EDITORIAL. Delta’s Limping Cabinet
A functional cabinet is the strategic engine room that drives the administration in a constitutional government and serves as ventilation to the programmes and objectives of the government. It is the composition of the best brains to drive the vision of the government. Unfortunately, these qualities are in short supply in the Sheriff Oborevwori administration where the making of the cabinet was propelled by phial relationship. In plain language, it is a culture of entitlement where the only qualification needed to be a commissioner is either your father was a governor, your inlaw, a governor or a son of a senator. It is sad and unfortunate for Delta State famous for galaxy of intellectual heavy weights and academic giants.
This is our second editorial on the Delta State Executive Council. We love the MORE agenda of the government but given the composition of the cabinet, it would be wishful thinking to contemplate in a split second that such stripe of men and women would leapfrog the state from the nadir of undervelopment.
In that editorial, August 28, 2023 , we took strong exception to the balkanization of the education ministry into four ministries viz Higher Education, secondary and basic education, vocational and technical education, and primary education. Today we are not bothered with that misnomer as a more serious problem plagues the state. More than five months after swearing in, the governor is operating without Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, and Information Commissioner.
The governor is silent about the appointment of these key officials. This has led to lot of media speculations and conjectures
The Pond News would not be distracted by such sea of rumours millers. We are not divinely inspired enough to read the mind of the governor but his silence in critical state craftsmanship is disturbing , worrisome and beyond compare.
The Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice is the only Commissioner explicitly mentioned in the 1999 constitution. Section 195 of the Constitution states thus :’There shall be an Attorney General for each state who shall be the chief law officer of the state and Commissioner for Justice of the Government of the state.’
The role of Attorney General and Justice Commissioner is indispensable in a constitutional government firmly planted on the rule of law. The Attorney gyeneral is the chief law officer and legal adviser to the government.He also advises the government on constitutional and legal issues. He is the legal compass that directs the ship of the state
It is scandalously nauseating that Oborevwori government could operate for five months without a legal adviser recognised by the constitution. There are thousands of legal luminaries to occupy the position.
Equally more bemusing is the absence of Information Commissioner in a state with unique distinction of producing the best national newspapers in Nigeria. Many of elitist journalists and professors of mass communication in the country are of the Deltan stock. Information is so crucial in governance that lack of strategic delivery of information to the people could create wrong perceptions in their minds .
The Pond News understands that there are communication manager, chief press secretary and motley of media aides. But these are sailors in the ship of information management without a captain.The state needs Information Commissioner to give clear communication guidance and direction on government policies and programmes.
The Pond News passionately appeals to Governor Sheriff Oborevwori to appoint the two key Commissioners without further delay. The losers of this political indecision are the people of Delta State, the authentic owners of electoral sovereignty.
