Daniel Idonor
28 August 2008
interview
Abuja — The Federal Government yesterday attempted to douse anxiety over the health of President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua when it said the president is still in Saudi Arabia performing the lesser hajj.
Government confirmed the cancellation of the proposed state visit to Brazil by President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua but could not confirm whether the decision was due to the president's ill health.
It declared that it was "sudden developments which required the immediate attention of Nigeria that led to the cancellation of the planned state visit to Brazil by President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua".
Government could not said or deny reports that attributed the aborted trip to ill health of the President but confirmed that the visit was put off due to "developments that needed our immediate attention".
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chief Ojo Madueke, who fielded questions from anxious State House Correspondents at the end of the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, maintained that the state visit has not been cancelled.
According to him, the trip is being rescheduled for later date to be agreed between both countries; saying that the sudden change of mind by Nigeria to postpone the journey could happen to any country or government.
Below is the full text of the brief interview:
Where is the President?
The President is on lesser Hajj
There are reports that he is sick?
Silent
What about your journey to Brazil ?
I am here now on state matters
What does this mean?
State matter means that things are adjusted and readjusted.
There are some reports that your journey to Brazil has been cancelled?
It is not cancelled. It is just readjusted.
Till when Sir?
That is being sorted out between the two governments.
Why the adjustment?
Because of developments that needed our immediate attention.
Many people would be wondering why after committing yourself to the international visit, you just withdrew from it without a concrete reason to the public.
It is a bilateral issue and the host country is fully aware of the issues.
But that is very unusual of Nigeria sir?
There is nothing unusual about it. It was deferred. It happens several times. Governance is dynamic. You cannot be a prisoner to any particular programme.
Concretely, sir what are the reasons. Brazil is an important country to Nigeria ?
Very important and we intend to keep that. Our respect for them remain very strong and our inability to come on this trip does not in any way affect our respect for them and they are looking forward to when the president will make the trip
It has nothing to do with the health of the president?
No
When is the president billed to return to the country?
Any moment from now.
Also responding to the curious development, Minister of Information and Communications, John Odey, said there was no need to fuss over it, as he even spoke with the president Wednesday morning over some state matters and there was no cause for alarm.
While evading any definite response on Yar'Adua's exact state of health, Odey said "to the best of my knowledge, the president is still performing the lesser hajj,
Reports about the president's ill health had filtered last week Wednesday when he was scheduled to travel to Saudi Arabia to perform the lesser hajj operation on the previous Tuesday but could not travel until Wednesday afternoon, after he had opened that week's FEC meeting on that day.
However when he eventually made the trip which is private, he was to have left Saudi Arabia Tuesday this week for Brazil on a State-visit to the South American country but could not make, and as a result the trip was put off.
It became clear that the agreed visit between the Nigerian government and its Brazilian counterpart was being shelved when on Monday top government functionaries that were billed to travel to Brazil to join the president Tuesday could not leave as planed.
Meanwhile, Mr. Odey who briefed reporters at the end of the FEC meeting said approval was given for a review of the disbursement formula of the Federal Government 2 per cent of Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) as intervention to the Universal Basic Education programme.
He said under the new dispensation, matching grant to states was slashed from 75 per cent to 50 per cent, in a formula that factored in monitoring component of the programme.
The review, he noted, also gave 14 per cent of the fund to Education imbalance, good performance (5 per cent ), physically and mentally challenged (2 per cent ), monitoring fund (2 per cent ), instructional materials (15 per cent ), UBE Implementation fund (2 per cent ) and teacher development (10 per cent ).
"Also yesterday Council approved the sum of N779, 763,140.16 as contract for the construction of Ogbese River Bridge to link Okada in Edo state with Okeluse in Ondo state. The contract which was awarded to Dekit Nigeria Ltd has a completion period of 12 months.
Also awarded was a contract for the reconstruction of Gombe-Numan-Yola road in Adamawa state in the sum of N4.1 billion. Awarded to Messrs Triacta Nigeria Limited, the contract has a completion period of 30 months.
Also considered and approved by Council was contract for the overhauling and upgrading of the FCT Water Board's pumping stations to Naston Engineering Nigeria Ltd in the sum of N428,9 million with a completion period of nine months. In making case for the overhauling, Minister of FCT said the Board initially had 25 pumps, but added that today it had only seven in operation".
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