May 29th handover: Ministers, heads of agencies, others prepare handover notes

Ahead of the May 29th handover to the General Buhari-led government, the federal government has directed all Ministers, heads of agencies, Service Chiefs and others to prepare their handover notes.

According to an exclusive report by Premium Times, in a memo titled "Request For Hand Over Briefs”, the Secretary to the Federal Government, Senator Ayim Pius Anyim, directed that handover notes be submitted on or before April 20th.


The memo in part reads "You may recall that President Goodluck Jonathan, GCFR has constituted a Transition Committee to midwife the handover of Government from the present administration to the in-coming one.

The Committee which is chaired by the Vice President, Arch. Namadi sambo, GCON, has the following Terms of Reference: (a) Collate and prepare all the Handover briefs from MDAs; (b) Arrange a formal presentation of the Handover briefs to the in-coming Administration; Interface with the in-coming Administration’s transition Committee as to provide clarifications on the status of the briefs where required; (d) Prepare the President’s Handover note.
2. It is in furtherance of this Committee’s mandate that this circular is issued to request all MDAs to prepare and submit their briefs to the Secretariat of the Committee (i.e Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation) on or before the 20th of April, 2015. In preparing the briefs, be……. as much as possible.
1. Hon Ministers shall collate all inputs from the Parastatals under their supervision and accordingly process such inputs as part of their submissions;
2. Briefing format shall as much as possible follow the following pattern:
a. A brief Statement of the mandate of the MDAs;
b. Presentations shall flow from a definite policy, scheme or initiative (a highlight of the target and implementation strategy of the policy may be necessary);
c. (b) above shall be followed by the programmes and activities being implemented under the policy, scheme or initiative;
d. (c) above shall be followed by brief status report on the programme/activities under each policy, scheme or initiative. In articulating the report the following may be considered necessary:
i. Where data are presented, they should be accurate and precise;
ii.The following may be indicated:
-Commitments and liabilities
-Matters for immediate decisions
-Legislative issues
-International obligations, etc
(e) (d) shall be followed by a brief statement on the impact of the policy and its programmes;
(f) Conclusion: This may be a brief summary with recommendations.

You are expected to be precise, there is no restriction as to the volume or quantity of attachments that can follow thereto.
3. Above for your strict compliance please.”

Among those directed to submit their handover notes includes offices of the Chief of Staff to the President, Deputy Chief of Staff to the President (Office of the Vice President), Ministers/Ministers of State, Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Special Advisers/Senior Special Assistants and Service chiefs/Inspector General of Police, Chairman Federal Civil Service Commission, Chairman, Code of Conduct Bureau, Chairman, Code of Conduct Tribunal, Chairman, Federal Character Commission, Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, Chairman, Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission, Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Chairman National Drug Law Enforcement Agency.

Also directed to prepare their handover notes are Permanent Secretaries and Heads of Extra-Ministerial Departments, Auditor-General of the Federation, Accountant-General of the Federation, Director General/Chief Executives of Parastatals, Agencies and Government-Owned Companies.

In a related development, the the Transition Committee headed by VP Namadi Sambo yesterday April 14th directed all Ministries, Department and Agencies to submit a 6-page handover note on or before Thursday April 16th.

The memo in part reads "Please I have been directed to request that you kindly ensure that your Agency/Departmental Handover notes reach me on or before Thursday 16th April, 2014. Be reminded that your submission should be a maximum of 6 pages, detailing the following: Summary of key functions of Agency/Department; Summary of achievements 2011-2014; Key issues/challenges and proposed solutions to tackling same. Please ensure prompt response as we are working with very tight deadlines. Thank you for your kind cooperation and prompt response.”

Source: Premium Times