Buhari re-engineering machinery of governance

• Reconstitute federal boards — CLO 

By SUNDAY ODIBASHI

AFTER going through the throes of seeming budgetary inconsistency, President Muhammadu Buhari commenced the re-organisation of certain institutions of governance to revive effective and efficient service delivery. This culminated into the removal of 24 heads of federal parastatals and agencies from office last week.
Though, there have been some misgivings and criticisms of the President over the removal of Director Generals and other heads of certain federal parastatals and agencies, the action reflected the commitment to entrust the implementation of policies in the hands of public officers who believe in what the President believes. This is a desideratum for a party government that is in the throes of revolutionary social change after transplanting a hegemonic political party in governance.

The Senior Special Assistant (SSA) on Media to the President, Malam Garba Shehu, had explained that the removal of the Director Genereals and Managing Directors may not be unconnected with their inability to inculcate the “change mantra” of Buhari’s APC-led Federal Government into their various organisations or agencies.

“The sacking of the 26 officers was not political, contrary to people’s perception that the disengagement of the executive officers was politically motivated,” Garba Shehu had said.

He remarked that President Buhari had shown restraint, retained the officers and worked with them for a period of seven months, since assuming office on May 29, 2015. “We have given them enough time to adjust but realised that their actions are not in line with Buhari’s change agenda…,” Garba declared, According to a bulletin by the Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, the list of the agencies affected include: Nigerian Television Authority (NTA); Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN); Voice of Nigeria (VON); News Agency of Nigeria (NAN); National Broadcasting Commission (NBC); Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF); New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD); Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF); Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB); Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN); Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund); National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA); Petroleum Equalization Fund; Nigeria Railways Corporation (NRC); Bureau of Public Procurements (BPP); Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE); Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA); Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON); National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC); Nigeria Investment Promotion Council (NIPC); Bank of Industry (BoI) (xxii) National Centre for Women Development (NCWD); National Orientation Agency (NOA); Industrial Training Fund (ITF); Nigerian Export-Import Bank; and National Agency for Prohibition of Traffic In Persons and Other Related Matters (NAPTIP). Heads of these agencies were said to have failed the test of integrity, adaptability and loyalty; remaining conservative in an administration of change. Apparently, President Buhari only eliminated incompatible values from his administration.

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Meanwhile, the Civil Liberties Organization (CLO) has demanded for immediate reconstitution of federal boards.

The CLO, in a statement by its Executive Director, Comrade Ibuchukwu Ohabuenyi Ezike, contended that “the non-reconstitution of the Boards of Federal Government agencies, parastals and commissions which tenure had expired or which have been dissolved, is negatively affecting good governance and may, as well, deteriorate the security challenges in Nigeria.”

Ezike recalled that the boards of some federal agencies, commissions and parastals were dissolved in 2015. “These Boards would have been reconstituted and effective operations of governance set in motion; unfortunately, this has not happened. Even as some other Boards are being dissolved, none of the previous ones has been reconstituted,” he protested.

The CLO was of the belief that this might have contributed immensely to the massive frauds in the 2016 Budget proposals presented to the National Assembly by President Buhari. “Many have argued that if the Boards of some of these agencies were put in place before the 2016 budget preparation, they would have been able to minimise or reduce the preponderance of fraud in the document which, today, presents Nigeria as a banana society before the world,” Ezike stated.

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The CLO contended that the inauguration of these Boards will widen the political space by creating employment opportunities for the politicians and non-politicians of goodwill and will substantially inject new skills and ideas into governance, reduce unemployment and tension in the country.

CLO, accordingly, demanded that the APC-led Federal Government and, specifically, President Buhari, should, as a matter of urgency, appoint and inaugurate the Boards of all the federal government agencies, parastals and commissions whose Boards have been dissolved. “This… will assist the government set in motion the machinery of governance to begin to execute, in full, its campaign promises in 2015 to Nigerians.

Further delay may cause more damaging but avoidable crisis and rubbish the change project of the APC government that Nigerians are anxiously waiting to enjoy,” Ezike declared.