By Lateef Adegbite
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s, two weeks working visit in Europe ‘’to review the progress of the Administration’s ongoing Projects, reforms and achievements in office over the last year appears to have provided ample opportunity for Vice President Kashim Shettima, to effectively police the polity and chair a retreat with the political appointees.
VP. Shetima, who incidentally was a former governor of Borno state, described in security circles as home of the Islamic Fundamentalists Group, BokoHaram and the Islamic State of The West African Province, ISWAP, Insurgents was said to have met with the political appointees on Wednesday, April 16, 2025, in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, CT, barely three days after the President had jetted out to Europe.
Until the retreat was organized by the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council, PEBEC, chaired by the Vice President at the FCT, comprising of Ministries, Departments and AGENCIES, heads, many Nigerians including the Opposition parties, had accused the Nigerian President of appointing mostly people from the Yoruba ethnic group into key offices in his government, meaning that that Yoruba ethnic group had occupied the key appoints in President Tinubu’s Administration.
From the onset, President Tinubu had told Nigerians that he will follow the footsteps of former President Muhammadu Buhari in giving appointments, meaning that he will appoint mostly those he trusts to hold key positions in his government.
Senator Shehu Sani and others, who were said to have repeatedly criticized the Nigerian President over his key appointments in MDAs, described as skewed in favours the Yoruba ethnic Group may have to sheath their sword for now as what the country currently needs is ‘’good governance to move forward’’.
The former Borno state governor, who could not hide his feelings was said to have drummed it to the ears of the Political appointees at the FCT, retreat that ‘’the business of government is too complex to be solved in silos’’. He was said to have emphasized that the Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs, Chief Executive officers, CEOs, cannot afford ‘’the luxury of working in isolation, while the problems we are asked to solve are increasingly intertwined’’.
The Vice President was said to have categorically stated that the retreat with the political appointees in the absence of the President who is currently on a working visit in Europe, is ‘’to deepen collaboration among MDAs, CEOs, in order to foster a more conducive environment for doing business in Nigeria’’.
He was said to have used the opportunity provided by the retreat to emphasize that the ‘’the overarching goal is to ensure that Nigeria remains a preferred destination for investors, both local and foreign’’.
An elated VP. Shettima, had declared that the retreat was not organized by the office of the Vice President but PEBEC, urging the participants to take it seriously, as they were not at the retreat just ‘’to review President Bola Tinubu’s Administration ‘s reform progress but to deepen something even more critical: energy’’.
There is no gain saying the fact that the Heads of the various agencies in the newly established ministry of marine and blue economy by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, which currently has Oyetola Adegboyega, a former governor of Osun state as the incumbent minister, were at the retreat, described as very impressive.
Dayo Mobereola, Director General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, was said to have acknowledged the immense benefits of the retreat noting that ‘’it has provided a valuable platform for peer review and constructive engagement among the political appointees, aimed at improving institutional performance and Federal Government reform delivery services’’.
The Value News learnt there were initial pressures on the President from several quarters to schedule the retreat with the political appointees in France but shelved the idea at the last minute.
Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy had confirmed that the President’s working visit in Europe would serve as a period of reflection to review plans to deepen ongoing projects and policies that had been initiated in the government so far and to further accelerate national development in the coming 2026.
Onanuga, the President Aide, who has been under intense pressure to tell Nigerians when his principal would be coming back was said to have assured Nigerians that there was no cause to worry as there is no vacuum in the governance of the country.
He had confirmed that the President has maintained’ ’constant communication with the Vice President, George Akume, a former governor of Benue state and Secretary to the Government of Federation and other Key political appointees overseeing critical national matters.
He was said to have further disclosed had always reached out to Nuhu Ribadu, the National Security Adviser, NSA, and equally gives directives to security chiefs, urging them ‘’to address decisively emerging threats in the north western states of Zamfara, described as home of Bandits, Sokoto, Kaduna, Katsina and the north eastern states of Borno and Yobe including some other parts of the country like Plateau, where there had been massacres of people by suspected terrorists who were said to have connived with the local armed herders to launch attacks on Communities in the guise of reclaiming their ancestral lands.
The presidential Media Aide could beat his chest that President Tinubu remains fully engaged in governance of Nigeria even though he is away in Europe. Given an insider information, he had said that the President’s absence from the country remains temporary and in line with the communicated timeframe of two weeks.
Putting on the garb of a Public Relations expert, Onanuga, who was said to have appreciated Nigerians’ concern to the two weeks stay of the President outside the country had said that ‘’governance had proceeded without interruption and would remain so until he returns back to the country to assume duties.
Notwithstanding Onanuga’s claims that there is no vacuum in the governance of the country, the Opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and Peter Obi, a former governor of Anambra state and Presidential Candidate of Labour Party, LP, in the February 25, 2023, Presidential election that was won by the Incumbent President Tinubu, of the All-Progressive Congress, APC, would not take it.
The Opposition Political Party Leaders would want President Tinubu to cut short his two weeks planned stay in Europe and return to face the country’s governance squarely.
