President Muhammadu Buhari approved the creation of a Presidential Transition Council Monday, signaling his preparedness to hand over power on May 29—two weeks before the presidential election—and starting the process for his transfer.
The transition program for 2023, which will be its sixth iteration since the Fourth Republic’s inception in 1999, will be facilitated and managed by it.
The transition event that will usher in a brand-new administration this year will be held in Eagles Square in Abuja for the third time since 1999. Umaru Yar’Adua succeeded Olusegun Obasanjo as president in 2007, and Goodluck Jonathan, who took office in 2010 after Yar’Adua’s death, succeeded President Buhari in 2015. To ensure a seamless transition after the election of a new president, President Buhari handed his successor two seats in the Presidential Transition Council.
Boss Mustapha, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), revealed the identities of the council members in a statement yesterday in Abuja.
The head of the federal civil service, the federation’s solicitor general, the permanent secretary of the federal ministry of justice, the chief registrar of the supreme court of Nigeria, the chief of defense staff, the inspector general of police, the director general of the national intelligence agency, and other officials make up the council.
They will be joined by the Permanent Secretaries from the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), the Ministry of Information and Culture, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and two other representatives who will be nominated by the President-elect.
On February 14, the Council will be formally established by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
Executive Order No. 14 of 2023, which governs the facilitation and administration of presidential transitions, was also signed by President Buhari. The institutionalization of a legislative framework that would provide a smooth transfer of power from one presidential administration to another is a crucial component of the Presidential Executive Order No. 14 of 2023, which is part of President Buhari’s legacy.
