Minister of State for Labour & Employment, Festus Keyamo (SAN)
THE Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Mr. Festus Keyamo (SAN) last week directed the committees’ setup for the implementation of the 774,000 jobs to proceed with their work stating that only President Muhammadu Buhari has powers to stop the policy.
The minister who appeared before the Joint Committees on Labour of the Senate and the House of Representatives said the lawmakers questioned why the programme was not submitted to them for vetting prior to taking certain steps which he considered strange and interference in the executive duties.
He added that after the meeting which however ended in a deadlock, the Joint Committees purportedly suspended the work of the Selection Committees nationwide until they decide how the programme should be run and who should be in those Committees.
However, Keyamo said the powers of the legislature under Section 88 of the 1999 Constitution is only limited to investigations, but not to give any directive to the executive.
“A committee or committees of both houses do not even have powers to pass binding resolutions. They Can Only Make Recommendations To Plenary. In This Case, Even Plenary cannot give directives To the Executive.
“All my life, I have fought for good governance and constitutional democracy. I will not come into government and be intimidated to abandon those principles. I will rather leave this assignment, if Mr. President so directs than compromise the jobs meant for ordinary Nigerians who have no godfathers or who are not affiliated to any political party.
“I therefore, respectfully further direct all the Committees set up nationwide made up of CAN, NSCIA, NURTW, Market Women, CSOS, Youth Organisations, respected traditional rulers, etc to proceed with their work unhindered. Only Mr. President can stop their work”, the minister directed.
At another session on Tuesday July 7, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige apologised to Senate President Ahmad Lawan over the alleged previous walkout by Keyamo, who was also in attendance.
Responding, Lawan said the Labour Ministry would enjoy legislative support as long as it is involved in the process.
The joint committee of the national assembly chaired by Senator Godiya Akwashiki, then directed the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) to submit a work plan on the implementation of the programme on Monday.
Reacting to the development after the meeting, the Minister of State said he would go back to President Muhammadu Buhari for further directives emphasizing that he takes directives from his principal; Mr. President.
“You can see that the whole struggle today has been how to bypass me in the execution of this programme and I’m sure that you all saw that.
“Now with the provisions of the law, how they are going to do that, I don’t know, I have to go back to my principal which is the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to give directives.
“By section 3 of the NDE Act, I am the chairman of the board. The Minister is the chairman of the board of the NDE. When you say go back and bring a plan, you are still coming back to me. Secondly, if you look at section 15 of the NDE act, it said the minister may give directives of a general nature to the NDE. In other words, you cannot have a work plan without coming back to the minister.
“The third point is that by virtue of my appointment as a minister, the president gave a directive in October last year saying that I should go and supervise generally the activity of the NDE. I don’t see how you will supervise an agency and they go ahead without approval, the bulk must stop at a table.
“The fourth one, beyond the general mandate the president gave, the president also specifically instructed me by memo in May this year for me to go and supervise the execution of this project. How can you supervise a project without your final approval. That approval lies on my table.
“Section 16(1) of the NDE act, by instruction of the president, an inter-ministerial committee has already been proposed – which we accepted – that the committee must drive the selection process. Section 16(1) said the minister shall constitute committees for the NDE. The Director-General of the NDE has no such powers to constitute committees under the law.
“So when you say go back and bring a plan, are you asking the DG to go and break the law? Are you saying the DG should disobey the president? Are you saying the DG should disobey his immediate boss which is his minister?
“I will go back to the president for directives. The directives as to execution of a project is not binding on me. The directives of the national assembly are not binding on me”, he said.