Emotion ran high on Wednesday as the Federal Executive Council bid emotional farewell to the Minister of Environment, Mrs. Amina Mohammed, who is leaving the cabinet.
Amina Mohammed
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) of the Muhammadu Buhari administration, held a valedictory session in honour of the Minister of Environment, Mrs. Amina Mohammed, who is leaving the cabinet to take up an appointment as the Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations.
According to Punch Metro, emotions ran high on Wednesday as Amina, who is billed to resume at the UN headquarters in New York, in March, attended her last council meeting on Wednesday.
It was gathered that the Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, who presided over the meeting, the outgoing minister as well as the Minister of State for Environment, Ibrahim Jibril, were shedding tears.
Ministers took turns to eulogise Mohammed, described her as a role model, a goal-getter and a source of pride to Nigeria, before Osinbajo rounded the emotion-laden session off with his remarks as he lauded the contributions of Mohammed to the present administration’s achievements.
Mohammed later thanked her colleagues for the honour and promised to keep Nigeria’s flag flying at the world stage when she resumes at the UN headquarters soon, and at the end of the session, the cabinet members took pictures with the outgoing minister.
Speaking to State House correspondents after the emotional meeting, she said that Nigeria stood to gain a lot from her appointment.
“Being there, you are closer to some of the decision-making. We do have some major challenges that are of concern to the global village.
“In the next two weeks or so, the UN Security Council should be visiting Nigeria and when it does, we will be showing them exactly what the President has been highlighting and that nexus between poverty, conflict and climate change.
“They will visit the North-East and they will see some of the root causes of our young people being dragged to terrorism," she said.