The
article, 'The Sole Administrator' published in Thisday, January 9,
2017, refers.
To
start with, can Governor Rauf Aregbesola be referred to as "the sole
administrator" of Osun State, taking into consideration that he is only a
victim of circumstances that are not due to his fault but were as a result of
how the economy has played out? The answer, of course, is 'No'! On the other
hand, has the governor breached any laws of the land by not appointing
commissioners "almost three years since his re-election"? As we are all aware,
the establishment and composition of cabinet for a state is provided for in
the Constitution of Nigeria and each state is expected to constitute its own
cabinet as and when convenient. There is no law directing that the composition
must be simultaneous across the 36 states. Besides, no number is specified
unlike in the case of Ministers of the Federal Government, which the
constitution says must be one from each state of the federation.
Section
192 Sub-section 1 of 1999 Constitution (as amended) establishes the offices of
commissioners for the states of the federation. Section 192 States inter
alia: "There shall be such offices of Commissioners of the Government
of a state as may be established by the Governor of the State." In
constituting such a cabinet, the Constitution also directed that the governor,
in making the appointment, should conform with the provision of section 14 (4)
of the constitution. And Section 14 (4) directed that the governor tailors his
composition of cabinet to reflect "diversity of the
people within its area of authority and the need to promote a sense of
belonging and loyalty among all the people of the federation (in this case,
people of the state)."
From
the foregoing provisions of the constitution, which is the grundnorm
guiding the running of the space called Nigeria, the commissioners, appointed
not elected, are to assist the governors in the day-to-day running of the
Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) for administrative convenience.
Since no timeframe within which the governor should appoint commissioners was
ever stipulated, the time to appoint is at the discretion of the governor. The
legal implication of this section is that, by not appointing commissioners up
until now, the governor has not in any way breached any section of the
Constitution.
Constitutional
provisions apart, the systematic running of government certainly goes beyond
the appointment of commissioners alone. Government administration, either at
the state or federal level, involves both political office holders and the
civil servants. For instance, the most senior technocrat/civil servant in any
government ministry is the Permanent Secretary and it is the next in rank to a
Commissioner. Logically therefore, a Permanent Secretary stands in the stead
in the absence of a Commissioner. Thus, the Governor (Rauf Aregbesola); his
Deputy, (Grace Titi Laoye-Tomori); Secretary to the State Government (Moshood
Adeoti); and the Chief of Staff to the Governor (Gboyega
Oyetola) are in
office, ably supported by the Permanent Secretaries in the conduct of
government businesses.
Believe
it or not, the afore-mentioned political appointees and the Permanent
Secretaries are also taken care of by the Constitution as
"Governor-in-Council". Which means, technically, a pseudo cabinet is in place.
Besides, all former commissioners in the state are around, making the
sacrifice supporting and assisting the governor in the conduct of government
businesses for the state, which is obviously going through economic downturn.
With this structure in place, governance in Osun has not for a day suffered
any neglect. Rather, it has been running smoothly without let or hindrance.
It will
be recalled that, during his first term too, Aregbesola was quick to detect
that the treasury was empty by the time he assumed office on November 27,
2010. As a way out of the woods, he had to devise an alternative means of
generating revenue for the running of government. Hence, it took him eight
months before he constituted his cabinet. That singular action saved for his
budding administration several millions of naira which provided the
springboard for easy running of government by the time the cabinet was
constituted.
This
time round, by the time he was re-elected in August 2014, signs of economic
hardship had fully manifested, first in the state. The state's monthly
statutory commitment to workers was put at staggering N3.6 billion. However,
without a cabinet in place; and, with the modulated salary structure adopted
by the government in the wake of the economic challenge faced by the state,
the statutory commitment reduced greatly to N1.7 billion. With the situation
of things, one is in doubt if Aregbesola's government would have survived till
today. were the whole paraphernalia of the executive in place. In other words,
had the governor constituted a cabinet, appointing at least 20 Commissioners
and Special Advisers, the monthly wage bill would probably have been out of
this world. Needless to repeat that all these Commissioners will also appoint
aides in the process, which will no doubt add more burden to the existing huge
ones. This Modus Operandi; that is, cutting of overhead cost, delay in
the constitution of cabinet, assistance being rendered by former Commissioners
without drawing salaries, all have helped the state government in no mean
ways. So far, so fair! Delay in appointing the commissioners therefore is a
blessing in disguise.
Well,
this is not an argument that cabinet is not necessary in the life of an
administration. Far from that supposition! Only that one cannot but question
the essence of a "constitutional democracy" that is lacking in funds to run
its day-to-day affairs. In any case, the constitution of cabinet is compulsory
and the governor is committed to constituting it now that the hardship is
gradually easing. Interestingly, he has hinted that a cabinet would soon be in
place.
"Truth
may be stretched, but cannot be broken, and always gets above falsehood, as
does oil above water",
said Miguel De Cervantes. That Aregbesola "squandered his goodwill" is an old,
worn-out tale that has taken - and will always take - its promoters nowhere.
If indeed the governor has squandered his goodwill as the author would want us
to believe, how come he beat the opposition to its tricks at the August 9,
2014 Osun governorship election? Well, that writer could describe the
difference between 394,684 and 292,747 votes, with 23 out of the-then 30 Local
Governments in
favour of the winner
as "managed to scale through" smacks of political mischief.
The writer also missed
the point by describing members of the Osun State House of Assembly who
were only diligently discharging their responsibilities in accordance with the
laws of the land as 'toothless bulldogs'. If they were, how come they had the
audacity to probe the disbursement of the N34.9billion bailout fund which
sanity and sanctity the author secretly acknowledged in his piece? Well, if
the cordial and rewarding relationship that exists between the executive and
the legislative arms of government in the state is ignorantly or mischievously
misconstrued for the spirit and letters of
'toothless
bulldogism',
so be it!
The
writer also attempted, futilely, to mislead the public by submitting that Osun,
under, Aregbesola, was riled in poverty. Even, if the writer has forgotten the
point at which the governor took off, he ought to have remembered that the
state, under this pragmatic leader, was once the highest paying state in the
country. When the going was smooth as a result of huge earnings accruing to
the state from the sale of our crude oil, salaries, pensions and other
allowances were paid as and when due. Even, workers at that time, were getting
'13th month' without stress. All these continued until the country got
enmeshed in the economic miasma occasioned by a sharp drop in oil prices.
Even, at that, Aregbesola still continued to discharge his statutory
responsibilities to the workers as can be seen in the up-to-date payment of
salaries and pensions to the state civil servants and pensioners
respectively.
Yes!
Aregbesola's government is "unusual". And that's what it is! Or how else do we
describe an administration that has done so much in terms of infrastructure
development of the state in so short a time?
May
principalities and powers, assigned to rubbish our leaders' efforts, scatter!
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