I don’t know much about Interior ministry, Aregbesola admits

Adelani Adepegba, Abuja

The newly appointed Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, has said he knows little about the policies and operations of his ministry, adding that all he knows about the ministry was what he read in the newspapers.

He said this when he visited the ministry shortly after he was inaugurated and assigned a portfolio alongside others by President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja, on Wednesday.

The former Osun State governor said, “I don’t really know much about the operations or policies of the ministry apart from stories about the ministry on the pages of newspapers. My relationship with the ministry is distant. What I know about the ministry is what I read in the newspapers.”

Aregbesola instructed the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Georgina Ehuriah, who had been in charge since the dissolution of the last cabinet, to continue running the ministry until Monday when he would formally take over.

“I will come to take over on Monday. I give the Permanent Secretary the grace to run the ministry till then. We will be ready by Monday to take on the huge assignment,” the minister stated.

He assured the staff of the ministry and personnel of all paramilitary agencies under the ministry of purposeful leadership while urging them to be ready for more work as he would be demanding much more from them.

He stated, “I promise you a realistic, reasonable and commendable leadership.”

Earlier in her speech, Ehuriah said the ministry needed “a focused person like you (minister)” to lead it on account of its strategic position in the security architecture of the country.

She said the proper handing over ceremony would take place on Monday.