Presidency explains presence of dead people on board appointments

THE presidency on Saturday explained the reasons why there are names of dead people on the list of newly appointed chairmen and members of the board of government parastatals and agencies released on Friday.

Senior Special Assistant to the president on media and publicity, Garba Shehu, gave the history of the list, saying that it was prepared before President Muhammadu Buhari took ill and was released by the Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha without any alteration.

He said the president requested for the submission of 50 names each by the state chapters of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in 2015 which were later complied by the national secretariat of the party.

Subsequently, he revealed, the names were submitted to the then SGF, Babachir Lawal.

He added: “However, complaint arose from some governors who felt they were not carried along in the process. To answer this, the president constituted a committee under the vice president to review and reflect the interest of the governors.”

The presidential aide noted that action on the report submitted to the president by the committee headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo was delayed because of President Buhari’s illness and his subsequent medical vacation abroad.

“The president’s trips for medical attention slowed down completion of the process,” he said.

The presidential spokesman said the president only decided to revisit the matter recently and therefore directed the new SGF to release the list.

“The current SGF was only directed to complete that process by releasing the list which he apparently did without altering it,” he stated.

The Presidency maintained that the appearance of dead person names was a mistake which would be corrected.

The president approved the constitution of the Governing Boards of Agencies and Parastatals, under some Ministries, as well as the appointment of eminently qualified Nigerians to fill the Board positions.

It is made up of 209 chairmen and 1,258 members.

According to a statement issued by SGF, in Abuja on Friday said the President considered the approval for the constitution of the Boards as well as the appointments as they were “very necessary, so as to provide a proper Governance and oversight structure for Government Agencies and Parastatals.”

The statement added: “The constitution of the boards with the appointments, is a demonstration of this Government’s efforts aimed at building strong institutions of Governance, and by extension, improving the quality of Policy formulation and supervision.

“While these appointments represent a substantial number of hitherto pending board appointments, some more appointments are still being processed and will be released in due course.

“The appointments take immediate effect and Honourable Ministers are advised to inaugurate the boards after letters of appointment have been issued.”