The Nation Newspaper

Tag: public officials

  • Keep public trust, Buhari tells public officials

    President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday in Katsina warned public officials, particularly those elected and appointed into office, to keep public trust or leave.

    He spoke at the palace of Emir of Katsina, Alhaji Abdulmumini Kabir, as he arrived to an epic reception in his hometown for the grand finale of the APC presidential campaign rally before the elections on Saturday.

    The President had earlier visited all the other 35 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

    In a statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, the President said: “Those who betray the people’s trust, we will not spare them; they would be fished out and dealt with.”

    President Buhari told the emir and members of the Emirate Council that the promises he made before his election in 2015 have been met, adding that with certainty that all he needed was a second term and would not ask for more.

    “There is hope in the future of this great country,” the President said, appealing to all Nigerians to ensure a peaceful conduct of the election.

    The President highlighted his administration’s achievements in infrastructure development including improved power supply, as well as  empowering artisans, craftsmen, tailors, barbers and battery chargers to increase output and better their own lives.

    “The local production of rice and the increased agricultural production have helped the country to achieve food self-sufficiency,” he said.

    The President thanked the people of his home state for the “unprecedented” turnout of men and women from both rural and urban areas and the intensity of support shown by them.

    The President said it was humbling to see a mammoth crowd line the streets of Katsina and fill the Karakanda Stadium to see and listen to him give a scorecard of his stewardship in the last three and half years.

    In his remarks, the Emir of Katsina noted that the massive support, enthusiastic following and the hero’s welcome received by the President was a clear testimony of the people’s approval for his leadership, personality and integrity.

    He said no other major political figure in Nigeria was anywhere near the President in popular acceptance, adding that honesty can never be defeated.

    The Emir pledged 100 percent Katsina support to the president’s re-election.

     

  • Zombie public officials

    •Unless the judgment is overturned, govt officials can’t be held responsible for obeying any presidential order

    hOW far should the executive powers conferred on the President by section 5(1) of the 1999 constitution (as amended) extend? Can the President under executive cover, give unlawful orders to his subordinates, and if he can, should they carry out such orders, and if they do, should they be held accountable?  We ask these questions considering that many officials who served under former President Goodluck Jonathan, lay claim to have acted on the orders of the former president, as defence for alleged unlawful conducts.

    Whether it is Jonathan’s former Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr Mohammed Adoke, SAN; National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki; former spokesman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olisah Metuh, and a host of other officials, the common thread in their defence for alleged acts of malfeasance while in government, is that they acted on the orders of the former President. Of note, that was the defence of Mr Adoke over his alleged criminal infractions with respect to the Oil Processing License (OPL) 245, dubiously granted to Malabu Oil and Gas Ltd, during Gen Sani Abacha’s regime.

    Few weeks ago, a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, presided over by Justice Murtala Nyako discharged Adoke, with respect to the charges brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), for money laundering and sundry offences with respect to the settlement of the controversies concerning the oil licence. The former Minister of Petroleum, Chief Dan Etete, was convicted by a French court over the same licence, before he was granted state pardon under controversial circumstances.

    Adoke who took over the perennial investigation of the award and subsequent under-hand dealings over the OPL 245, claimed to have settled the criminal controversies, on the order of the former President. It was for those settlement terms that the EFCC instituted criminal charges against Adoke, Dan Etete and others in 2016. The watchdog late last year, also sued JP Morgan Chase over the transaction, claiming that they short-changed Nigeria. Of note, an Italian court this year held that Shell and Eni, both oil giants, have cases to answer over the deal.

    In discharging Adoke the court held that the former minister acted in furtherance of the order of the President in the exercise of his executive powers. We also recall that last year, the present Attorney-General, Mr Abubakar Malami, SAN, had written President Muhammadu Buhari advising that the charges against Adoke be dropped, and when asked his intention, he claimed to have acted for the economic interest of Nigeria.

    So, are the executive powers granted our President under section 5(1) of the 1999 constitution, different from similar executive powers granted by respective democratic constitutions, to other heads of government in France, Italy, USA and elsewhere, where the duplicities and infractions obvious in the grant and subsequent transfers of OPL 245 licence, are held accountable by the courts? If the powers are substantially similar, as we believe they ought to be, how come the sub-delegates of the powers are walking free in Nigeria, while in other jurisdictions, they have been held accountable?

    For us, there is the need to determine whether our laws have granted excessive powers to the President, or whether his executive powers are unduly overstretched, or indeed if our courts and relevant agencies are overtly intimidated in their interpretation of the executive powers duly granted by the constitution? Claiming presidential powers as defence for unlawful conducts, for now, is the position of the court and law. It affirms the principle of not holding the conductor responsible for the driver’s infractions. Until or unless it is overturned, former President Jonathan provides a lesson to all chief executives not to delegate themselves out of the wrath of the law.

     

  • Don’t hide your earnings, Fasuan tells public officials

    Don’t hide your earnings, Fasuan tells public officials

    Elder statesman Chief Deji Fasuan has condemned the secrecy in which the salaries, emoluments and allowances of the members of the National Assembly are shrouded.

    Fasuan, who spoke with The Nation in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, yesterday, described the allocations that go to National Assembly members as “not only overblown but obscene”.

    The retired Permanent Secretary condemned the claim by the lawmakers during plenary last week that “only two per cent of the national budget was allocated to the National Assembly”.

    He contended that two per cent of the National Budget is too much for a National Assembly, the National Assembly Service Commission and its bureaucracy that cannot be more than 10,000 individuals in a population of about 170 million Nigerians.

    Fasuan, a former Federal Commissioner on the board of the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) suggested an urgent review of the bicameral legislature being run in the country and the need to consider electing lawmakers on part-time basis to save cost and reduce waste.

    His words: “Besides stark statistics, we must all admit that our lawmakers do not understand the Nigerian situation of today. There are families that cannot boast of more than N300 per day for their upkeep.

    “This translates to about N5,000 per month. Can you compare that with Assembly members earning over N18 million per month?

    The ritual some of them engage in is that at the end of each Session, they give out peanuts to their constituents as ‘empowerment’. These innocent people would react differently if they knew the take home pay of our new ‘masters’ in Abuja.

    “The question is do we really need a bicameral legislature? Do we need full-time legislators? These two questions and others will continue us to feature in our political discourse in the next few years.

    “It is unthinkable that parliamentarians believe that what the public needs to know about their financial allocation is only the quantum of a block votes and not details.

    “This is horrible to say the least, the resources allocated to them are from public treasury. Why then should we not know the details of the application of resources.

    “Even the Judiciary is an open book, there is nothing hidden about payment and emoluments of judges whey then should we knot know what these do-or-die legislators earn? The time is running out.”

  • Ghana president bans first class travel for public officials

    Ghana president bans first class travel for public officials

    Ghana’s President John Mahama has banned public officials from first class air travel in a renewed effort to cut wasteful spending.

    The ban has come into effect as the country implements an International Monetary Fund (IMF) aid deal to revive state finances, the government said on Tuesday.

    Ghana is preparing to hold presidential and parliamentary elections next year and, with the opposition accusing government ministers of inflating contract sums, inappropriate spending will be a top campaign issue.

    The presidency issued the directive this week asking all ministers and other top officials to avoid “unwarranted” foreign trips on the public purse, Communications Minister Edward Omane Boamah told media.

    Ghana, a major producer of cocoa, gold and oil, began a three-year program with the IMF in April to fix its economy.

    The country’s economy has been dogged by high deficits, a widening public debt and unstable local currency.

    Finance Minister Seth Terkper told media on Tuesday the cabinet is also discussing a financial accountability bill.

    The schedule would impose penalties such as dismissal or jail time for public officials who are found to violate it.

    “It is expected to be clear enough to enable the general public to see malfeasance if there is any and hold the agency involved accountable,” he added.

  • Senator: let CCB publish assets of public officials

    Senator: let CCB publish assets of public officials

    Senator Shehu Sani has urged the CCB to publish all declarations made by public office holders since 1999.

    The civil rights activist, in a Facebook post, said doing so would allow the public to form ‘transparency vigilante groups’ who would verify claims made by public office holders.

    He called on Nigerians to demand full disclosure from the CCB. But the constitution does not compel the CCB to make public assets of public officials.

    “The masses deserve to know the material worth of all their elected and appointed public office holders. Every public office holder must come to equity with clean or at least not dirty hand.

    “PMB, by his public declaration, has set a high moral standard that must be abided by those who particularly lay claim to the change agenda.”