Why I Made Women My Finance Ministers – Buhari

Why I Made Women My Finance Ministers – Buhari

With barely six days left for him to complete his two terms in office as Nigeria’s leader, President Muhammadu Buhari, has explained why he chose women to be his Finance Ministers.

The President noted that the women he appointed to pilot the affairs of the Finance, Budget and National Planning Ministry gave him ‘a lot of peace’.

Buhari revealed this in Abuja on Tuesday while inaugurating the multi-billion naira Corporate Headquarters of the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS.

According to him, the possibility of ‘lobbyists’ making overtures for ‘contracts’ and ‘mismanaging’ funds significantly declines if a woman is holding any kind of leadership position.

Earlier in his remarks, Comptroller General of Customs Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali (rtd), appreciated Buhari’s firm commitment towards repositioning the NCS.

He described their NCS corporate headquarters as the most cost effective project ever in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT.

“Let me express my profound gratitude to Mr. President for recently signing the Customs Bill, which will go a long way to strengthen their regulatory capabilities, among others,” Ali said.

The NCS Headquarters construction work which began in 2005, gulped 19.6bn before its completion this year.

During a pre-commissioning media briefing on Monday, Adewale Adeniyi Bashir, a Deputy Comptroller-General of the NCS, told journalists that staff of the service would be moved into the new facility in phases, but failed to say what would happen to the old office building.

“The building sits on approximately 25,000 square metres of luxuriant, ample and comfortable working spaces, all spread over 13 (thirteen) floors made up of a basement, ground floor, 1st to 10th Floors and finally a penthouse.

“The height of the building above the ground is approximately 40 (metres), and is one of the tallest buildings within the business district of Maitama, and therefore stamps an aura of pride and importance amongst all other neighboring buildings within the vicinity.

“The building is subdivided into four zones for ease of reference and identification. The zones include wing A, wing 8, tower, and the bridge building. The Tower consists of the largest executive and upper cadre staff offices and sits on 12 floors including a penthouse.

“Also included in the Tower, is the Head Office; Main Auditorium with a seating capacity of about 150 – 200 persons. Each of the lower-level floors also has a meeting/conference room and a training hall for staff training and development,” he said.