WHO WANTS NASIR ARAB REMOVED?
The intensification of assault on Order and Rule of Law in the National
Assembly bureaucracy appears to have forced many right thinking Nigerians
to reason that what is happening may as well go beyond Arab as a person.
The reason behind this thinking is based on the insinuating political
undertone of the various calls for his compulsory retirement from civil
service.
A critical look at reports on National Newspapers between June 27-30,
2008 on the petition written to the Independent Corrupt Practices
Commission (ICPC), to probe the so-called falsification of service record
by the clerk of the National Assembly; by one group that calls itself
Human Right, Justices and Peace Foundation, lead by one Comrade Chidi
Nwosu, and Africa Independent Television (AIT) report of a press
conference on the same matter by a group in Lagos, attests to the
sprouting thinking that, it appears there is a firm but sure move to
make nonsense of leaders from certain part of this country.
In-fact, the issue of alleged falsification of service record by Nasir
Arab has assumed a dangerous ethnic dimension that needs fast remedy from
the Head of Civil Service, National Assembly wing. The reason behind this
writer’s position is not far fetched. Nigerians could remember that only
recently, the trio of Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, General Mohammed Buhari
and General Abdulsalami Abubakar reportedly said that Late General Sani
Abacha was not a corrupt leader. Those who could not understand the joint
position of these men on Abacha, are now having a rethink in view of
events in NASS bureaucracy. Nigerians could remember that the allegation
that Abacha was corrupt came up under Southern leadership in the country.
The current position is that when someone who is not from the North is to
benefit from a position held by a Northerner, the fellow from North must
be “corrupt”. The current probes in the National Assembly has some how
reveal the hypocrisy behind the view held by the immediate administration about
General Sani Abacha, at least in comparative terms. It could be recalled
that since the crisis erupted at NASS, accusing fingers are daily being
pointed at some persons from the South as responsible for the needless
crisis rocking National Assembly bureaucracy leadership. According to
experts, the danger the whole drama poses is that North is being
unwittingly portrayed as zone that produces shifty set of leaders. They
warn that this must stop in the interest of order and respect for law.
It is interesting to note that those championing the Arab must go
campaigns have not deemed it necessary to look at the reformed Public
Service Rules book of 2006 and what it says about Arab’s claim. If they
have bothered to check this document, they may probably be better
informed. Readers are referred to page 48, of the Hard Cover version of
the Public Service Rules book for proper information. The page in question
deals with retirement age and years of service; specifically article
020810 [I] said: “The compulsory retirement age for all grades in the
service shall be 60 years or 35 years of pension-able service which ever
is earlier”. Further, article 020810[ii] has this to say; No officer
shall be allowed to remain in service after attaining the retirement age
of 60 years or 35 years of pension-able service which ever is earlier. It
is rather curious that those elements calling for Arab’s compulsory
removal have not said anything about the position of the Public Service Rules on his clams. After a thorough
analysis of both the pension act of 2004, and the Public Service Rules of
2006, one will surely see that the pension act which Arab’s detractors
cited as authority that gave them the power to ask for his head, is actually complementary to Public Service Rules. The pension act seeks
to protect civil servants from any hazard in the computation of their
pension on retirement while, the Public Service Rules seek to ensure that
public servants’ legitimate service years as stipulated is protected
generally.
Now, considering the fact that the Director of Information Service at
the National Assembly, Monima Daminabo, had repeatedly said that the first
employment Alhaji Ibrahim Nasir Arab, got was not pension-able, which no
right thinking person(s) has countered, who is now fooling whom? What will
be the gain[s] of those sponsoring Arab must go campaign? Have they gone
to the National Assembly Service Commission to cross check Arab’s claim
on his first non pension-able employment, if so, what is the correct
position? Or is this crusade a deliberate plot to make nonsense of leaders
of Northern extraction, considering the position of last administration on
Late General Sani Abacha? These questions become imperative because
Southerners appear to be championing the move to oust Arab. Since we are
living in a civilized society, this press conference group should approach
relevant authorities’ charged with the responsibility of keeping public
servants’ records’ to authenticate Nasir Arab’s argument Thankfully, we now
have SERVICOM in place; they could be of great help in this regard.
By Emeka Oraetoka,
Information Management Consultant and Political Researcher
Contributes this piece from Garki – Abuja
E-mail:oramekllis@lycos.com.