{"id":72941,"date":"2020-04-22T02:34:05","date_gmt":"2020-04-22T01:34:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=72941"},"modified":"2020-04-22T02:34:05","modified_gmt":"2020-04-22T01:34:05","slug":"office-of-the-chief-staff-matters-arising","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/articles-opinions\/office-of-the-chief-staff-matters-arising\/","title":{"rendered":"Office Of The Chief Staff: Matters Arising."},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
When the President Buhari directed the present cabinet to report to him,<\/div>\n
\n
through his Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari now late,it provoked public
\ncommentary from some Nigerians. Some believe rightly or wrongly,that it
\nis an abdication of responsibility.
\nThe President reportedly justified the directive on the ground that it
\nwas necessary to speed up the process of decision-making within the
\nadministration.Beyond the stated raison d’etre,however,it is worthwhile
\nto interrogate the legal or constitutional status of the office of the
\nChief of Staff to both the President and State Governors.<\/p>\n

During the nineteenth century, United States Presidents had few aides.
\nThomas Jefferson had one messenger and one secretary, both of whose
\nsalaries were paid by the President personally,these roles were usually
\nfulfilled by their relatives, most often their sons or nephews. James K.
\nPolk notably had his wife take the role.In 1875 during the\u00a0 tenure of
\nPresident Buchanan the Congress created an official office called the
\n“Private Secretary at the White House”and funded the position.The
\noccupant role combined personal and professional assignments that were
\nhighly delicate and required great skill and discretion.
\nln1953,President Eisenhower re-designated the position as chief of a
\nstaff to the President.Duties of the United States White House Chief of
\nStaff vary greatly from one administration to another and in fact,there
\nis no legal requirement that the president should fill the
\nposition.Because of these duties,the chief of staff has at various times
\nbeen labeled”The Gatekeeper.”<\/p>\n

ln United States the current official title is Assistant to the
\nPresident and Chief of Staff.Originally, the duties now performed by the
\nchief of staff belonged to the president’s private secretary.The Chief
\nof Staff generally works behind the scenes to solve problems, mediate
\ndisputes and deal with issues before they are brought to the Chief
\nExecutive.
\nOften chiefs of staff act as a confidante and adviser to the chief
\nexecutive,acting as a sounding board for ideas.<\/p>\n

In Nigeria, this office was first introduced with the return of civil
\nrule in 99 under President Obasanjo.It appears to have been borrowed
\nfrom, if not exactly modelled after, the position of the Chief of Staff
\nto the President of the United States.Unlike the United\u00a0 States, the
\nNigerian Presidents since 1999 have Permanent Secretary, Private
\nSecretary and Chief of Staff.
\nThe late President Yardua appointed only the Private Secretary and
\nabandoned the office of Chief of Staff.His successor Jonathan
\nappointed.Private Secretary and Chief of Staff who were political and
\nthe permanent secretary who was accounting officer and a career civil
\nservant as well ,the same pattern President Buhari follow.<\/p>\n

Unlike what is obtainable in United States the Office of the Chief of
\nStaff to the President (or a State Governor) is neither specifically
\nrecognised nor created by either the Constitution or the Public Service
\nRules,or an Act of the National Assembly or a law enacted by a State
\nHouse of Assembly.At least, none that I’m aware of.To that extent, the
\nvalidity of those offices depends on whether their occupants can be said
\nto belong to the personal staff of the President or State Governors, as
\nthe case may be, within the contemplation of Sections 171(1)(e) and
\n208(1)(d), respectively, of the Constitution.<\/p>\n

It is conceded that the definition of “personal staff” under the
\nConstitution (like every other word or phrase used therein) should be
\ngiven a broad and liberal interpretation. However, I believe that the
\nremit of the Chief of Staff to the President outlined above belies that
\nview.This is because, to my mind, those functions are clearly official.
\nHowever,assuming without conceding, that the CoS belongs to personal
\nstaff of the President (or a State Governor),he or she is,at best,in the
\nsame category as a Personal Assistant which itself is not recognised
\nunder the Constitution: only the offices of Special Advisers to the
\nPresident and State Governors, are-by virtue of Sections 151 and 196,
\nrespectively, of the Constitution.<\/p>\n

\ufffcIs the Chief of Staff to the President (or a State Governor), a Special
\nAdviser to either of them? If he (or she) is not, then that position
\nwould be alien to the 1999 Constitution, unless it can fairly be
\ninterpreted as merely a means of exercising the executive powers of the
\nFederation (or\u00a0 State), within the contemplation of Section 5(1)(a) and
\n5(2)(a), respectively, of the Constitution. These clauses permit the
\nPresident and State Governors to delegate their powers to, inter alia,
\nofficers in the public service of the Federation or of the State, as the
\ncase may be. Unfortunately, the definition of such officers in Section
\n318(1) of the Constitution excludes the Chief of Staff.<\/p>\n

I humbly posit that the creation of the office of the Chief of Staff to
\nboth the President and State Governors is ultra vires and
\nunconstitutional and for the occupant to be coordinating the activities
\nof Ministers is an abuse of office,because of enormous power the
\noccupant enjoin,it’s appropriate therefore for the National Assembly to
\nmade in my opinion, Sections 148(1) and 193(1) of the Constitution
\nprovide a surprisingly handy solution. They provide that the executive
\npowers of the Federation or the States shall be exercised directly by
\nthe President\/Governors or through the Vice-President\/Deputy
\nGovernors,Ministers\/Commissioners or officers in the public services of
\nthe Federation\/State, respectively. In other words, the President and
\nState Governors can simply confer the functions of a CoS on the
\nVice-President\/Deputy Governors, a Minister or Commissioner, stating
\nclearly that he or she is responsible for the day-to-day administration
\nof the State House or Government House, as the case may be. We cut but
\npasted wrongly.<\/p>\n

Olufemi Aduwo
\nPresident &Permanent Representative ,Centre for Convention on Democratic
\nIntegrity Convention on Democratic Integrity (CCDI)
\nEmail.\u00a0olufemi.aduwo@ccdiltd.org<\/a>
\nTel:+2348087047173<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When the President Buhari directed the present cabinet to report to him, through his Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari now late,it provoked public commentary from some Nigerians. Some believe rightly…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":71833,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\nOffice Of The Chief Staff: Matters Arising. - Pointblank News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/articles-opinions\/office-of-the-chief-staff-matters-arising\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Office Of The Chief Staff: Matters Arising. - Pointblank News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When the President Buhari directed the present cabinet to report to him, through his Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari now late,it provoked public commentary from some Nigerians. Some believe rightly…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/articles-opinions\/office-of-the-chief-staff-matters-arising\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pointblank News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-04-22T01:34:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Abba-Kyari-1-696x464-696x464.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"696\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"464\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Our Reporter\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Our Reporter\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/articles-opinions\/office-of-the-chief-staff-matters-arising\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/articles-opinions\/office-of-the-chief-staff-matters-arising\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Our Reporter\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c\"},\"headline\":\"Office Of The Chief Staff: Matters Arising.\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-04-22T01:34:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/articles-opinions\/office-of-the-chief-staff-matters-arising\/\"},\"wordCount\":977,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/articles-opinions\/office-of-the-chief-staff-matters-arising\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Abba-Kyari-1-696x464-696x464.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Articles & Opinions\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/articles-opinions\/office-of-the-chief-staff-matters-arising\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/articles-opinions\/office-of-the-chief-staff-matters-arising\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/articles-opinions\/office-of-the-chief-staff-matters-arising\/\",\"name\":\"Office Of The Chief Staff: Matters Arising. - 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