By Tony Obiechina, Abuja
The new Permanent Secretary Federal Ministry of Finance, Mrs. Lydia Shehu Jafiya on Tuesday officially took over at the headquarters of ministry in Abuja.
The Minister of Finance and Co-Ordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, while welcoming the new Permanent Secretary said, the ceremony is a family event, even as he admonished the staff to work as a team.
The Minister further advised that work in the Ministry should continue in the spirit of fellowship, common purpose, brotherly love, sisterly love and most importantly communal efforts, adding that “when we work and continue along those principles, we will achieve much.”
“There are lots of expectations bestowed on us, and it is up to us to live up to those expectations”, Edun added.
In her remarks, Mrs Jafiya said she was delighted to be deployment by the Head of Service of the Federation to the Finance Ministry Tinubu’s approval to the Federal Ministry to execute the Ministerial Performance Bond of the Presidential Priorities and deliverables signed with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu during the Presidential Retreat.”
She stated that Federal Ministry of Finance has a rich history of high performance in the management of the National Economy and with the Minister of Finance and Co-ordinating Minister of the Economy who is also saddled with the role of coordinating the Nation’s Economy.
She added , “We shall all work together to align the activities of this Ministry with the Six (6) Pillars of the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plans 2021 – 2025 (FCSSIP25) for high impact performance”.
According to her, thus will entail strong commitment to the full actualization of the Digitization Policy of the Federal Government, namely, the Enterprise Content Management System), Human Resource Management component of the IPPIS, Capacity Building /Talent Management, Performance Management System.
“For me as your Permanent Secretary Finance, I will welcome suggestions and advice on how to move the Ministry forward as we constructively engage with other strategic partners and critical stakeholders locally and internationally towards fulfilling the mandate of the Renewed Hope agenda”, Mrs Jafiya added.
While thanking the Permanent Secretary Special Duties Federal Ministry of Finance, Mr. Okokon Udo, who has been holding – forth since the retirement of her predecessor, Aliyu Ahmed, she noted, “We have to work together as a team and in strict adherence with code of ethics and extant rules/regulations in the conduct of government business.”
Earlier in his welcome address, Mr. Okokon Udo, said handing over is just a formality, that the Permanent Secretary Finance had already resumed duty but the office chose to do the official handing over ceremony on Tuesday.
Udo while assuring the new Permanent Secretary Finance of his support and cooperation, said she needed not to be tensed about the Ministry that it was a familiar terrain.
He also thanked the Minister of Finance for the fatherly role he has been playing and for being so inspirational in taking decisions to ensure things are on the right path and for always squeezing time out of his busy schedules to show that he is always there for us no matter what.
