While briefing the reporters after the Federal Executive Council Meeting, the Minister of Information said prior to the commencement of the meeting, the Principal Secretary to the President, read the citations of the Chairman and five Members of the Police Service Commission (PSC), after which the Oath of Office and Oath of Allegiance were administered on them. They are: Sir (Dr.) Mike Mbama Okiro, JP – Chairman; Alhaji Yakubu Mohammed, mni – Member, representing North-West Zone; Justice (Mrs.) Olufunlola Oyelola Adekeye, JSC (rtd) – Member, representing South-West Zone; Hajia Aisha Larai Tukur – Member, representing North-East Zone; Dame Comfort Obi, OON, FNGE – Member, representing South-East Zone; and Chief (Dr.) Torngee Jem Toranyin, MON, JP – Member, representing North-Central Zone.
Maku said that the President charged the members of PSC to ensure greater efficiency and effectiveness of the Police.
He said that although the Nigeria Police Force was recognized for its competence and commitment in international peacekeeping missions, he regretted that the performance of the Police in domestic operations was abysmal, citing the example of easy access to and bombing of the Force Headquarters in 2011. He charged them to apply due diligence on the issues of recruitment, appointments, promotion and discipline, adding that the promotion of officers from the rank of Assistant Commissioner of Police and above should be strictly based on merit and performance.
Maku said the President disclosed that FEC would soon consider the White Paper on Police Reform, adding that the newly constituted Commission should ensure a judicious implementation of the Reform initiative to promote effective and competent Police operations to the delight of Nigerians.
Maku said the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development tabled a memorandum before the council, to seek ratification of the President's anticipatory approval of the National Fertilizer Bill, 2013 for transmission to the National Assembly for passage into law. The law is intended to guide and regulate activities in the fertilizer sub-sector in Nigeria.
That an inventorization study of the Nigerian Fertilizer sub-sector conducted by the Ministry in 2002 revealed some gross inadequacies in fertilizer quality control functions as currently being performed by the Federal Fertilizer Department (FFD) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MA&RD), the NAFDAC under the Ministry of Health and the Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON) under the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment.
While FFD had been operating without a definite legislative framework, NAFDAC and SON have enabling Acts but applying their efforts thinly on a wide variety of products, rendering their impact on the fertilizer sub-sector very ineffective.
He said another socio-economic study conducted by the Ministry on fertilizer in 2006 indicated that a specific legislative framework was necessary to effectively monitor and enforce compliance with agreed quality standards, particularly realizing the enormous capital investment in the sub-sector annually which on the average is about N120.00 billion.
Print PDF
Federal Ministry of Information (FMI) Nigeria