Babatunde Fashola, minister of works and housing, says it is
surprising that many Nigerians don’t know that the president doesn’t have the
power to sack police officers.
Fashola said this on Friday while speaking on the topic,
‘What can the president do for me?’ at the Yoruba Tennis Club annual lecture
which held in Lagos.
The minister, who was addressing concerns raised during the
#EndSARS protests in October 2020, which led to the disbandment of the special
anti-robbery squad (SARS), said many Nigerians don’t fully understand
governance structure.
Fashola said some persons wanted the president to issue a
directive for the outright dismissal of officers, but he explained that there
are limits to what the president can do based on the provisions of the
constitution.
“At the onset of the protest against the special
anti-robbery squad (SARS) when five demands were made in respect of the police
and SARS, President Muhammadu Buhari weighed in on the side of the protesters,”
the minister said.
“In my interaction with some of them, young and not so
young, they wanted the president to sack some policemen, in some cases, even
the inspector-general of police.
“During this interaction, I referred them to the provisions
of the 1999 constitution as amended, that I pointed out to them that the
president of Nigeria cannot sack a policeman because a policeman is not the
employee of the president, but rather the employee of the police service
commission.
“The president can
only sack ministers and other appointees that he personally appoints to assist
him and not any civil servant deployed to work for him such as a cook, driver,
or administrative staff who are ordinary employees of the civil service
commission.
“Not a few persons were surprised to hear this. Indeed, I
have discovered that a sizeable number of our people express surprise when I
explain the structure of government to them.”
Fashola also said some Nigerians assume that as minister, he
has the sole power to decide on monetary allocations.
“For example, I explain to people that as governor or
minister I do not sign cheques, vouchers or documents that directly involve the
transfer of money,” he said.
“On the contrary, at
certain levels of payment under the financial regulation, my powers as governor
or minister are limited to approving recommendations for payment made to me
through the permanent secretary, after he and I have satisfied ourselves that
the government has received value for the payment or will do so.
“Although the federal ministry of works and housing has
several directorates such as construction and rehabilitation, planning and
development, bridges and design, materials geotechnics and quality control,
finance and accounts, legal and procurement, many openly express surprise when
I tell them that only engineers, architects, valuers, builders, town planners
and those involved in the built industry are staff of the ministry of works and
housing.
“What is true of the federal civil service system in this
regard is largely true of the state civil service systems. This in part is why
the public service is a bureaucracy.
“I am surprised that this surprises people and this is a
part of the reason for choosing to discuss it at this public forum.
“So, very often, I
hear general statements that the president of Nigeria is very powerful.
Sometimes, they say the office is too powerful in some cases they even ascribe
more powers to him than the United States president.”
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