Towards Restoring
AS Nigerians come to terms with the rising cases of coronavirus, the polity has witnessed a rather disturbing trend in the past one month.
Between May 4 and 20, three chief executives of Federal Government agencies were removed and replaced. Change is inevitable, for a country seeking good governance and for a people yearning for quick delivery of democracy dividends. But pause a while, an adage in Yoruba says if a cook removes, one after the other, logs under her cooking pot, ostensibly because they seemed crooked while glowing; when will the soup get properly cooked?
No one denies the power of President Muhammadu Buhari to hire and fire his appointees, especially when they are found wanting. In a democracy, it is a fundamental right and acceptable global rule, that every offender must be heard before getting punished. Fair and transparent hearing is an inalienable right of every citizen, more so a chief executive of a federal agency.
Now, the hallmark of the Civil Service, and by extension, Public Service, is job security or if you like, adherence to clear rules and regulations governing appointment, promotion and discipline. There are many bright, young men who left universities and shunned mouth- watering offers in the Private Sector to work in the Civil Service because they are attracted by the seeming orderliness and clear rules governing employee- employer relationship in the Public Service. This well- cherished tradition is fast being eroded by overzealous politicians - ministers and board chairmen - who often act whimsically, seeking to exercise powers not conferred either by law or tradition.
A permanent secretary who retired recently from the federal service offered an elaborate opinion on the matter, even as he wanted to remain anonymous. “The Public Service is a combination of the Civil Service and other segments of those working at the parastatals, armed forces, universities, institutions of higher learning, medical establishments and so on. The umbrella under which all of them stand is what is called the Public Service of Nigeria. The hallmark of the Public Service is security of tenure. Moreover, everybody holds his or her appointment at the pleasure of the President and he can delegate such powers. The third aspect that we should note is the legal premise. Even where a death sentence is involved, every matter is subjected to scrutiny up to the Supreme Court before a sentence is carried out. That is the principle of fair hearing.
“These particular set of people we are talking about are appointees of the President and they are guided by three instruments: power derivable from the Constitution, power derivable from the laws establishing each agency and the Public Service Rules. These are rules guiding the conduct and procedures for certain actions in the service. Chapter 3 deals with discipline and procedures while Chapter 16 deals with application of Public Service rules to parastatals.
“Now when you talk about issues of discipline, all public officers are subject to discipline, including chief executives. The central clearing house and coordination of the appointment of all chief executives made by the President is the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF. The circulars in contention are not new in respect of guidelines for end of tenure, appointment, discipline and so on.
“The data- base of all political appointees resides in the office of the SGF. Parastatals are created for specific purposes, they are assigned to certain sectors overseen by certain ministries; the ministers are the political authorities for those sectors and parastatals. They can recommend who should be in a position or who should be removed from that position, but the route through which they are appointed is the OSGF. When ministers were appointed by the President, their letters of appointment were issued and signed by the SGF, just like all chief executives of agencies and parastatals. So, in my opinion, ministers do not have the powers to remove chief executives without going through established procedures.”
It is incongruous that heads of government agencies and parastatals receive their appointment letters from the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, only to get sack letters through their supervising ministers. Why are ministers running to the president to file allegations against chief executives without giving the ‘ accused’ the benefit of fair hearing?
The Minister of Power has displayed some notoriety in this regard. On 24 December, 2019, the minister suspended the Managing Director of the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company PLC, Dr. Marilyn Amobi. A few days later, this same minister announced the indefinite suspension of the Managing Director of the Rural Electrification Agency, Mrs. Damilola Ogunbiyi. President Buhari, with the benefit of diligent investigation, overruled the minister on both unguarded steps.
To be sure, the Minister of Power is not alone in this display of overzealousness. Early in May, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development ran to the President to secure the sack of the Director General of NEMA. Deep throat has it that the erstwhile CEO of NEMA was sacked for ‘ serious misconduct’. That remains a conjecture if the man had