Unlike ministerial retreats of previous administrations, the recent cabinet retreat held at the Presidential Villa, Aso Rock was more than just a talk shop. It was meant to reset the mindset of the ministers and permanent secretaries; a call to action; reignite hope for millions of Nigerians and a pledge to deliver results.

The President along with the Ministers constitute the Federal Executive Council. This is a constitutional organ that sees to the day to day activities of government. The constitution makes it mandatory for a Minister to be appointed from every state of the federation. Therefore, holding a retreat for the ministers where programmes and policies of government would be fashioned out and templates for evaluation discussed is desirable.

Ministerial retreat was a serious business during President Olusegun Obasanjo’s government in 1999. Late Chief Sunday Bolorunduro Awoniyi, the High Chief Aro of Mopa,Kogi State and retired Permanent Secretary was at the forefront of the retreat that stabilized the then government. With Obasanjo’s shuttle diplomacy and the ministers managing their ministries well, Nigeria was able to achieve debt forgiveness.

Without making any fuss about it, former President Obasanjo had a way of sacking non-performing ministers. He made a major cabinet reshuffle in June 2000, and in January 2001, he dissolved his cabinet. In December 2004 he named 12 new ministers and in June 2005 he made another major cabinet reshuffle. 10 January 2007 a few months before leaving office he made yet another drastic overhaul.

The administration of President Umoru Musa Yar’Adua could not achieve much because of his health challenge and the competition among the ministers to out-loot one another. This lackadaisical attitude continued under President Goodluck Jonathan, ministerial retreats not withstanding.

Under President Muhammadu Buhari, ministerial retreat was taken to another level as he also held sectoral ministerial retreats. For example, on 15 September 2016, he held a ministerial retreat on the economy and the budget. Some others were held yet, some Nigerians believe they the Buhari eight years was a wasted period for the country as there was no policy coordination and delivery of dividend of democracy to Nigerians.

Indeed, Alhaji Adebayo Shittu, former minister of Communications in the Buhari administration put a seal on the above assertion when he confirmed on a national television that:” ex-President Muhammadu Buhari “rarely supervised” members of his cabinet”.

“What I do know of Buhari, with all due respect to him, is that he is a more reserved person. He’s one person who gives you job (with due respect to him) and he rarely ask how you are going about it. It’s unfortunate but I have to say this in national interest so that government coming after him will learn lessons. Once you are there, you are there.

“In Buhari’s government, if you don’t go and meet him, for the next four years, he probably would not ask of you.

“Every Wednesday, people bring their memos and they are debated and all of that but in terms of policy formulation and supervision, we rarely did have such things “, Alhaji Shittu said on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme last Wednesday.

In a subtle way, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu last week unleashed a new era with a resounding message of action , commitment and setting the stage for a brighter future.

On Friday, President Tinubu directed the reactivation of the Presidential Delivery Tracker to empower Nigerians to track the implementation of projects across the country in real-time. His Ministers and Permanent Secretaries also on Friday signed performance bonds during which President Tinubu charged all implementing authorities to unfailingly demonstrate diligence, innovative thinking, commitment, and an unrelenting focus on results.

Chief Ajuri Ngelale ,Special Adviser to the President (Media and Publicity) in a statement on Friday said the President gave the directive while speaking at the closing session of the three-day Cabinet Retreat. According to him, President Tinubu said that his determination to ensure the active and direct participation of citizens in governance is unwavering, stressing that all Nigerians must be given the opportunity to track and report on the implementation of projects across the country.

His words: “If you are performing, nothing to fear, if you miss the objective we review, if you don’t perform, you leave us… Don’t be a clog in the wheel of Nigeria’s progress”. ⁣
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⁣The President asked his Special Adviser on Policy and Coordination, Ms. Hadiza Bala Usman, to immediately reactivate the tracking system in a way that maximally leverages cutting-edge digital innovation to provide real-time oversight capability for the benefit of all Nigerians.

President Tinubu, he said, also redefined the priority areas of his administration as reforming the economy to deliver sustained inclusive growth, strengthening national security for peace and prosperity, boosting agriculture to achieve food security, unlocking energy and natural resources for sustainable development, and enhancing infrastructure and transportation as enablers of growth.

Others are focus on education, health, and social investment as essential pillars of development, accelerate diversification through industrialisation, digitisation, creative arts, manufacturing and innovation and improve governance for effective service delivery.

He said the president further implored all members of his cabinet to work very hard to meet the expectations of Nigerians.

“I want to reiterate that the Renewed Hope Agenda is about more than just economic growth. It is also about building a more just and equitable society for all Nigerians. It is about creating jobs, improving education and healthcare, and reducing poverty. It is about ensuring that all Nigerians have the opportunity to succeed”, Chief Ngelale quoted the president.

“I know that we have a lot of work ahead of us, but I am confident we can achieve our goals. We have a strong team in place, and we are committed to working together to build a better future for Nigeria.

“Let me remind you that our people are not interested in excuses, political games, or procrastination. Neither am I. They are interested in tangible results. They seek solutions to the problems that have long plagued our great nation. The challenge before us demands that we must put aside personal ambitions and focus on adhering to the performance bond we have all signed up for on this day. These performance bonds represent a contract we must uphold,” the President said.

Speaking on the importance of data in governance, the President said: “Data is the lifeblood of effective governance. It enables us to understand the challenges we face so that we can design and implement effective solutions as well as monitor and evaluate our progress. Without data, we are flying blind.”

Would this retreat fall into another category of talk shop with nothing much to show at the end of his tenure? What Nigerians want is a transformation of the country for the better. They want desire a government that would ease their hardship. Otherwise, the retreat will amount to another much ado about nothing.