The newly appointed Minister of Transportation, Mu’azu Jaji Sambo has described the Ministry as home, having started his career in the Maritime sector as a Civil Engineer with the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and ended up as the Lagos Area Manager of National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA).
He said this on the assumption of duty alongside the Minister of State for Transportation, Prince Ademola Adewole Adegoroye in Abuja.
Mu’azu was deployed from the Ministry of Works and Housing by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Recalling that he has very little time to operate, the Minister said: “We will look for the low-hanging fruits and make sure that we put them on the table as quickly as possible”.
Speaking further, the Minister said that he was coming with an open mind and expects the same from Staff and Management while calling them to give him the needed support to do his best.
“I have come with an open mind to do my best and leave humanity and posterity to judge,” he said.
In her handover speech, the ex-Minister of State for Transportation, Sen. Gbemisola Ruqayyah Saraki who was deployed to the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development as Minister of State, reassured the Ministers that they have an exceptionally hard-working team of staff in the Ministry of Transportation while disclosing that transportation remained one of the focal points of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration and that the Ministry goes beyond rail as it has both maritime and road transportation departments.
Earlier, the Permanent Secretary, Dr. Magdalen Ajani, in a welcome address, promised a smooth working relationship with the Ministers for the development of the sector.
Also speaking on behalf of the Staff, the Director, Finance and Accounts, Hassan Umar assured the Ministers that the team on the ground are professionals, worthy of their calling as Civil Servants as they apply extant rules and regulations in the discharge of their duties. nan.