Interior Ministry generated N113bn in 4 years- Danbazau
The outgoing Minister of Interior, Lt Gen Abdulrahman Bello Dambazau (rtd) yesterday in Abuja revealed that the Ministry under his watch made over N113 billion and $112 million in revenue for government in three years between 2016 and 2018.
The Minister who made the revelation while handing over the affairs of the Ministry to the Permanent Secretary, Barrister Georgina Ekeoma Ehuriah in line with the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari stated further that the ministry under his watch had helped President Muhammadu Buhari to achieve the three cardinal goals of his administration particularly in the area of improving security, revitalizing the economy and the fight against corruption.
He said that he will leave the Ministry better than he met it.“People i met here have left and it is my turn to leave. I am going to leave with mixed feelings. “I’m going to leave a ministry behind that I enjoyed working in but also, I know that I’m going to leave the ministry better than I met it. “The ministry under my watch has been able to make over N113 billion and over $112 million in revenue for government between 2016 and 2018,” he said.
The former minister who said he met a weak institution in 2015 when he resumed office and that there were issues with security, recruitment, infrastructure and general welfare of staff before his appointment, emphasized that the Ministry under his watch successfully recruited 19,000 paramilitary personnel between 2016 and 2018 to boost efforts at strengthening internal security. Adding that the Ministry also met minimum standard for the treatment and rehabilitation of inmates.
“We have met the minimum standard for the treatment and rehabilitation of inmates and we have received UNESCO and other international organizations’ commendation for the feat. “In Abuja, there was only one rickety fire truck without tires when we came-in in 2015 but today, the same fire service can boost of over 40 new fire trucks,” he added.
General Dambazau also said the introduction of Agro rangers have helped minimized the crisis between farmers and herdsmen, adding that with the approval of the E-border project by the Federal Executive Council, the problem of trans-border crimes will be a thing of the past.
General Dambazau who spoke emotionally commended the staff of the ministry for maximum support and appealed to them to extend the same hand of fellowship to his successor in order to move the ministry to the next level.
The Permanent Secretary Barrister Georgina Ekoma Ehuriah in her response commended the former Minister for his strategic leadership he provided the Ministry for the past four years.
According to her, the Minister introduced several innovations that had placed the paramilitary agencies under the ministry’s supervision as forces to reckon with. She said, “Sir, you criss crossed the entire breadth of the country – from the North East to the North West, from South West to the South East at great personal risk seeking the durable peace in the entire country.”
The Permanent Secretary said further: “Many a man would have buckled under the pressure of the hydra headed security challenges confronting our beloved country but you fought like the General that you are and just yesterday, you gave a passionate treatise replete with strategies to be deployed to achieve peace in the North East and Lake Chad area”.
Dambazau handed over the affairs of the ministry to the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Barrister Georgina Ehuriah, in accordance with President Buhari’s directive to all ministers to handover their respective ministries yesterday, Tuesday.
SIGNED
Mohammed Manga
