Mixed reactions have continued to trail
President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive to the newly sworn in ministers
that all submissions for his attention or meeting requests be channeled
through the Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari.
Twice the President has
reechoed the directive. It was first made at the end of the presidential
retreat for the then ministers-designate on Tuesday.
Specifically,
the president in the presence of the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo,
Senate President, Ahmad Lawan and other top dignitaries, told the
ministers that, “ in terms of coordination, kindly ensure that all
submissions for my attention or meeting requests be channeled through
the Chief of Staff, while all Federal Executive Council matters be
coordinated through the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
As
if that was not enough, President Buhari again after the swearing in of
the ministers at the council chambers of the State House, Abuja
yesterday restated the order, saying it was necessary to speed up the
process of decision-making in the administration. With the President’s
order, no minister will have access to him without Kyari’s clearance.
First
appointed on August 27, 2015, the Borno born lawyer was reappointed on
July 5, this year, despite the protest for his sack. The protesters in
June alleged that Kyari was the eye of the cabal in the Villa.The
presidency, however said the protest was sponsored.
The
following day, another group of protesters marched to the villa
supporting Kyari. The Office of the Chief of Staff was first introduced
in 1999 when the country’s returned to civilian rule. President Olusegun
Obasanjo started it when he copied the US presidential system of
government.
Speaking on the development, a retired federal
permanent secretary, said the president’s decision would create a major
bottleneck that would make governance more problematic than it was in
Buhari’s first tenure. “The appointment of a Principal Private Secretary
(PPS) could have mitigated the problem of a President who is limited in
terms of how many hours he would make available for official work.
“This will create absolute barrier between the President and the
ministers. It will negatively affect the system, put an unmanageable
burden on the office of the Chief of Staff, demoralize ministers who may
have vital, urgent and sensitive issues to discuss with the president
and it will just create a huge bureaucracy around the office of the
Chief of Staff.
“This is a wrong approach to adopt for a
president who has said that he wants to improve the level of efficiency
and efficacy of governance in the country,” he said. For the retired
permanent secretary, the directive would create a major problem for both
the president and the Chief of Staff.
“It would simply
reinforce the idea that there is a circle around the president,
preventing him from having access to all the information he needs. “If
you are going to appoint ministers and place huge burden on them,
certainly you should allow them even if is going to be a few minutes to
see you.
They do not need to get clearance from the Chief of
Staff, if the system is going to work but if you make it mandatory that
all matters have to be cleared with the Chief of Staff, many ministers
will just simply sit in their office because the system will become
bad,” he said.
He recalled that in previous administrations,
ministers had unfettered access to the president, adding that,
“ministers are very important people who are responsible enough to know
that the president is limited in terms of how much time he would give
them an attention” He further said that the elevation of the office of
the Chief of Staff to superintending the ministers was not a healthy
development.
According to the State House website, the “Office
of the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces is overseen
by the Chief of Staff to the President. “The Chief of Staff manages the
President’s schedule and correspondence, and any other duties that may
be assigned by the President.”
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