The Minister of Interior, Hon. Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo has declared that governance is no longer business as usual but business unusual adding that the era of setting up probe panels just to douse tension is gone.
The Minister was speaking on Tuesday while receiving the report of the panel set up to Investigate the death of 33 miners who were held in custody by the Niger State Command of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corp in September this year.
He assured that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was very concerned about getting justice for the victims.
Tunji- Ojo acknowledged that the world is watching and government would want to show the world that it cares about the vulnerable by doing the right thing.
“So for us, this is a departure from the normal, as I always say, governance is not business as usual, governance is business unusual. The era of setting up committees just to douse tension is over”, Tunji-Ojo said.
“We want to assure Nigerians that, for us, leadership is not tested when things are going right. Leadership is tested by the response when things are not going right. Yes, mistakes have been made, but the best we can do for the institution is to make sure these mistakes never happen again.
“One assurance I would like to give is that there will be a complete reform.
“For those who have erred, there will be repercussions.
“And to Nigerians and to the families of the deceased, we want to assure you that this government will never leave you alone, you will never walk alone. We will make sure that justice is done to honour the memory of the lost ones, and to ensure that at no other time will Nigerians have to go through this.
He assured that the “report will be forwarded to the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice for further judicial action where necessary. A copy of this report will also be retained at the level of the Ministry and we will work very closely with the NSCDC to make sure that the institutional reforms needed are put in place, to ensure that an agency set up to protect Nigerians does not end up hurting Nigerians.”
Answering a journalist’s question as to how soon the report will be implemented, the Minister said, “I did say that this report will be forwarded to the office of the Attorney General for further judicial action. We do not have those powers here. And I can tell you, the Attorney General is anxiously waiting for this. He has called more than four times about the investigation to ask about the progress, because, as I told you, Mr. President is very concerned about this. We want to show the world that, as Nigerians, we care about even the least and the most vulnerable. We care about everybody.
So you can rest assured. On the administrative part, which falls within the purview of this Ministry, we will sit down at our level, review the report and implement the administrative part in-house, and in a very short while we will get it done.
He thanked the Committee members profusely for their efforts.