•Comrade Rafisanjani
Today, the Executive Director of the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Comrade Auwal Ibrahim Musa Rafisanjani, urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to follow due process in handling issues related to the suspension or removal of public officers and political appointees confirmed by the Senate.
Mr. Rafisanjani, who gave the charge via a telephone interview on the trending report concerning the suspension and replacement of the National Coordinator/CEO of the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA), Hajia Halima Shehu, also underscored the need to check the excesses of Ministers overseeing Agencies and Parastatals, reports Nigerian Tribune.
Hajia Shehu, who was supposed to hand over starter packs to victims of kidney harvesting at New Karu Local Government Areas of Nasarawa State, was allegedly suspended via a letter purportedly signed by the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu.
Meanwhile, officials and armed personnel from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had earlier interrogated the NSIPA National Coordinator in her office located at Maitama District.
As of the time of filing this report, the Presidency, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF), and the Minister are yet to make any official statement regarding the alleged suspension of the NSIPA National Coordinator/CEO.
Before her recent confirmation by the Senate, Hajia Shehu was the National Programme Coordinator of the National Conditional Cash Transfer Office (NCTO) under President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration. She successfully managed the scheme transparently with numerous success stories.
She also digitalized the National Conditional Cash Transfer program to ensure transparency and accountability in the deployment of funds to millions of beneficiaries across the country.
While stressing the need to ensure strict adherence to due process, the CISLAC helmsman argued that any public officer and political appointees can only be suspended or removed if such a person is declared to be corrupt, incapacitated, or resigns, as provided by extant laws.
He said, “They (Ministers) need to coordinate and provide leadership, not to create confusion and inefficiency. I think it is important that all the Ministers should have a good understanding of the roles they play because many of the Ministers, due to lack of proper orientation, have not been able to grasp the work. Many of them, especially new appointees, need to understand the rudiments of the work they are supposed to do according to our laws and the terms of reference given to them.
“But if any minister feels that he or she has a quarrel or misunderstanding with another public official whom he is supposed to be supervising and then takes arbitrary decisions, I think that is not acceptable and not good.
“So, we encourage the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation to continue organising more capacity enhancement and leadership responsibility so that there will be harmony among the various Ministers and other public officials because I think a lack of training and capacity enhancement is one of the major problems we have that is making some public officials not perform. Many of them just assume that they were appointed as Ministers to have a share of the national cake, not to really serve.
“So, there must be concerted efforts to bring back regular capacity enhancement. That’s what happens in other places; even if you are a public official and you find yourself in a political appointment, you’ll still need to go through capacity engagement because every day new emerging issues are coming, and they need to know how to tackle these in the best manner.
“So, in Nigeria, the training and retraining, refresher courses have declined, and I think it is one of the challenges that we have that is making efficient, transparent, and accountable leadership very low and poor,” he emphasised.
Responding to the question of whether the Minister has the power to issue a letter of suspension to another appointee of the president who was screened and confirmed by the Senate, Comrade Rafisanjani argued that the government must follow proper and transparent due process on issues that warrant suspension or removal, adding that “you cannot just sack. Even small workers, you cannot outrightly sack them like that.
“If the president appointed her and you have any cause to remove her, the presidency should also go through the same process of appointing and removing. “But if you do this as an outright thing, it would suggest that we are not a country of due process, and there must be a reason.
“The Constitution is very clear on how to remove a public official. If the person is not corrupt and there is no evidence of corruption, if the person is not incapacitated and there is no evidence of the person being incapacitated, or if the person has not willingly resigned, I think those are the key issues that our constitution always looks at on how to remove or suspend public officials.
“But you cannot just wake up and suspend somebody just like that. I think the question of security tenure, ensuring that in the first place you find public officials who are competent, qualified, and not corrupt is the major reason why we are emphasizing that the government at all levels must shop for quality and those who have no deficiency in terms of their capacity and intellectual experience in the work that they are assigned to do.”
One of the top officials of the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation who spoke under the condition of anonymity with Humanitarian Correspondents attested to the integrity of the NSIPA National Coordinator during the last administration.
The official who expressed shock over the allegation said: “She (Shehu) has not even done any program yet. She is just getting ready and making plans to hit the ground running this January. I don’t know what went wrong.
“What I do know about her is that she has experience on the job from the inception of NSIP. She was a Directorate in the office before her appointment as National Program Coordinator of Conditional Cash Transfer, successfully managed the NCTO transparently with success stories.
“She was also the National Director of Humanitarian/Social Directorate that coordinated, canvassed, and mobilized the beneficiaries of NSIP for the presidential campaign.
“All the programs of NSIP are laudable and very impactful; the Federal Government should give it proper direction, stabilization, frequency, consistency, and sustainability in the interest of the indigent beneficiaries. All I care.”
