WITHOUT a doubt, Section
138 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended, bars
the President of Nigeria from taking any paid employment or holding executive
office in any capacity. In similar vein, Section 147(2) supra emphatically
provides that ‘any appointment to the office of Minister of the Government of
the Federation shall, if the nomination of any person to such office is
confirmed by the Senate, be made by the President’.
These provisions have triggered
up controversies questioning the eligibility of President Muhammadu Buhari for
doubling as the Minister of Petroleum Resources with Dr. Ibe Kachikwu as
Minister of State after the pattern of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s eight years in
office.
Objectively, the earlier
provision is aimed at avoiding ‘double rations’; that is, circumventing the
President from earning from the federal government any other entitlements other
than those due to the office of the President of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria. It simply indicates that the President on no account will be entitled
to any other remuneration as a minister except those allocated to the office he
was elected by the people. As for duties, in fact, the ministers are confirmed
for aiding the president in his executive functions. As provided, the offices
of the ministers of the federation are statutorily permissible considerately as
workforces, and solely accountable to the President for executing the
blueprints and day-to-day policy-making of the government; thus the power of
hire and fire liberally vested in the President unlike on all other workforce
in the ministries.
Unequivocally, Section
147 (1) provides that ‘there shall be such offices of Ministers of the
Government of the Federation as may be established by the President’ which
connotes that appointment of ministers are under unfettered discretion of the
President. A cursory look at subsection (2) which vests powers to the Senate to
confirm the nominees will convincingly show that its core objective is to
ensure that only persons with basic qualification and of no criminal records are
appointed as captains in the Federal Executive Council. To puncture any form of
ambiguity or controversy; while subsection (5) pegs the minimum qualification
to that of the members of the House of Representatives, subsection (3) hammers
on federal character only, as overriding principle in line with Section 14(3)
supra. Based on the above guidelines, is it conceivable that a person occupying
the hallowed office of the President is ineligible to be a member of the lower
legislative arm? Ridiculously, no contemplation for productivity; what a costly
faux pas!
The estimations
of the contenders will therefore be splendid and robust only when the National
Assembly amends the constitution to screen ministerial nominees vis-à-vis their
proposed portfolios. Put more succinctly, screening strictly for the exact
ministry to head. But where the portfolios are open with mere basic qualification,
then the president can take up a ministerial position provided he is not
remunerated as a minister alongside the presidential packages. Commonsensically
or under normal circumstance, a sitting president of a country screened and elected
by the people couldn’t have been deficient over basic qualification. Thus, the
President requires no further screening while in office except when the
constitution reviews ministerial appointment to be strictly on professionalism
and not as the President wishes. Then, appointments will be static and each
nominee will be screened based on the specific portfolio to handle.
Secondly, by subsection
(6), it is clear that an appointment not cleared by the Senate within
twenty-one working days is deemed to have been confirmed which points to the
fact that Senate must not in actual fact confirm all appointments. The
contentious issue is akin to the Ministries of Power, Works and Housing that
are captained by a minister; Mr. Babatunde Fashola, SAN.
Of course, it is not in breach of any laws so long as not remunerated as triple
position. Generally, the essence of ministers’ appointment is to put in place
unswerving linkage between the President and the ministries for efficient communication,
administration and smooth-running of government policies.
Conversely, my
position will be altered for specialized ministries like Ministry of Justice that
combines the office of the minister with Attorney General of the Federation,
and specifically, for a senior practicing lawyer alongside other specified qualifications.
By implications, non-lawyers cannot fit in and a President, even if a senior in
the bar cannot at the same time wear the shoes of the Attorney General of the Federation.
To conclude, the president takes responsibility of all activities in his
administration including actions of his ministers, and therefore, if in his
discretion elects to take up a ministerial position with a minister of state in
place strategically to be abreast of all dealings and transactions in a
particular core sector, he is not in breach of any laws. By the arrangement,
the president is merely supervising while a professional in the sector handles
operations as the Minister of State. Basically, it implies that the president
desires to be detailed on daily basis on activities. Nonetheless, the existing
arrangement which doesn’t screen nominees based on specific portfolios may not
always boost productivity as square pegs may rarely find themselves in square
holes.
Umegboro, a public affairs analyst
writes from Abuja.
|
|
|
Heartiest congratulations to professor Amuda-Kannike for securing PHd degree.Now he will be serving humanity with more dedication. Best of luck to him for his future endeavours.
ReplyDelete