Buhari Appoints Lawal as SGF, Kyari, New Chief of Staff

 

After weeks of suspense, President Muhammadu Buhari finally appointed Mr. Babachir David Lawal as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), putting paid to speculation that the office had been zoned to South-east or South-south.

In addition, the president appointed a former Managing Director of United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc and a member of THISDAY Editorial Board, Alhaji Abba Kyari, as his new Chief of Staff.

A statement by the Special Adviser to the President, Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, said Lawal, the new SGF, hails from Hong Local Government Area in Adamawa State.

He graduated from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in 1979 with a Bachelor of Engineering degree and worked with the Delta Steel Company, Aladja, Nigerian External Telecommunications Limited and Data Sciences Limited before establishing his own ICT and telecommunications consulting firm in 1990.

He is also a member of the Nigerian Computer Society (NCS), the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) and the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN).

Kyari brings to his new role as the president’s Chief of Staff a wealth of experience in the private sector.

He holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the University of Cambridge and the University of Warwick in Law and Sociology, and has worked with the New Nigeria Development Company (NNDC), New Africa Holdings, African International Bank, UBA, Unilever, and Mobil in various capacities over the years.

Other appointments made by the president included Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali (rtd.) as the new Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), a departure from the past when comptroller-generals of Customs were usually selected within its ranks.

Ali holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Criminology, and was the Military Administrator of Kaduna State from 1996 to 1998.

Mr. Kure Martin Abeshi has been appointed to take over as the Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), effectively terminating the appointment of Mr. David Parradang who was suspended by the president last week.

The new comptroller-general of Immigration hails from Nasarawa State. He joined NIS in 1989 as an assistant comptroller. His educational qualifications include a Master’s degree in Public Administration.
The president also appointed Senator Ita S.J Enang as his Senior Special Assistant (SSA), National Assembly Matters (Senate), while Hon. Suleiman A. Kawu was made his SSA, National Assembly Matters (House of Representatives).

The statement said all the appointments took effect from on Thursday.

The president also gave a marching order to all civil servants to either shun corruption or be ready to leave the service.

This was disclosed yesterday by the Permanent Secretary, General Services, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Mohammed Bukar, after the permanent secretaries in the office briefed Buhari.

He said that former military Head of State and the Chairman, Centenary Limited Board, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, would come to brief the president on the activities of the centenary hall project today.

Bukar further disclosed that not a farthing was taken from the account of the federal government for the project.

He said Buhari told the SGF personnel to make sure that all rules, laws and the constitution are strictly adhered to henceforth.

“We have received a mandate to work harder. We will give our best to support the government.
“We told him what we have been doing in support of the government’s policies and the president promised to give us the support and the political will to do our job better,” the permanent secretary told State House correspondents

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