A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Mr. Darlington Nwauju, has welcomed the reshuffling of the cabinet by President Bola Tinubu, saying it was “long overdue but refreshing.”
Nwauju said in a statement on Thursday that he had joined his voice with those of other notable civil society groups and party leaders to demand a re-jigging of the federal cabinet, including demanding the merger of the Ministry of Police Affairs with the Ministry of Interior in consonance with the Steve Orasanye report on restructuring of government parastatals and agencies to cut government expenses and make for greater efficiency and productivity.
The Rivers APC chief said now that the president had made changes in his cabinet, “it is a welcome development and we are particularly thrilled that shining performers of his administration such as Dr Olubunmi Tunji Ojo, the Minister of Interior, were retained.”
He said: “For most of us who have been advocating for a generational shift in governance, Dr Tunji-Ojo remains a shining example of how my generation can bring a touch of brilliance and multi-pronged approach to solving the perennial challenge of poor service delivery in our public service and we are impressed with the fact that Mr. President listened to the overwhelming opinion of Nigerians on the retention of Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo as Interior Minister based on the transformative leadership and the cocktail of achievements recorded by that Ministry under his watch.”
According to Nwauju, the correctional centres across the country had recorded significant improvement in both aesthetics and inmate wellbeing, which is a paradigm shift from punitive to holistic rehabilitation; and said “response to challenges around these custodial centres have received prompt, definite and wholehearted attention.”
Nwauju said “In August of 2024, a 50 per cent increase in daily feeding allowance per inmate across the 254 correctional centres nationwide was achieved, plus orchestrating the clearance of fines and compensations worth N585million for 4,068 inmates, are strong evidences in the push to reform our criminal justice system.
“With strong commitments to partnerships entered into by the Ministry of Interior under Tunji-Ojo through the Nigeria Correctional Services, an ultra modern furniture factory was completed in Borno State, while a garments and shoes factory has been completed at Abia State.”
The Interior Ministry has also ended years of stagnation in the paramilitary services under its supervision by ensuring the promotion of over 60,000 senior and junior officers across the Immigration, Civil Defence and Immigration services. Also a functional Pensions Board has been established aligning paramilitary salaries with those of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF).”
Nwauju also notes that under the supervision of the Interior Ministry, a backlog of 204,333 passports at the Nigeria Immigration Services (NIS) was cleared off the desk, while the ministry also completed a state-of-the-art Data Center and Command and Control Center at the NIS headquarters for ease of visa and passport application; installation of E-gates at several airports across the country has been achieved.”
He commended President Tinubu and urged the new and retained ministers to join hands with the president to drive the vision of his administration.
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