August 28, (THEWILL) – Centre Convention on Democratic Integrity (CCDI), a non-governmental organisation, with the consultative status of the United Nations, has urged Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, to dialogue with the leadership of the Lagos State House of Assembly on the debacle of the screening of Seventeen Commissioner-designates, who were rejected due to lack of adequate consultations by the governor, with necessary stakeholders in the state, before submitting the list of the nominees to the House of Assembly.
In a statement issued on Monday, by the President of CCDI, Mr Olufemi Aduwo, he called on the governor for immediate dialogue with the leadership of the House in the interest of peace and peaceful co-existence in the state.
He said, “Constitutionally, it is the prerogative of the governor to appoint commissioners, just as the House of Assembly is empowered to confirm the nominees before they are sworn in to perform their duties.
“In the appointment of Commissioners, Section 192 specifically states that the governor must conform with Section 14(4) of the 1999 constitution as amended which clearly states that the composition of the Government of a State, shall be carried out in such manner as recognise the diversity of the people within its area of authority and the need to promote a sense of belonging and loyalty among all the people. Therefore, the appointment must spread across all the Local government areas and also take cognisance of belief.
“Nigerians should not be deceived by the term “technocrat”, which implies that a person must hold advanced degrees before they may be a minister or commissioner. In developed economies, the technocrats are in the civil service, the same thing in Nigeria during the Gowon and Shagari regimes. We did not borrow any money during the Civil War, and the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo served as Minister of Finance. He did not take any Master of Business Administration (MBA) classes in macroeconomics or finance either. During the Gowon administration, Chief Femi Okunnu, a trained lawyer, served as the Minister of Works, while Aminu Kano, who was neither a medical practitioner nor degree holder, held the position of Minister of Health. Xavier Becerra, a lawyer, is the current Secretary of Health of the United States”, Aduwo said.
He added that we should not mistakenly equate media praise for political appointees with actual performance.
“For instance, evaluating the success of the Lagos State Commissioner for Health solely on the basis of COVID-19 management is not the appropriate standard. It was a rare instance where the public lacked complete information regarding the administration of financing. The situation is not encouraging, if you visit any of the Lagos State General hospitals. I am convinced that the House of Assembly is in possession of comprehensive information regarding the performance of former Commissioners who were not confirmed.
“We want to appeal to the public, not to be deceived by such beer parlour discussion that the House turned down 17 names out of a list of 39 persons presented by the state governor because of religious considerations. The ball is now in Sanwo-Olu’s court, he could resubmit the rejected names to the House of Assembly”, he said.
AYO ESAN, has been actively reporting and analyzing political events for different newspapers for over 18 years. He has also successfully covered national and state elections in Nigeria since the inception of this democracy in 1999.
