Thursday stopped the usually permanent official cars and residences for
chairmen of Boards of federal parastatals and Agencies.
The Minister of
Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga announced this while inaugurating the
Boards under the Ministry. Also, he warned that Board members should desist
from interfering in day-to-day running of the Parastatals and Agencies.
Inaugurating the
Boards, Aganga who was represented by the Minister of State, Dr. Samuel Ortom,
said, “I must stress at this juncture, that no Chairman or board member is
entitled to an official vehicle on permanent basis. Same goes for office or
residential accommodation. In addition, you are enjoined to comply with the
provisions of extant
circulars governing
your tenure/appointment, especially circular No.
SWC/S/04/S.310/105,
dated 10th June, 2010 issued by the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages
Commission, which specified your allowances and frequency of meetings”.
Further, he said,
“Boards of Parastatals are responsible for setting out broad economic,
financial, operational administrative guidelines and targets for their various
agencies. They are concerned with policy issues, monitoring of institutional
projects/programmes and ensuring that the parastatal’s mandates are realized.
“You are therefore
enjoined to adhere strictly to the provisions of the enabling Acts of your
agencies as well as financial regulations and guidelines on administrative
procedures. While congratulating you on your well deserved appointment, may I
emphasize that your appointment is on part-time basis only. As such, you are
not expected to interfere or participate in the day-to-day running of your
respective agencies.”
The Boards are
Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC),
Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) and the Oil and Gas Free Zone
Authority (OGFZA).
The 10-member Board
of CAC is led by Mr. Funsho Lawal as Chairman, while other members include
Prof. Adedeji Adekunle and Dr. Ausbeth Ajagu, among others.
For the NEPC is
11-member Board, with Mrs. Grace Clark, as Chairman and Ambassador Asalina
Mamuno, and Alh.Salisu Umar as members, among others. OGFZA’s 14-member board
is led by Barr. Chris Asoluka, while other members include Gen. Geofrey Ejiga
(retd.) and Barr. Mrs Mary Mbu, among others.
For SON, its
10-member board has Alh. Abubakar Mustapha as Chairman, with Engr. Abubakar
Magaji and Mrs. Roseline Ekun as members, among others.
Speaking during the
inauguration ceremony in Abuja, the Minister of Trade and Investment, Mr.
Olusegun Aganga, said members of the newly constituted board comprised men and
women of integrity, knowledge and experience in the public and private sectors
of the Nigerian economy.
Also Aganga said,
“The Ministry and all its Parastatals share a common mandate anchored on:
creating the enabling environment to stimulate domestic investment and attract
foreign direct investment into all sectors of the economy and making Nigeria
the most preferred investment destination; facilitating trade in goods and
services and
maximizing the
benefits of international trade through functional bilateral and multi-lateral
trade relations with other countries.
The ministry is
also responsible for boosting industrial development and enabling Micro, Small
and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) as the engine of economic growth.
“A careful look at
the composition of the various Boards shows that most of the members are not
only knowledgeable and highly experienced but are also key players in their various
fields in the Public and Private Sector of the economy.
This is definitely
a great advantage to the agencies concerned as they will be able to benefit,
not only from the tremendous goodwill of their board members, but also from
their wealth of deep knowledge.”
While acknowledging
the important role of board members in formulating good policies that will
drive the operations of the parastatals, the minister said they were not to
interfere in the day-to-day running of their respective parastatals.
The minister,
however, charged the new appointees to ensure that their activities are geared
towards the actualization of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s Transformation
Agenda.
