After spending nearly three weeks in the saddle, President
Muhammadu Buhari is set to move into the Presidential Villa and commence
serious business of governance next week.
Since being declared winner of the 2015 Presidential
election, Buhari has been operating from the Defence House in Maitama and has
been conducting official business of government from there, having taken over
the mantle of leadership on May 29, 2015 from former President Goodluck
Jonathan.
But authoritative Presidency sources said that Buhari was
set to move into the Presidential Villa before the end of the week and might
also name the first set of top government officials to kick-start the administration,
which has witnessed a lull in the last three weeks.
That the President was ready to move from Defence House to
the Villa possibly early next week following completion of renovation of the
President’s residence by the company which handled the project.
“It is true that the construction company has completed the
President’s wing and he is set to move in any moment from now. As at today, it
is only the Vice President’s residence that is yet to be fully completed.
According to an official in the Presidency: “We expect that
the two men will move into the villa by next week since the work in the Vice
President’s apartment is not a serious one,” and that Buhari was set to begin naming some
key officials of his government as soon as he moves into the Villa to prepare
the grounds for the take off of serious work for Nigerians who have been
expecting action from the administration.
Fashola, Fayemi, others fine-tune 800-page report
As a prelude to setting up his administration, Buhari has
reportedly handed over the 800-page Transition Committee Report to a trusted
team of his associates, headed by former Lagos State Governor, Babatunde
Fashola; former Ekiti governor, Kayode Fayemi and others to reduce
into a sizable and workable document.
Fashola is being tipped to emerge as Chief of Staff to the
President because of his pedigree as a former Chief of Staff, governor and a
Senior Advocate of Nigeria.
An impeccable source said that it was Buhari who instructed
that after all others had completed working on transition report, they should
hand over the voluminous document to Fashola to reduce into an implementable
format for him to read and take necessary actions.
The source said: “Hopefully, from next week, some
appointments would be announced. Buhari is a fast reader and he will be able to
take immediate actions based on the transition report.”
A member of the Buhari Transition Committee, who pleaded
anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the matter, confirmed to Vanguard
Newspaper that the final report presented to the president last week was a
comprehensive document meant to guide him in taking decisions as to the shape
and nature of his administration to bring about the needed change in the
country.
The member said that what they presented to the President
was more of a blueprint and how best to go about it in order to bring the
country out of the woods.
The member said: “The final report is very rich and we
believe it will help Mr. President in putting a solid structure of his
government and give him policy direction as well.”
