By Mary Ekobay
For some time now, the tenure
of Boboye Oyeyemi, Corps
Marshal and Chief Executive
of the Federal Road Safety
Corps, FRSC, has been the subject
of a debate with views querying the
legality or otherwise of his continued
stay as Nigeria’s number one Road
Safety officer.
Those questioning his continued
stay have obstinately held on to
the provision of the Public and
Civil Service Rules detailing the
employment, discipline, recruitment,
retirement and other conditions
surrounding an employee of the
government.
They argued that having
attained the age of 60 years as head
of the FRSC, Oyeyemi automatically
stopped enjoying the protection of the
law to remain in office.
The Public Service Rules 02809
provides that: “The compulsory
retirement age for all grades in the
Service shall be 60 years or 35 years
of pensionable service whichever is
earlier. No officer shall be allowed to
remain in the service after attaining
the retirement age of 60 years or
35 years of pensionable service,
whichever is earlier.”
Last November 26, Boboye
attained 60 years of age causing many
to wonder his retention against the
rule they copiously quote.
Now, just like the Armed Forces
and other paramilitary services,
the Road Safety has a ‘domestic
legislation’ that stops promotion
at the rank next to the head of that
organisation. In the Army, it is the
rank of Major General; Deputy
Corps Marshal in the Road Safety,
Deputy Inspector General in the
Police and so on as applicable in
different organisations. At this
stage, whoever becomes the head
of any other military or paramilitary
service is appointed by the President
in exercise of his powers and he
reserves the power to make such
appointment from within or outside
of such organisations.
This position is further supported
by the provisions of Section 7 (1)
FRSC Act, 2007 which gives the
President the power to appoint
anyone he considers as having sound
knowledge in road traffic and road
safety administration as the Corps
Marshal of FRSC. That is the only
specific qualification stipulated by
Section 7 (1) FRSC Act, 2007. This
clearly shows that the Corps Marshal
is not a career civil/public service
officer who is expected to grow
through the ranks and be subjected
strictly to civil/public service rules.
In fact, this is the first time a member
of the Corps was appointed as Corps
Marshal.
The Corps Marshal is not a rank
of a member of the Corps as provided
in Section 11 (1) FRSC Act, 2007,
which listed the ranks of members
of the Corps to start from Deputy
Corps Marshal. The fact that the
present Corps Marshal, Dr Boboye
Oyeyemi is a member of the Corps
will not change the status of the
office of the Corps Marshal from
being a political office to a career
public service office. To do so, would
amount to taking away the powers
of the President conferred on him by
Section 5(1) (a) of the Constitution of
the Federal Republic of Nigeria as
amended and Section 7 (1) of FRSC
Act, 2007.
The pressure on Oyeyemi is
perhaps comprehensible having risen
through the ranks. He is therefore
deemed to be a civil servant, which
is not actually so in the spirit and
letter of the appointment of the
leadership of the armed forces and
paramilitary organisations.
Once appointed, the appointee stopped being a civil servant as the President
is not duty bound to comply with the
Public Civil Service Rules even in
disengaging anyone if he so desires
ahead of 60 years of age or 35 years
of pensionable service. Only political
appointees are so treated.
Again, Section 5 (1) (a) of the
1999 Constitution of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria (as amended)
vested in the President the
superintendent powers in delegating
to other people to exercise on
his behalf. The provision reads:
“Subject to the provisions of this
Constitution, the executive powers
of the Federation –
(a) Shall be vested in the President
and may, subject as aforesaid and to
the provisions of any law made by
the National Assembly, be exercised
by him either directly or through the
Vice President and Ministers of the
Government or officers in the public
service of the federation…”
Heads of the tri-service and other
paramilitary agencies are therefore
appointed at the pleasure of the
President as political appointees and
only him determines their tenure
and in exercising that power, the
President can bypass certain ranks
to appoint subordinates to head an
agency forcing superiors to give
way in retirement in deference to
the judgment and discretion of the
President.
From 1988 ‘outsiders’ were chief
executives of the FRSC. These are Dr
Olu Agunloye, Maj. Gen. Anthony
Hananiya, Danyaro Ali Yakasai,
Engr. Abba Kyari Wakilbe and Osita
Chidoka up till 2014. It is clear that
the headship of the organisation has
always enjoyed tenure duration from
all that pleases the President and this
is without ambiguity.
Similar concerns were raised on
the elongated tenure of immediate
past service chiefs; same for the
current Inspector General of Police
whose tenure the President has
extended for three months. With the
uproar that greeted the appointment
of retired Colonel Hameed Ali to
head the Nigeria Customs Service,
the President must have latched on
to his constitutional powers and
exercising same for him to sail
through.
No wonder there is yet no
legal hurdle to upturn those decisions
regardless of several objections.
Rather than resenting Oyeyemi
or worried about the President’s
lawful exercise of his powers against
the wishes of critics urging him to
resign before being reappointed,
which again is discretionary,
patriotism could have overridden
typical burdens often piled against
the President to remove public
officials with visible results and
peerless impacts.
Without mincing words, it
is clear that no public officer is
indispensable. It is the hallmark of
patriotism to understand when not to
throw off a performing official like
Oyeyemi, considering the number
and quality of innovations that have
been brought to impact on the FRSC,
building on the inherited laudable
services of his predecessors.
In the years he has served the
nation in his capacity as Corps
Marshal, Oyeyemi has introduced
some initiatives in line with the
mandate of the FRSC. Of note is
the drastic reduction in carnage on
the highways across the country,
obviously with the cooperation of
officials of the corps as well as other
critical stakeholders like the Special
and Celebrity Marshals, alongside
spirited sensitization campaign
through Road Safety Clubs in
educational institutions.
Under his vigorous leadership,
the FRSC realised the need to
bridge the information gap with the
establishment of the National Traffic
Radio 107.1FM in October 2019
as a viable channel through which
information could be transmitted
seamlessly to the public. Not only
that, at the time insecurity is linked
to many nefarious activities of
cybercriminals and criminals in
terrorist financing, the FRSC under
Oyeyemi has continually offered
partnership with the banking
sector, the National Bureau of
Statistics, the National Identity
Management Commission and
even security agencies on sharing
information targeted at assisting
these organisations on identity and
biometric management.
The President’s retention of
Oyeyemi is not without some
grounds as the FRSC has attained
global standard with the introduction
of emergency toll-free line 122
that has proven to be effective in
shortening response time to save
victims in emergency situation
across its 203 Unit Commands and
29 outposts across the country.
Worried about the persistent
abuse of traffic rules, the Oyeyemi led FRSC established Operation
Cobra, an initiative introduced to
reduce crash rate by apprehending
traffic offenders who are referred
to a government health facility
for Emotional Stability Test. The
construction and inauguration of
16 permanent structures in various
sector commands, with other two
awaiting inauguration in Road Safety
formations across the country must
be the legacy of a committed public
officer.
– Kareem, mnipr, is chief
consultant, Proedge Limited, 9A,
Nnewi Street, Area 2 Garki, Abuja
