Jonathan to formally hand over to Buhari May 28

President Goodluck Jonathan will perform the formal handing over to the incoming administration of the president-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari on May 28th 

Minister of Information, Senator Patricia Akwashiki who disclosed this yesterday to State House correspondents after the Federal Executive Council meeting said the president has therefore given all  ministers with request for approvals from his office  May 13 deadline to forward such requests to his office. Continue..

Similarly, all  Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) are  to submit their briefs to the Secretary of the Government of the Federation (SGF) by Monday next week to enable the president to prepare his handover notes on time.

These deadlines, according to Senator Patricia Akwashiki is to enable the president prepare his handover notes on the 28th of may, 2015.

According to Senator Akwashiki, these decisions do not mean that  government activities would  grind to a halt during period of transition but cautioned that government would not engage in activities to suggest that it was rushing through some programmes before its exit.

You know we are already in transition. So, there is very little to report. What we discussed with the President in council, he emphasized on the need for all MDAs to submit their handing over notes to the office of the secretary to the government of the federation by 20th of this month. That is next Monday. So, we are going to be very busy this weekend putting our handing over notes together.

“The president also emphasized that he would require another little briefing from all MDAs to indicate inherited projects, how far it has been executed and initiated projects by his administration and the level of completion, whether completed, ongoing or abandoned. So, that was it at the council meeting.

“We discussed other issues but we are particularly paying attention to the transition and how to make it effective. As you are all aware, we have transitional committee already set up by president, headed by the Vice President. Other than that, we have an inaugural committee that is headed by the SGF. So, everything we are doing, we are doing to achieve smooth transition, getting all our notes together.

“By May 28th, the president intends to have the formal handing over done at a dinner so that we can reserve the 29th for the incoming. By May 28th, we expect to have concluded one way governance and we are welcoming incoming government.

“Also, you know May 29th is our Democracy Day. So, we have activities lined up all through that week, showcasing all what we have achieved and all other things we do normally on our Democracy Day. Except that this year is special with the inauguration of our new president that is coming up on the May 29th.”

On why the deadline of May 13 was given to the MDAs to submit their notes, Akwashiki explained that it was necessary to enable the SGF to have enough time to coordinate the notes before passing it to the president.