change. South and North of Nigeria are battered, we’ve all seen such.
“You have desert encroachment in the north, but we are still blessed with arable lands. We can do it, we can build our country.
“It is not about the theoreticians, it is about practical determinations and focus evaluation. Yes, it is our country, we have no other one.
“Let’s be proud that we are Nigerians, that we can do it, you can show leadership. We can fight to make democracy a lasting reference for the rest of Africa.”
The President, who enjoined ministers and other government officials not to be afraid in taking decisions, however, warned them against being antagonistic to their supervisor.
“If they are wrong, debate it. I stand before you and as I have made clear on several occasions and I will be saying today again as the President I can make mistakes.
“Point it to me I will resolve that conflict, that error, perfection is only that of Almighty God, but you are there to help me succeed. I must achieve success by all means necessary.
“We have great minds, great intellects, and all that we need. When we were discussing this retreat, I said other than members of the diplomatic corps to give us goodwill and inspiration.
“Don’t invite any foreigner to give me a lecture about governance. I have been through it and I believe in Nigeria.
“It started from the day I was sworn in that bold endeavour is only achieved through courage, determination, and focused leadership,” he said.
Tinubu said that the country was going through a painful reform, saying “and we still have other challenges.
“Don’t be a clog in the wheel of Nigeria’s progress. Let us look forward. Let us be determined that corruption will go, progress will be achieved.
“Better living wages for our workers. We will transform the economy to work for millions of our citizens. We must take 50 million people out of poverty.
“We must build healthcare that works for all. Look around, don’t be wicked. Look at the standard of education. Look at the classrooms, look at the roads.
“We can only spend the money. We will find it, we cannot spend the people. No crime in borrowing,” Tinubu said.
