Of round pegs and square pegs

Iwish to draw the attention of the federal government to some issues in some government parastatals. One, the Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) is still in office after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 60; which is an infraction on extant public service regulations.

This is an obvious abuse of the rules that govern and regulate the appointment and tenure of public officers as provided in the 1999 constitution (as amended), the FRSC Establishment Act 2007, the Public Service Rules, the approved FRSC condition of service and extant circulars.

The corps marshal who is one of the pioneer staff of FRSC when it was established in 1988 has made his mark and therefore needs to gracefully bow out as stipulated by law.

Also, at the Federal Character Commission (FCC), it is unfortunate that there are serious allegations bordering on breaches on rule of law to due process levelled against the commission`s board chairman.

FCC was created through a decree in 1996 by the military regime and was included in the 1999 constitution as one of the 14 independent federal executive bodies. Its first mandate is to work out an equitable formula, subject to the approval of the president, for the distribution of posts in public service and political appointments.

Since the inauguration of commission’s chairman about a year ago, there has been allegations of radical departure from the laiddown mandate, thus eroding in the citizenry and the commissioners nominated from the states a sense of justice and confidence in the commission.

Even the internal recruitment she supervised is fraught with allegations of irregularities.

What are presently playing out at the commission and the FRSC are unacceptable, and if not addressed and nipped in the bud, will rubbish the nationalistic attributes of the present administration.

It is, therefore, expedient to appeal to the presidency, specifically the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF) which supervises the FRSC and FCC on behalf of the president, to do the needful by correcting this anomaly; which will go a long way in averting unnecessary power tussles in the corps and the commission.

Fatima Muhammad Goni, National Chairman, Grassroots Mobilisers for President Buhari/Osinbajo