‘Ministers Of State’ Are Largely Redundant; Such Office Is Constitutional Aberration – Festus Keyamo Laments After Serving Under Buhari Government In Same Position

The minister faulted the idea that and appointment of folks into the diagram of “Minister of Impart.” 

The outgoing Minister of Impart for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, has described the designation of “Minister of Impart” as a constitutional aberration, announcing that it is miles virtually no longer working for those appointed into the diagram. 

Keyamo mentioned this in his valedictory assertion titled “A Coronary heart Beefy of Unquantifiable Gratitude to President Muhammadu Buhari and Recommendation to contend with the Constitutional Conundrum of Minister of Impart”.

The minister faulted the idea that and appointment of folks into the diagram of “Minister of Impart.” 

Fragment of his assertion read, “What I am about to deliver, therefore, is no longer and is maybe no longer construed as a signal of ingratitude. A ways from it. What I am about to deliver is actual my beget diminutive contribution to our constitutional pattern as a relatively young democracy and to serve future governments to optimise the performance of those they appoint as Ministers.

“Mr. President, the idea that or designation of “Minister of Impart” is a constitutional aberration and is virtually no longer working for a good deal of so appointed. Successive governments have near and long previous and a good deal of who were appointed as Ministers of Impart haven’t spoken out at a dialogue board equivalent to this attributable to the ache of sounding ungrateful to the Presidents who appointed them. Alternatively, esteem I mentioned earlier, right here’s no longer ingratitude.

“As a non-public citizen, I am on story to have long previous to court docket a good deal of cases to scenario unconstitutional acts of governments for the sake of advancing our constitutional democracy, so that is also out of persona for me to have long previous through govt and be carried away by the pomp of public assign of enterprise and put out of your mind my position as a member of the Internal Bar and my self-imposed position over the years as a crusader for democracy and constitutionalism.

“Mr. President, I crave your indulgence to illustrate this constitutional conundrum of “Minister of Impart”. Sections 147 and 148 of the 1999 Structure of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), contend with the appointments and responsibilities of Ministers of the Federation. The mentioned sections notify as follows:

“Share 147 “(1) There will seemingly be such places of work of Ministers of the Authorities of the Federation as will be established by the President.

“(2) Any appointment to the assign of enterprise of Minister of the Authorities of the Federation shall, if the nomination of somebody to such assign of enterprise is confirmed by the Senate, be made by the President.

“(3) Any appointment underneath subsection (2) of this part by the President will seemingly be in conformity with the provisions of part 14(3) of this Structure:- supplied that in giving elevate out to the provisions aforesaid the President shall appoint at least one Minister from every Impart, who will seemingly be an indigene of such Impart.”

He further quoted Share 148 which supplied, “(1) The President could well presumably also, in his discretion, keep to the Vice-President or any Minister of the Authorities of the Federation accountability for any enterprise of the Authorities of the Federation, including the administration of any department of govt.”

Keyamo further stated that the 7th Time table to the 1999 Structure of the Federal Republic of Nigeria offers for the Oath of Living of enterprise to which every Minister must subscribe, announcing that “There are no diversified Oaths for “Minister” and “Ministers of Impart”. They all steal the the same Oath of Living of enterprise.

“Besides the above, the Ministers-designate appear sooner than the Senate and are grilled and cleared AS MINISTERS, no longer as Ministers in some conditions and Ministers of Impart in a single other conditions. It is on the level of project of portfolios that successive Presidents then reclassified some as “Ministers of Impart”.

“Some could well presumably also are looking out to justify this by announcing the President is given the discretion by the Structure to keep no topic accountability(ies) he likes to Ministers. Constructive, I concede Mr. President can attain that, nonetheless no longer by a designation diversified from that prescribed by the Structure. Merely set, it is miles same to the President assigning responsibilities to the assign of enterprise of the Vice-President and re-designating that assign of enterprise as “Deputy President” underneath our present Structure. That’s clearly no longer seemingly. Why then must that of the Ministers be diversified?

“What is extra, Ministers are appointed pursuant to Share 147(3) of the 1999 Structure to characterize every Impart of the Federation. Therefore, Ministers take a seat in Cupboard because the stare of Mr. President in every Impart of the Federation. It is therefore towards the intendment of the drafters of our Structure for a consultant of a Impart to be reclassified as towards one other consultant of 1 other Impart.

“The Schedules of Tasks of Ministers and Ministers of Impart that intend to cure these kind of anomalies no longer continuously aid the issues. Originally, the Schedules of Tasks are seen extra in breach by the Everlasting Secretaries and Administrators who no doubt can no longer be expected to attend two masters. And despite the full lot, many of the roles of every Ministers are so ambiguous that the bureaucrats would consistently present an explanation for them to fulfill those they learn about because the “Senior Ministers” or “major Ministers” for hassle of being persecuted by them.

“Secondly, parts of the Schedules of Tasks appear to imply that the Ministers can delegate capabilities to the Ministers of Impart. That is a constitutional impossibility. It is finest Mr. President that can delegate Presidential powers as one can no longer delegate what he doesn’t have (delegatus non potest delegare). After all, how can somebody who took the the same Oath of Living of enterprise with one other delegate capabilities to that other?

“Thirdly, the Schedules of Tasks leave so many gaping holes that bring conflicts between the Ministers and Ministers of Impart. In addition, the provision that “Ministers of Impart” can no longer present Memos in Council, with the exception of with the permission of the Minister, is one other anomaly. It scheme the discretion of the Minister of Impart is subsumed in the discretion of the Minister, but every of them characterize diversified States in Cupboard.

“It also follows that it could per chance maybe well presumably also be complex to assess the person performances of the Ministers of Impart since their discretion is shackled underneath the discretion of the Ministers. Authentic solutions developed by a Minister of Impart are discipline to clearance by one other colleague in Cupboard sooner than they’ll wing through for consideration by Council. The drafters of our Structure clearly didn’t intend this.

“As a result, many Ministers of Impart are largely redundant, with many going to the assign of enterprise for symbolic motive and actual to while away the time. Recordsdata are handed to them to treat finest on the discretion of the other Minister and the Everlasting Secretary. Yet, the Ministers of Impart will get both reward or condemnation for the successes or failures of such Ministries.

“I ticket that once this observe first surfaced in the First Republic, it was once extinct as a contraption to give a semblance of “Authorities of Nationwide Cohesion”, when in accurate truth no “accurate vitality” was once ceded to the opposition contributors co-opted into govt who were largely designated because the Ministers of Impart, in notify to retain them in check underneath the leadership of the ruling Occasion’s Ministers.

“Nonetheless, over time the custom has just about dangle and now it has been established as a norm, even with regards to Ministers from the the same ruling Occasion. Indubitably, one political absurdity that has emerged from right here’s that some Ministers of Impart won extra votes from their States for the celebration in vitality than the “major Minister”.”