President Goodluck Jonathan in June
2011 sought and obtained the approval
of Senate to appoint 20 advisers to assist
him in running his government.
However, the President has, in apparent
breach of the number of aides approved for him, gone ahead to appoint at least
24 advisers as at the last count. Beyond exceeding the number, the
designations of the appointees also raise
serious questions as to the necessity of
the appointments. Let’s consider a few. Dr. Tunji Olagunju, Special Adviser to the
President on NEPAD and Dr. Pius Olakunle
Osunyikanmi, Special Adviser to the
President on International Relations.
Apparently, these two offices could have
been handled by a single person. Besides, why do we have to appoint a special
adviser to the president on these when
there is a ministry of foreign affairs with
more than one minister, permanent
secretary, directors and possibly a
department in charge of NEPAD? Mr. Oronto Douglas, Special Adviser to
the President on Research and Strategy.
Sentiments aside, what exactly is the role
of this office and couldn’t it have been
carried out by a permanent employee in
the Presidency? Prof. Abubakar Sambo, Special Adviser to
the President on Energy. Really? What
distinctive ‘special advice’ is the President
expecting from the incumbent here that
the ministers for petroleum, energy and
power cannot give? Mrs. Sarah Akuben Pane, Special Adviser
to the President on Social Development.
One is too stumped to even comment on
this. Mrs. Sarah Jibril, Special Adviser to
the President on Ethics and Values. What
a joke! Who even monitors what, if any, work some of these appointees have
been carrying out? Kingsley Kuku, Special Adviser to the
President on Niger Delta Affairs. What
would the minister and the minister of
state for the Niger Delta ministry be
doing and what about the head of the
Niger Delta Development Commission? Prof. Dan Adebiyi, Special Adviser to the
President on Special Duties and Senator
Isaiah Ballat, Special Adviser to the
President on Special Duties (Office of the
Vice-President). Could someone please
unpack this designation for us. Same request suffices for Nze Sullivan
Akachukwu Nwakpo, Special Adviser to
the President on Technical Matters and
for Mrs. Asma’u Abdulkadir, Special
Adviser to the President on Gender
Issues. What on earth amounts to ‘technical matters’? And there are also Yakubu Abdullahi,
Special Adviser to the President on
Political Matters (Office of the Vice
President); Mr. Bashir Sufyan, Special
Adviser to the President on Legal Matters
(Office of the Vice-President). Professor Nwanze Okidegbe, Economic
Adviser to the President. What economic
advice would this officer give the
President that the National Economic
Management Team members including
the Minister of Finance and the Minister of National Planning cannot? Senator Ben Obi, Special Adviser to the
President on Inter-Party Affairs. There is
absolutely no reason to appoint a special
adviser for just this function, when there
is Ahmed Gulak, Political Adviser to the
President just as the designation of Dr Mariam Ali, Special Adviser to the
President on Inter-governmental Affairs. Perhaps the most curious is the Special
Adviser (New Media), Reno Omokri. In
clear terms, he is special adviser on
Twitter and Facebook matters! This is
aside the fact that there is a Special
Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity. Strangely, the ‘Twitter and
Facebook special adviser’ is not attached
to the office of the Special Adviser on
Media and Publicity but to the Special
Adviser, Research and Strategy. By the way, these special advisers would
ordinarily have their own personal
assistants and other aides.