Jonathan Insists On Good Governance, Ministers Must Sign Performance Agreement

Nigeria’s new 38 cabinet ministers were inaugurated on Monday by Acting President Goodluck Jonathan with a charge to deliver on good governance.

While delivering his address to the ministers at the swearing-in ceremony at the Council Chambers of the Villa, Jonathan urged the new appointees to prove their competence, honesty and patriotism in their service to the nation.

"No minister will be allowed to go on a mission of endless search for solutions. You must hit the ground running! Time is of fundamental essence and no distraction in our mission will be tolerated. This is a patriotic call to service… This rare privilege must not be abused! While we continue to pray for the speedy recovery of the President, permit me to emphasize the policy continuum of governance and to insist on the imperative of this team to roll up its sleeve, and to redouble effort so as to meet the expectation of our people who are yearning for good governance," the Acting President said.

On what is expected of the new ministers, Jonathan said, “In the next two weeks my office will work with you to determine and agree on ministerial goals and targets including milestones. This will form the basis for performance agreements that each of you will sign. Once the ministerial objectives are agreed it will be your responsibility to inform the public and you will also publicly report progress.”

Continuing, he said, "In the comforts of our offices let us not forget that majority of our people live below the poverty line and that many of the things we take for granted are in fact the long unfulfilled dreams of many of our country men, women and children. There is therefore an urgency here that must not escape our attention."

While thanking Nigerians for their patience and understanding, Jonathan said, “It takes only a great people to have demonstrated so much patience and tolerance with government in the light of the recent experiences in our country. For this, with all humility, I salute the Nigerian people and its indomitable spirit of never-give-up. It is that spirit, well identified as the nucleus of our unity and our citizenship, which our founding fathers laboured to uphold that we must now defend with every strength in our breadth.

"Moments like this offer us an opportunity for reflection and rejuvenation so that the labours of our heroes past shall never truly be in vain. For me, this brief ceremony, as we enter the last lap of our four years mandate is also a time for the revalidation of the original dream of our founding fathers as rooted in our nation’s aspiration for justice, liberty and the enjoyment of fundamental freedoms."

To those he considered as distraction to government, Jonathan said, "No longer must we tolerate the triumph of centrifugal forces whose main agenda is to distract and defeat the march of our people to the summit of economic self-sufficiency and political maturity. Our people demand the best because mediocre performance will not be enough to meet the high expectations of the moment."

The Acting President thanked Former heads of state, the National Assembly, Security agencies, the Armed Forces and the civil society for their support and defence of the constitution and democracy.