The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has corrected what he called an erroneous reporting, in a section of the media, of his post-FEC press briefing on Wednesday, April 26, noting that he never said the President is to work from home henceforth.
In a statement issued in Abuja, by his media aide, Segun Adeyemi, the minister said “the President only decided to work from home today (Wednesday), not that he has decided to work from home henceforth.
He said the headlines in a section of the media, ”Buhari to now work from home – Lai Mohammed,” is a misrepresentation of his statement at the briefing.
Quoting verbatim the relevant section of his briefing, Alhaji Mohammed said: ”He (the President) wanted to rest “today” and he asked the VP to preside over “today’s” meeting.
In addition, he also asked that all his files be taken home to him and he will be working from home ‘today.”’
Earlier the minister had said President Buhari missed Wednesday’s meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) because he needed more rest.
The president is recuperating from an undisclosed long-term illness over which he spent nearly two months in the United Kingdom recently.
Mohammed told State House correspondents after the meeting that the president would work from his official residence inside the Presidential Villa, Abuja and had already directed that all files on his desk be brought home to him.
The government spokesman said: “We just concluded the Federal Executive Council meeting, I’m sure you noticed that the President was not there. He was not there because he asked that he be allowed to rest and asked the VP to preside.
“And he will be working from home. He has asked all his files to be taken to him in the house. He will be working from home today.”
There were fresh fears over the president’s health when for the third week, he failed to show up at the regular meeting FEC.
Wednesday’s meeting, moved from 10am to 11am on Wednesday, set off without him showing up at the Aso Chambers venue with the lot falling on Vice President Yemi to once again preside for the third time in a row.
FEC meeting was canceled last week ostensibly because of the the inability of the president to participate but the presidency blamed it on Easter holiday which it said prevented necessary memos from being circulated for the meeting.
On Wednesday, there were initially some indications that he would attend but things soon changed as the State Chief of Protocol (SCOP), came into the hall and whispered something into the ears of Osinbajo who had been waiting for the arrival of the president along with 18 ministers.
The Vice President thereafter called the meeting to order and requested for the opening prayer.
President Buhari had drastically scaled down his official activities since returning from the United Kingdom after obtaining treatment for an undisclosed ailment for nearly two months.
Briefing reporters on the outcome of Wednesday’s meeting, Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, said the council approved N3.8billion for the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency NIMASA) for the lease of fast going vessels as well as to enable it to perform its responsibilities.
He said the council also approved the purchase of vehicles for the Nigerian Immigration Service worth N358million while there was a variation in the amount approved for the construction of the headquarters of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to N5billion.
Speaking on the items approved, Amaechi said: “One was NIMASA that had to do with the lease of fast going vessels to enable NIMASA perform its responsibility on the high sea.
“The cost for the lease for NIMASA is N3.8billion for the next one year.
“The other is the purchase of land patrol vehicles for the Nigerian immigration service. 56 vehicles to procured at a total cost of N358million.
“The last was the change in the cost of construction of the EFCC headquarters due to foreign exchange fluctuation. This is N5billion.”
Speaking on the health sector, Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, reported that a total of 813 have people died from the recent meningitis infections in the country but added that the cases were declining.
He stated: “He said a total of 813 deaths was recorded as at 25th of April. The cases will drop with commencement of rainfall.
“We are also dispatching medical teams to Sokoto and Zamfara States to help with active case findings. We want to do house to house searches so that we can bring those with meningitis out for treatment.
“We are sending teams to each local government. There will a team of doctors, nurses, pharmacists and lab scientist and each team will be supported by the state government.
“The state governments have promised logistics and transport to move them round and bring the patients to health facilities.”
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