- Analysts say it’ll distort Nigerian constitution
- It’s a welcome development, long overdue – Retired FCT civil servants
- Indigenes kick, say it’s a ploy to take absolute control of their land
The recent appointments and creation of offices in the Federal Capital Territory Administration has sparked mixed reactions from various quarters and persons in the country.
While in some quarters, the act was celebrated as a welcome development that has been long overdue but was neglected by previous administrations which was the reason that things never worked in the territory. Others tagged it an absurd way of making the territory to have a full status of a state which by implication means that Nigeria now has 37 states with a former governor still serving as a governor in disguise after his statutory eight years of governance.
The Nigerian Constitution of 1979 as Amended stated in Chapter 1. Part 1. Section 3 defined States of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja as this: (1)There shall be 36 states in Nigeria, that is to say, Abia, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Bagelsa, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti, Enugu, Gombe, Imo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara.
(2) Each state of Nigeria named in the first column, Part 1 of the First Schedule of this Constitution shall consist of the area shown opposite thereto in the second column of that Schedule.
(3) The headquarters of the Governor of each state shall be known as Capital City of that State as shown in the third column of the said Part 1 of the First Schedule opposite the state named in the first column thereof .
(4) The Federal Capital Territory, Abuja shall be as defined in Part II of the First Schedule to this Constitution
(5) The provisions of this Constitution in Part I of Chapter VIII hereof shall in relation to the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja have effect in the manner set out thereunder
(6) There shall be 768 Local Government Areas as shown in the second column of Part I of the First Schedule of the Constitution and six area Councils as shown in part II of this schedule
By the 1979 Constitution, the 774 Local Government Area was meant to include the 768 LGAs in the states and the six Area Councils in the FCT. However, the regimes of former military Heads of States, General Ibrahim Babangida and late General Sani Abacha created additional LGAs to make up the now statutory 774 LGAs including the six Area Councils in the FCT.
“When politicians introduce one thing or the other, read between the lines you will see clearly the hidden intentions behind that introduction which strongly bothers on selfishness”
Prior to the present administration of President Bola Tinubu, the FCTA had a Minister and a Minister of State with a Permanent Secretary, Secretaries of various departments and Directors running its affairs.
But last week, Tuesday precisely, the FCT Administration witnessed a turn around with the presidential approval of various appointments of officers to fill the newly created offices by the Minister Nyesom Wike.
A media statement from the stable of the Director Press, office of the Minister of FCT, Anthony Ogunleye stated that, “In his determination to reposition for positive administration and development of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCDA) president Bola Tinubu on Tuesday approved the appointment of officers to fill the newly created offices in the administration.
Engr. Emeka Ezeh – Chairman FCT Civil Service Commission; Hon. Ahmed Mohammed – North West; Chief Anthony Okeah – South-South; Mohammed Magaji Ibrahim – North East; Miskoom Alexander Naantuam – North Central; Hon. Jide Jimoh – South West; Barrister Martin Azubike – South East.
“Similarly, Mr. President also approved the following to fill existing vacancies in some critical agencies of the FCTA. They are, Abdulkadir Zulkarfi – Coordinator Satellite Town Development Department; Chief Felix Obuah – Coordinator Abuja Metropolitan Management Council; and Oladiran Olufemi Akindele – Coordinator, Abuja Infrastructure Investment Council (AIIC).
“Also, to strengthen the bureaucratic structure of the Federal Capital Territory Administration, Mr. President equally approved the appointment of the Head of the Civil Service and Permanent Secretaries in the FCT Civil Service.
“Mr. Atang Udo Samuel is appointed as the Head of the Civil Service and the following as Permanent Secretaries, Dr Adam Babagana – North East; Wanki Adamu Ibrahim – North East; Asmau Mukhtar – North West; Dogo Aliyu Wadata Bodinga – North West; Olusa Olusegun – South West; Adetoyi Rabiu Kolawole – South West; Grace Adavilo – North Central; Olubunmi Olowookere – North Central; Ibe Prospect Chukwuemeka – South East; Okonkwo Florence Nonubari – South South.
The appointments take immediate effect. The appointees would be sworn in on Monday, March 18, 2024.”
Speaking on the implications, a retired Director from in the FCTA, Baki Abdullahi described it as a good omen that was long overdue but neglected by the past administrations.
It’s a welcome development, long overdue – Retired FCT civil servants
“This is good news. This will not only uplift the FCT to its rightful status but encourage development in both human and infrastructure. What it means is that the various Permanent Secretaries will now administer the various offices they are heading as ministries; it’s no longer one Permanent Secretary sitting and presiding over all sectors of the FCT Administration where you have Works, Education, Social and Sports, Health, Agriculture.
“Now that the FCT has a Civil Service Commission and a Head of Service, the era of bottlenecks in the welfare of workers will ease off. I’m only concerned about the workability of this and what good it will bring to the territory and its residents and workers. I’m not a lawyer and I can’t interpret the Constitution, so I leave the issue of whether it has distorted the provisions of the Constitution or not to the lawyers. All I can say is that as a civil servant who worked in FCTA and retired, this is good news and should be applauded.”
Analysts say it’ll distort Nigerian constitution
A lawyer and social commentator, Johnbosco Ayuba said “inasmuch as the repositioning of the FCTA for effectiveness is a welcome development, it must not be turned to a backdoor approach to uplift the territory to a state whereby tomorrow the Minister will arrogate the position of Mayor or governor or whatever nomenclature to himself and begin to act as same.
“There is a Constitution governing us. Nigeria is not a banana republic and must not be turned to such. When politicians introduce one thing or the other, read between the lines you will see clearly the hidden intentions behind that introduction which strongly bothers on selfishness.
“This is the reason we have duplicated agencies and ministries and over-bloated workers doing the same work in different offices. We are now talking about implementing Orosanye’s report on merging some of these agencies, and downsizing of the workers for more effective services, don’t be surprised if the FCTA after these creations and appointments will add to the problems the Orosanye’s report is trying to solve.
“Those names on the appointment lists, who are they, where are they from? Are they not politicians whose masters want to settle for the job done in 2023 and position them ahead of 2027? These are vital questions that Minister Wike must answer through the implementation of the plans behind this creation of offices and appointments. If the answer is yes, then we are in trouble but if on the other way round, that is to say, technocrats without political border are appointed to ease work and development in the territory, I will say it’s a very wonderful idea that needs to be supported, but I am skeptical about what the future holds with these creations and appointments and strongly advocate that no government has the power to distort the constitutional creation of the Nigerian state. If they want to upgrade the FCT to a full state that would have a Mayor or whatever name they think other than a Minister, they must go for the amendment of the Constitution. It’s as simple as that,” he said.
The legal luminary also warned that the Minister should not be carried away by this approval from the presidency, saying he should know that regardless of the creations and appointments he is still a Minister.
“Wike should not allow the creation of offices and appointments of officers to make him begin to see himself as a Governor or Mayor. He is still a Minister and must act the same. FCT is not a state as much as we know till the Constitution says otherwise. So my humble advice to Wike is he should make maximum use of the positives from the creation and appointments to turn the FCT around for better.”
Also reacting, spokesman of the ObiDatti Campaign Organization, Yunusa Tanko said, “I think the appointments were the creation of the Minister. They are not a constitutional creation. He used it to carry people from all the political zones along. The constitutional position is very clear on what to be done and what not to be done. So I believe it’s just his personal way of carrying everybody from the zones along with him.
“So whether his intention is to give FCT a new status, the stairs of the FCT are very clear in the provisions of the constitution and you cannot alter it except if you go back to alter the constitution itself. So probably people can meander around it to see if they can give it a semblance of a state status in order to feel the pact but you can see the judgment that we ourselves are saying as regards the last Presidential election and what was said at both tribunal and Supreme Court. So it’s not being treated as a state nor does it have that particular status that we believed it was. It’s the creation of the Minister and I think he is trying to justify his position as the FCT Minister.”
Tanko also said “you know with a person like Wike, there’s nothing he cannot do especially when it comes to manipulation in politics. He can be manipulative; he can use all the resources in his position. He can meander and he can also try to see whether he can woo the electorates to the party he belongs to towards the 2027 election particularly as the FCT residents are Obidients but like I said, it’s the creation of Wike not the Constitution,” he said.
Indigenes kick, say it’s a ploy to take absolute control of their land
The indigenes popularly called the original inhabitants of the territory are viewing the happenings differently from other individuals.
According to Yepwi Bwamba, “the government is always coming up with policies and programmes that will ensure our rights are trampled upon. They will never consider us as citizens of this country whose ancestral lands have been forcefully snatched from them, positions other Nigerian citizens enjoy in their various states not accorded to us. They don’t care where we belong to so long they have their desires of grabbing what is left for us.
“If they really want they can call for a constitution amendment and make FCT a full state so that we can be like our brothers and sisters from other states, have our governor or Mayor, House of Assembly, then this issue of civil service commission and head of service and permanent secretaries can then follow. FCT is still treated as a ministry where anyone, even former governors from other states are in charge, none of us is deemed fit and qualified to be appointed minister for the FCT and someone wants us to celebrate that they are carrying out reforms.
“May I ask what reform and for what purpose? I see it as a ploy to take absolute control of our land. Before they came up with this they would have targeted 2027 elections. Don’t trust politicians. They don’t have good plans for us, before you know it now, the next action will be to chase those of us living in the satellite towns or you may call them villages to the bush with demolition and take over the lands.”
Bwamba advised the Tinubu administration to disregard every pressure from some quarters to sideline the indigenes of the FCT in his programmes by compelling the Minister to take development beyond the city centre and involve them in the various appointments of the territory.
“The good thing President Tinubu can do for us is to shun those devilish pieces of advice from those politicians who want to grab everything belonging to us and share it among them. He should compel Minister Wike to carry us along in his administration. We have capable hands, qualified persons in every field but you see, every appointment, we are left out or brought in to make up the number. Are they saying we don’t have qualified persons to be Chairman of the FCT Civil Service Commission or Head of Service? These are the things we are complaining about.”
“Wike should not allow the creation of offices and appointments of officers to make him begin to see himself as a Governor or Mayor. He is still a Minister and must act the same. FCT is not a state as we know till the constitution says otherwise”
A lawyer and social critic, Silva Emeka, wondered why the first ever Chairman of the FCT Civil Service Commission and the Head of Service could not be an indigene of the FCT.
“If the idea is to uplift the territory for enhanced performance and status, there is no reason why the first Chairman of the Civil Service Commission or Head of Service should not be a Gbagyi man or any other tribe from the indigenes. Why go to the South East and South South to appoint the first individuals for these posts? The people appointed may be living in the FCT but that does not make them indigenes of the territory. They have their family house in their villages in their various states but the Gbagyi man has all here and no other place except they travelled to those other states but one thing is certain, they cannot be appointed to head such positions in any of the states.
“My other worry is that what is playing out is a script on how to capture FCT in the forthcoming 2027 election by the ruling party. It’s been on record that no ruling party ever won an election in the territory. You know Wike’s politics. He can do anything to get what he wants. He may have advised the President that this is the only way they can capture the FCT in 2027 and what do you expect from the President other than to approve. My dear the more is that even when they ignore the constitution and go ahead to convert FCT to a state and rename Minister a Mayor with a man who has governed a state for eight years to take the position of a Mayor which is equivalent to governor, the Supreme Court will come with a judgment that will endorse it. Doing this is their plan, they already have it.”
A civil servant who preferred anonymity told The Point that the creation of the positions and appointment of officers can only be useful if the politicians do not hijack it and turn it into a settlement for jobs well done by their cronies.
He said, “the problems we are facing now are those heinous errors the past governments committed by appointing non-technocrats to head sensitive positions. They would be there and things are decaying. They wouldn’t know all they are interested in is the money they will share and when they get it, to hell with what happens thereafter. I saw some names being imported from states, they have not lived or worked here before now, they are here because their political allies are in position so, tell me what they will be looking for in their position. This administration should go the Obasanjo way if it wants to get it right.”
