The Nation Newspaper

Tag: executive

  • SGF seeks better executive, legislative cooperation

    SGF seeks better executive, legislative cooperation

    •Mustapha visits Saraki, Dogara

    SECRETARY to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Boss Mustapha yesterday assured Senate President Bukola Saraki and House of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara of the full cooperation of the Presidency with the National Assembly.

    Mustapha, who visited Saraki and Dogara at the National Assembly, told them that he came to extend hand of friendship and to solicit the support and cooperation of the National Assembly to ensure the smooth running of government.

    The SGF noted that the Presidency was not in competition with the National Assembly, especially when it was realised that the duties of the two arms of government are specified in the constitution.

    He said the two arms of government are joint partners in governmental enterprise and should work to complement each other.

    Saraki described the visit of the SGF as a new phase of cooperation between the Executive and the Legislature.

    He said: “Let me on behalf of my colleagues welcome you to the Senate and let me thank you for your visit.

    “I think your visit is very symbolic. It is truly a new phase of cooperation between the Executive and the Legislature and a good omen  for our democracy and for our government.”

    Dogara stated that contrary to beliefs in some quarters, the Legislature and the Executive are not rivals but partners in progress.

    He described the appointment of Mustapha as “a round peg in a round hole, or a square peg in a square hole”, and stated that the president “hit the nail on the head”.

  • Legislative, Executive will cooperate for good governance – Saraki

    Legislative, Executive will cooperate for good governance – Saraki

    Senate President Bukola Saraki on Tuesday pledged the cooperation of the National Assembly with the executive to ensure better administration of the country.

    Saraki gave the indication when he fielded questions from State House Correspondents after an interactive dinner hosted by President Muhammadu Buhari in honour of principal officers of the National Assembly in Abuja.

    According to him, the event is not just a meeting but to honour the invitation of the President to the National Assembly officers to interact with him since he returned from medical vacation.

    “As you know, since he got back we have not really had an opportunity to meet with him as part of the stakeholders,’’ he said.

    The Senate President added that this was the first time for such interaction with the leadership of the National Assembly.

    “The meeting was to welcome him to show our gratitude that he has come back healthy and continue to assure him that we will continue to cooperate with the executive and also to acknowledge the role we played while he was away that brought stability.

    “We thank all the members for the patriotic approach they handled the administration’s affairs in his absence,’’ he said.

    On the 2018 appropriation bill, Saraki stated that its presentation lay in the hands of the executive but “we will receive it when they are ready.’’

    He said both the National Assembly and the executive would work together to ensure the passage of the bill in December.(NAN)

  • Why Executive can’t spend recovered loot, by AGF

    Why Executive can’t spend recovered loot, by AGF

    Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) Abubakar Malami (SAN) has blamed the Legislature for the inability of the Executive to put to use funds recovered from looters.

    He said the responsibility of ensuring that suspected looters were denied bail by the courts lies with the Legislature, who must amend existing laws to that effect.

    Malami was responding to questions at an event tagged: “The Federal Government – Progressives Governors’ Forum (PGF) parley on policy synergy to ensure development,” in Birnin Kebbi, Kebbi State yesterday.

    The event, aired live on the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), was monitored in Abuja yesterday.

    On the recovered loots, Malami said: “Expenditure is a constitutional function of appropriation. And that exclusively is the responsibility of the National Assembly upon the preparation and presentation by the Executive.

    “It is not something that the Executive can simply deep its hands into the recovered funds without the supporting legislation by way of appropriation,” Malami said.

    On why those accused of corruption and briefly detained in prison were now walking freely, Malami said it was the duty of the Judiciary, acting on the dictate of existing laws, to decide whether or not a detained suspect should be granted bail.

    “As regard the issue that some people allegedly charged to court are moving freely over the place, I think I have to make it clear that issues about the freedom and liberty of an accused or suspect is a chain that involves the Executive, the Legislature and indeed, the Judiciary.

    “But, the ultimate, as regard the grant of bail and the freedom of an accused or suspect lies exclusively with the Judiciary, which has the responsibility of exercising the discretion to grant or refuse bail in any given circumstances.

    “But, above all, the responsibility of ensuring that no corrupt suspect or accused enjoys freedom is exclusively the responsibility of the Legislature, which has the responsibility of changing our laws to ensure that those who are charged with corruption and associated vices are not granted bail,” Malami said.

  • Supreme Court should resolve executive/Senate face-off

    SIR: It is apposite to view the Senate’s insistence that the acting President recant his legal opinion on heads of agency appointments as patently puerile.

    The eighth Senate has been in a combat mode since it was prorogued with most of its agenda driven by reactionary leadership.

    Asking the executive arm to head to Supreme Court is not only reflective of lack of any sense of urgency in the red chamber’s attitude to legislative business, it also cast a big slur on the patriotic credentials of members as it were.

    One would rather expect the senate to confirm all appointments tabled before it and isolate that of Ibrahim Magu pending the Supreme Court’s interpretation of section 171 of the constitution.

    To freeze every confirmation and thus deny critical agencies like INEC and others the much needed administrative stability is to allow some unruly elements in the Senate who are caught in the web of legal battles to destabilize the fledging democratic process.

    Since the executive has transmitted the instrument for confirmation to the legislature and the latter declined on issues of constitutional ambiguity, then the onus is on the Senate to seek the Supreme Court’s interpretation and not to put governance in limbo.

    One must also add that the matter when eventually brought to the Supreme Court should be given accelerated attention as is being done in civilized climes.

    The recent Trump’s travel ban was expeditiously dispensed with by the U.S. Supreme Court because if allowed to hang, it could hurt other sundry national interests.

    It’s rather disconcerting that the anti-corruption bill before the eighth Senate remains pigeon-holed for lack of political will to do the right thing.

    It is even shameful that the leadership of the Senate could be so insular as to dismiss the anti-corruption war as ineffectual when it’s actually the one putting spanner in the wheel.

     

    • Bukola Ajisola,

    bukymany@yahoo.com

  • Executive, Senate row’ll be resolved, says Presidency

    Executive, Senate row’ll be resolved, says Presidency

    The Presidency is sure that the rift between the executive and the legislative arms of the Federal Government will  soon be resolved.

    “We have an excellent mechanism for resolving issues between the executive and the legislature. That is being addressed.

    “Whatever will be the misunderstanding between executive and legislature, there is mechanism for resolving it. So we are resolving it,” Minister of Information Lai Mohammed told reporters yesterday after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting.

    Senators drew the battle line on Tuesday when they insisted that the Presidency must remove Ibrahim Magu as acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) because they did not clear him.

    Failing to comply, the Senate said it would suspend confirmation of nominees for appointment.

    They also asked Acting President Yemi Osinbajo to withdraw a statement credited to him that the Senate lacked the powers to confirm certain categories of nominees.

    Asked whether the issue came up for discussion at the FEC meeting, Mohammed said: “Clearly, it came up.”

    He added: “I don’t think we need to go to specific statements as to what was said by A or B. We believe that government is not one arm, but both the legislative, executive and judiciary arms, whatever might be the problem, we are resolving it and we are addressing it.”

    Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation Abubakar Malami, said: “The fundamental consideration about the alleged statement is the fact that at no point ever did the Federal Executive Council sit down to arrive at the decision in one way or the other as far as the issue of nomination or otherwise is concerned.

    “So I do not think it constitutes an issue for the Federal Executive Council to make any clarification

    about because it has never been considered by the FEC.”

    Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity Malam Garba Shehu said:”Our understanding is that some remarks made by the Acting President some months ago when he was the Vice President, because the President was around at that time, an opinion he gave is being misconstrued.

    “A senior lawyer in the country offered an opinion in which he said some categories of public officers traditionally cleared by the National Assembly need not go through that process, that those ones can be appointed by presidential fiat; they don’t have to go through screening. But several months ago, in his position as Vice President, Professor Osinbajo gave a personal opinion, saying what this lawyer said makes sense,” he said.

    According to him, the government or its cabinet has not taken any decision on such an issue.

    “There is no official position by the government of Nigeria and the Federal Executive Council never sat down to take a decision, to say that some categories of officials will not be sent to the National Assembly any longer. The authority of the Senate under the constitution to screen and pass nominees has never been questioned by the government or the Federal Executive Council,” Shehu said.

    He noted that in compliance with the provisions of the law, the executive had been sending its nominees to the National Assembly for screening and it will continue to do so.

    All parties involved in the matter, he said, would soon meet to settle it.

    “From the time the Vice President gave that opinion to now, more than twenty nominations have been forwarded to the Senate and quite a number of them have been screened, sworn-in and are now occupying positions. So, this is not a big issue as some people want to make it.

    “The party, government and the National Assembly will sit on a round table and this matter will be discussed and resolved. I assure you,” Shehu said.

  • Executive/Legislature face-off: Cardinal Okogie slams Nigerian leaders

    Worried by the current face-off between the Executive and the Legislative arms of Federal Government, Anthony Cardinal Okogie, the Archbishop Emeritus of the Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos, has urged the country’s leaders to put the interest of the citizenry above personal interests.

    Okogie said the executive and legislative arms should come together and work for the development of the nation.

    According to the cardinal, the leaders must assume the responsibility of governance by securing the land from those he called armed robbers, kidnappers and herdsmen.

    “Our politicians are busy fighting one another, exchanging blows in the hallowed chambers of legislation, resorting to character assassination.

    “Our law enforcement institutions have been turned into their arsenal in this battle of the sanctimonious; the executive accuses the legislature of corruption and vice versa.

    “Both parties in the conflict pretend to be fighting for us, they are fighting to guard the “trophy” they won at the last election while preparing to retain the same trophy in the next election.

    “They are so busy fighting that they have no time to work for our security. Their sterile conflict is, in fact, prejudicial to our security.

    “Their negligence of duty, their tantrums, their failure to be transparent and accountable with very few exceptions, point to the fact that they are part of the equation of insecurity in our country,’’ Okogie said in a statement.

    Okogie called on political leaders to provide infrastructure and adequate security for the citizens.

    He noted:“Our leaders are well protected, but we the citizens are not. Political leaders who cannot provide security are a total failure.

    “Almost six decades after independence, almost 70 years after the establishment of Nigeria’s premier University of Ibadan, we still have to rely on medical tourism.

    “But how many poor Nigerians can afford to spend one day in a hospital overseas. How many can afford to be away from their work for three months.

    “But Nigerians have the capacity to run good hospitals. All we just need is a leadership that enables, not one that disables.

    “They receive the perks of office in a land where workers have gone unpaid for months, government does not serve Nigerians and the public servant does not serve the public.”

    Okogie called on Nigerians to be responsible in the business of protecting and safeguarding their own lives and property.

    “Does the life of the Nigerians have any value. If it does, can it be truly said that Nigerians appreciate the value of life. The questions are meant for all of us.

    “We all have to take responsibility for the protection of lives and property of the citizens in this country. We live in clear and present danger.

    “We are not safe when we are at home, neither are we safe away from home.

    “Life runs the risk of being cut short by armed robbers, kidnappers, dangerous drivers driving on dangerous roads, driving cars that are dangerous for transportation.

    “When we thought we were gaining the upper hand in the battle with Boko Haram, violent herdsmen stare at our helpless faces,”  said the retired catholic archbishop.

    While reminding leaders that one day they would give account of their stewardship to God, who made them leaders, Okogie pointed out: “One thing is clear: almost all our political leaders are either Christian or Muslim. The two religions teach that we shall one day account for our earthly stewardship.

    “Every leader will stand before the “Just Judge” (God) and account for the way he or she got into positions of authority and used the authority.

    “Propaganda in the print and electronic media will be of no assistance, lies told to get elected and falsehood peddled to remain in office will be of no value.”

  • Executive recklessness

    •Supreme Court rules to save democracy at the local level as it outlaws appointment of caretaker committees to run LGs

    The decision by the highest court of the land, the Supreme Court, that appointment of caretaker committees in place of elected officials for local governments is illegal and amounts to “executive lawlessness” is welcome. It is a fitting intervention by the judiciary in the age-long struggle to save democratic ethos, values and practice. Ruling on the suit filed by the 16 local government officials sacked by the Kayode Fayemi administration when it was inaugurated in Ekiti State in 2010, the apex court frowned at governors’ penchant to disregard the constitutional guidelines for administering their states.

    The five-member panel of Supreme Court justices led by Olabode Rhodes Vivour considered the action by the politicians not only inimical to national development, but unwholesome and dangerous. To underscore its anger, the court ordered the state government to pay the petitioners their salaries and allowances up to December 2011, when they would have constitutionally vacated office.

    This is victory for democracy. It once again brings to the fore the fact that no one under the democratic setting has absolute powers. The implication of the verdict goes beyond state-local government relations. Governments at all levels are fond of exercising vice grips on institutions of state. Governing councils of universities are whimsically dissolved, vice-chancellors are sacked and executive bodies left without boards for years. The spirit of the Supreme Court ruling is that these illegal acts must stop.

    We agree with the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) that the ruling has come at the most appropriate time. However, the union’s call for “total autonomy” may be out of place because, in a federation, there can be no full autonomy for any tier of government as relationships are growingly becoming inter-dependent the world over. Even in the relationship between branches of government in countries where Separation of Powers is the order, it has been established that such separation is not water-tight.

    What Nigeria deserves is respect for the constitution and decisions of the courts. The 1999 Constitution is unambiguous in this respect. Section 7 (1) categorically states that: “The system of local government by democratically elected councils is hereby guaranteed.”  Although the constitution goes further to empower the state governments to enact laws “for the establishment, structure, composition, finance and functions of the councils”, such powers are limited by the functions assigned the councils in the Fourth Schedule to the Constitution and the allocation of funds from the centre. The local government areas are also listed in the supreme legal document.

    We hope the governors who have continued to see themselves as emperors in their states would give effect to this verdict since it is not the first time that such orders would be handed down by the court. In the instant case, the Court of Appeal had, in 2013, similarly declared the dissolution illegal and held that caretaker committees are unknown to the laws of the land. Yet, many states proceeded to appoint them. Perhaps the most notorious was the case of Anambra State where there were no elections since the inauguration of the Fourth Republic in 1999 and the end of Governor Peter Obi’s tenure in February 2014. In Imo State, Governor Rochas Okorocha appointed state legislators and members of his kitchen cabinet to run the councils.

    In other ways, the states undermine local councils. The people are robbed of the benefits of functional government at the grassroots level which would have served as means of recruiting future leaders for higher assignments, a cheaper and more efficient collection of rates as well as mobilising popular support for national ideals.

    While we acknowledge the arguments being canvassed for ceding full control of the local government areas to the states since they are not federating units, we are persuaded that the constitution should be obeyed and the positive benefits of the current system be allowed to accrue to Nigerians. We are convinced that Nigeria’s democracy can only develop if effective governance takes root at the local level.

  • Ex-bank executive Sola Adeoti dedicates life to humanity

    Ex-bank executive Sola Adeoti dedicates life to humanity

    FOR former Managing Director of the defunct City Express Bank, Sola Adeoti, necessity is the mother of not just invention but reinvention also. Since her ‘road to Damascus’ moment in 2005 when she was diagnosed with cancer, the elegant daughter of popular industrialist, Chief Samuel Adedoyin, has experienced a radical change in lifestyle. Her metamorphosis from socialite to a philanthropist has been spectacular.

    Like iron must pass through the furnace to become steel, the former CEO of defunct City Express Bank has passed through the torture of breast cancer and emerged richer and stronger for it. While she battled the dreaded disease with everything she had, including the alleged of four of her houses to pay for treatment, she never lost her faith and resilience.

    But just when she seemed to have conquered the deadly disease for good, her beloved son was diagnosed with brain cancer. Undaunted, the ordained pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God again grabbed her armour of faith and launched into another round of battle against cancer.

    Now she reaping the rewards of her uncommon courage. Battle-hardened Adeoti has dedicated her life to helping others to overcome the monster. Through her MariaSam foundation and the testimony of her own life as a survivor, she is helping to give hope to cancer patients in the society.

  • FACAN elects new executive

    Federation of Agricultural Commodity Associations of Nigeria (FACAN) has elected officers to run its affairs for two years. They are Dr Victor Iyama, who was re-elected President; Alhaji Sheriff Balogun is the deputy president; General-Secretary, Bello Dogondaji; Treasurer, Hajia Rukkayat Ismaila; Financial Secretary, Hajia Jumai Abubakar; Public Relations Officer, Mr Henry Olatujoye; Auditor, Mr Musa Labaran and Assistant General Secretary, Bayo Ajibade.

    Inyama   called for policies that will support farmers to produce food to meet growing domestic and global demands.

    He  sought investment in food surplus storage and promised a market for food surplus produce.

    Nigeria, he said, has enjoyed surplus food production but the challenge is to increase storage.

    FACAN, he reiterated, would empower small-scale farmers and smallholders to ensure food security and use agriculture to drive economic growth.

  • 31 jostle for positions in NBA Executive

    31 jostle for positions in NBA Executive

    As the succession race among members of  the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) assumes momentum, about 31 persons have signified their intention to contest election into the association’s Executive Committee.

    Those who have shown interest in replacing the current Executive led by Augustine Alegeh (SAN), include renowned lawyer Joe Gazama (SAN), who is vying for the position of the association’s President.

    Gazama and others emerged at the formal opening of “expression of interest/nomination form,” which was done in the presence of aspirants, their representatives and observers at the NBA’s national headquarters in Abuja on Saturday.

    Electoral Committee Chairman, Kenneth Mozia (SAN), who supervised the exercise, assured all that his committee will  do its best to conduct a free, fair and credible election, and one that will serve as a model for future elections in the country and beyond.