President Buhari Release Full Board Agencies Appointment In January 2017

President Muhammadu Buhari is expected to make appointments into all boards by January 2017, the presidential Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, has revealed.
Garba Shehu, senior special assistant to the president on media and publicity, says the appointments into the federal government’s boards, parastatal and agencies might be “back on track” at the beginning of 2017.
He made this known in an interactive session with state house correspondents in Abuja on Tuesday.
The delay in the appointments of members of the boards and agencies has been generating interest and comments from various quarters, particularly from members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
But Shehu said the development was being looked into. “You know that the reconstitution began methodically, from sector by sector. You should expect that to resume at the beginning of the New Year,” he said.
“The president has given directions on what to do.”
On the agricultural programmes of the federal government, Shehu said President Muhammdu Buhari’s “persistent calls for a return to farming” was yielding good results.
“The talk about agriculture has driven people to the farm. This year, there is a huge boom in the rural economy,” he said.
“We have witnessed an excellent harvest. Farmers are getting value for their output. What has encouraged farmers the more is the increasing availability of extension services.”
According to him, new farming techniques are helping farmers to do their occupation better, and the readiness of off takers to buy the produce is also a major boost.
“When you put all these together with the systematic move to curb importation as a boost local production through the restriction of the available foreign exchange to critically important sectors of the economy, you have favuorable environment for the diversification of the economy,” he said.
“As we speak, several of the country’s major manufacturing industries are actively backward-integrating- Nestle, Unilever, the breweries are looking what we have as local materials, changing their formulations to maintain production levels and keep their share of the market.
“Manufacturers who are hooked on import of raw materials are advised to re-strategise and take full advantage of local raw materials.”

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Army/Shiites clash: Buhari studying report, assures appropriate response

The Presidency, yesterday, announced that President Muhammadu Buhari has received the report of the judicial inquiry into the clashes between soldiers and members of the Shiite movement in Nigeria, led by Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, and was currently studying it. This came on a day the President revealed that his government had started making efforts to revive the steel industry in Nigeria. According to the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, the President assured international and local human rights groups of appropriate response in due course after studying the details. He said the President’s commitment to human rights remained unchanged, since it was a cardinal component of the democratic order. Shehu said: “The present administration believes in due process and the rule of law. Therefore, any response to the report would follow this principle.” He said the Federal Government would continue to act in the larger interest of the public to prevent such violent incidents. Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari has revealed that his government had started making efforts to revive the steel industry in Nigeria. He also said that the country was ready to get investments from all sectors of the economy to better the lots of the people. The President, who spoke while receiving Executive Members of Association of Africa Automotive Manufacturers, AAAM, led by the chairman, Mr Jeff Nemeth, in Abuja, yesterday, regretted that Nigeria recognized its problems early enough, but remained with potentialities for too long, declaring that it did not achieve much results. In his response, Nemeth said the association comprised potential investors who were ready to unlock investment potentialities on the continent. “We are ready to offer strategic partnership with Nigeria. We want to promote investor-friendly regulatory frameworks and sustainable manufacturing.”

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El-Zakzaky: Buhari studying probe panel’s report

The Presidency on Tuesday said President Muhammadu Buhari was studying the report of the judiciary inquiry into the clashes that occurred in December last year in Kaduna State between soldiers and members of the Shiite movement in Nigeria led by Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky. The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said this in a statement made available to journalists. Shehu said Buhari would announce the government’s position on the matter after studying the report of the panel instituted by the state government. He assured all stakeholders that the present administration is committed to human rights and rule of law. The statement read, “President Muhammadu Buhari has assured international and local human rights groups of appropriate response over the report of the judicial inquiry into the clashes between soldiers and members of the Shiite movement in Nigeria, led by Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky. “The President is studying the details of the report before announcing appropriate response in due course. “The President’s commitment to human rights remains unchanged because it is a cardinal component of the democratic order. “It would be recalled that when the clashes occurred in December, President Buhari had told the nation during the Presidential Media Chat that he was awaiting the outcome of the report of inquiry into the incident before making appropriate response. “The present administration believes in due process and the rule of law; therefore any response to the report would follow this principle. “The Federal Government will continue to act in the larger interest of the public to prevent such violent incidents.”

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