A coalition 21 civil society stakeholders drawn from National Power Sector Stakeholders’ Forum has urged the President to call the Secretary to Government of the Federation, Mr Boss Mustapha to order for what they described as an undue thirst for power and usurpation statutory powers of cabinet ministers for alleged pecuniary reasons.
After an urgent meeting monitored online, the group warned that the desperate and vexations actions of the SGF is capable of derailing the vision and eroding the legacy of the Buhari administration.
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In a communique signed by the National Coordinator Mr Musa Dawop and released after their meeting, the group called on the President to investigate the special interest of the SGF in power ministry.
The group revealed that many stakeholders are aware that since the sack of the former Managing Director of the Transmission Company of Nigeria(TCN), the SGF has been working round the clock to bring him back.
The group described the purported moves by the SGF as desperate, suspicious, vexations, counterproductive and unbecoming of someone occupying such a sensitive office.
They expressed surprise that recently some Ministers reorganised their ministries by obtaining approvals directly from the President without any uproar and wondered what suggested that the interest of Mr Boss Mustapha has in the Ministry of Power is likely to be more than meets the eye.
According to the group, “that the fingerprints of the SGF are everywhere in TCN is sufficiently worrisome yet the fact remains that the sacked Managing Director(who is said to be his relative) had constituted himself as a stumbling block to the reform agenda of the President”.
The group further disclosed that they were aware that the approval for the sack of Mr Usman Mohammed was graciously granted by the President and duly conveyed to the Minister of Power through the Chief of Staff.
They, therefore, opined that the fresh moves by the SGF appear to mean that he wants to upturn a Presidential approval.
The group wondered where the SGF might have obtained the powers that he was trying to exercise.
Furthermore, the coalition described as disingenuous a recent memo from the SGF attempting to stop Ministers from removing heads of public agencies.
For them, this was a clear overreach. They collectively wondered whether it is not within the powers of Ministers to appoint qualified individuals who they can work with to deliver on the mandate given to them by the President in different sectors.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the role of the SGF is mainly advisory and policy coordination. So far, beyond delegated duties, there are more than ten agencies directly domiciled under the supervision of the SGF and where he can exercise his power as he so wishes” the group noted.
In particular, the group fingered the SGF as the sponsor of protest that took place in Abuja after the removal of the MD of TCN and described the effort as diversionary.
They further described as abominable the motive of the SGF to use unpatriotic agents within the ministry to block the deal brokered with Siemens of Germany to revamp the power sector.
While commending in advance President for taking prompt action on the issues they raised, the group confirmed that they will continue to watch over the power sector with vigilance to ensure that no individual no matter how highly placed will sabotage or derail the well-intentioned efforts of the President to improve the power sector and transform our national economy.
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