APRIL 13, 2012 BY OLALEKAN ADETAYO 11 COMMENTS
President Goodluck Jonathan has turned his back on those lobbying for the vacant positions of the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service and Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme. He has directed that the positions be advertised.
Mrs. Ifueko Omoigui-Okauru quit FIRS early this month while Dr. Waziri Dogo-Muhammed exited the NHIS after the expiration of his tenure last month.
Speaking at the Presidential Villa, Abuja during the presidential awards ceremony of the Youth Enterprise with Innovations in Nigeria on Thursday, Jonathan said political office-holders would henceforth be picked on merit.
Jonathan said the government would no longer make appointments based on geo-political zones and political leanings.
The President said he had directed the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to advertise the vacant FIRS position to enable qualified Nigerians to compete for it.
He also said the Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, had been directed to do same with the vacant NHIS job, as he claimed some people had been scheming for the two posts.
He said, “This administration is committed to stopping a situation where a Nigerian must know somebody before he gets something. This situation must end. And we are beginning to demonstrate that even in our political appointments. Some of the political offices have to be advertised for all Nigerians to compete so that we select the best.
“Recently, we wanted to appoint the managing director and executive directors that will be in charge of our Sovereign Wealth Fund and they were advertised to all Nigerians. You don’t need to know Mr. President to get the job as long as you are competent.”
On YouWin, the President said his administration’s desire was to encourage beneficiaries to create jobs for their co-youths.
He said the 1,200 pioneer winners found worthy of government’s support could not afford to fail the nation.
He asked them to put in extra efforts and become extra-ordinary Nigerians.
Okonjo-Iweala said that 1,200 pioneer winners emerged among the 24, 000 youths that submitted entries for the scheme at inception.
She added that winners were selected by a panel of judges comprising leading entrepreneurs as well as the government’s development partners like the World Bank and DFID.
She described the process that produced the winners as rigourous, fair and transparent.
She said out of the 1,200 winners, six were selected for the presidential awards.
The minister said of the the winners, 204 are from the North-Central; 167 from the North-East; 170 form the North-West; 184 from the South-East; 194 from the South-South and 281 from the South-West.
She said 53 per cent of the winners are existing businesses while the remaining are new.
Each of the winners of the presidential awards drawn from the six geo-political zones of the country were given N500,000 courtesy of First Bank Plc.
SOURCE: The Punch, 13 April 2012. http://www.punchng.com/
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