President Goodluck Jonathan said, yesterday, that he will fill the two ministerial vacancies brought about by the resignation of the Power Minister, Prof. Barth Nnaji and the removal of Defence Minister, Dr. Haliru Bello as soon as the Senate resumes from its recess.
He gave this indication at the State House in Abuja while inaugurating the reconstituted Presidential Action Committee on Power as well as the Presidential Task Force on Power,
“Definitely immediately the National Assembly comes back especially the Senate, we will fill the two vacancies that we have. The candidates will get cleared and be placed accordingly so that the Minister of Power will come up. But, in the interim, the Minister of State Power is holding the forth”, he said.
The two bodies are charged with the responsibility of overseeing the implementation of Federal Government’s agenda for power sector reforms.
Speaking at the occasion, Jonathan said he was retaining the chairmanship of the recomposed Presidential Action Committee on Power (PACP), with Vice President Namadi Sambo as deputy Chairman.
The committee was established in June 2010 to provide leadership and guidance for the rapid development of Nigeria’s power sector and determine the general policy direction and strategic focus of reforms in the sector.
The President also appointed Engineer Reynold Dagogo-Jack as the chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Power which has the duty of developing and driving the Federal Government’s action plan for the power sector as well as articulating a proper plan of action for implementation in the areas of power generation, transmission and distribution.
The president also hinted of a seeming conflict of interest between the outgone Power minister, Nnaji and the secretary of the committee who is his Special Adviser, and said that changes were needed because two captains could not be in a ship.
“When we look at the team anybody that does not fit in, we will weed off. The team already is working but we are only formalising it today so that everybody knows the leadership. If they continue to work very hard and when the Minister joins them I believe that we will continue to improve and Nigeria will know that we will not relapse”.
Other members of the Presidential Action Committee on Power include the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the Head of Service, the Chief of Staff to the President, the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, the Minister of Labour and Productivity, the Minister of Power, the Minister of State for Power and the Minister of Petroleum Resources.