Ajuri Ngelale, the just appointed Senior Special Assistant to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had what many Nigerians describe as a beautiful outing earlier today.
ENigeria Newspaper reports that in a video currently trending on social media, Ajuri Ngelale who replaced Dele Alake in the position after the latter was nominated for the position of Minister was heard clearly saying that the office he occupies belongs to Nigerians, not any political party hence the days of government officials speaking to Nigerians in condescending manner are gone.
His words: “This institution belongs to Nigerians; it does not belong to any political party. It belongs to over two hundred million citizens of this country, both at home and abroad. And it is with that understanding that we would be engaging the world. We believe it is the right, not a privilege, but the right of every Nigerian to have full access to the affairs of the Presidential Villa, into the affairs of the office of the President, and into the office of the Vice President.
“We will be more open in terms of providing access to information to radio networks, television networks, newspaper and online news media than ever before.
“We are committed to ensuring that there is a zero-tolerance policy on every spokesperson and every media functionary that works here in the government in terms of how we relate with Nigerians through the press.
“Gone forever by the Grace of God are the days when government spokesmen and women would speak down to Nigerians; use condescending language to Nigerian and would display some sort of institutional arrogance towards Nigerians, that would not be tolerated under my leadership.
Describing President Tinubu in his own words, he said, “I want to be very clear that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a man of empathy. He is committed to the course of opening the Presidency to Nigerians for the benefit if not just Nigerians but for the benefit of public office holders because it is in the interest of public office holders to know that they are being watched, so that they can be held accountable to deliver on the promises of the President in terms of the execution of Government policies.
“And we are going to in very short order announce very tangible measures that have to do with the opening up of this institution on a daily basis, in a deeper and more comprehensive way than has ever been seen before.”
Consequently, he also noted that he has spoken to his predecessors like Reuben Abati, Femi Adesina, and Segun Adeniyi. And he hopes to deepen that engagement as he hopes to work with them to ensure that the Nigerian media has its rightful place in the affairs of government, public life and institution are open for them to deliver right, accurate, and factual information to Nigerians.
In all many Nigerians adjudged Ngelale’s first official outing as really impressive.
