ENCOUNTER

Sir. There have been this ongoing de bate on whether the principle of federal character should be relinquished or it should be continued with, how do you see the federal character question in the country?

ADEGWARE: The problem with us is not the problem of inadequacy of policies but it is the implementation of policies. What is the federal character thing about? It is meant to ensure spread of opportunities, so that no one section of the country monopolizes everything, but if you come to the nitty-gritty of the implementation, you will find that people insist on it when the prevailing situation does not favour them, and when it favours them, they relegate it  to the background. But I think Nigeria as a country with so many challenges, we should use our best hands in certain cases, so the issue of federal character ought not to apply in every case.

There are very sensitive areas or sectors of the economy or even in governance, so we need to look for our experts in those places, people who can bring out the best policies and formulate the approach to implement them but by the time you say, federal character, federal character does not bring you to minimum qualification or whatever, you are going to bring out your best, your best may not be good enough, so there is the draw back of the system. I for one, within the frame work of giving everybody an opportunity; I will want the best for our national life.

Are you with those people saying it actually encourages mediocrity to the detriment of the intelligent ones?

Yes, that is why I said your best may not be good enough, so what that implies is that compared to somebody else you are going to put in mediocre but there is no part of the country as of now that is seriously lacking behind but the issue is that, whether those people we call the core people or core professionals in those areas  are ready to come to serve in those places. If they don’t have the enabling environment, I don’t think we should give that sensitive position to people who are not equipped to man them, so in that aspect, you will be enthroning mediocrity.

There was a report recently that some ministries were going to be prosecuted for not sticking to the rules of federal character in appointments and issues relating to their ministries. Do you support that stand that they should be brought back to line?

Like I said, how can it be applied, we have to have the facts first, for instance I know that at the centre (federal civil service), a lot of states are short changed, a lot of people, like in Delta state that I come from, you find very few people in the federal civil service and when you make your inquiries you are told there are no opportunities and all that whereas recruitment is still going on, so we need to have the facts, publish the facts, so and so category of staff, how many people have come from all the geo-political zones or all the states, then let us know the states where this vacancies are, you don’t just use your position to manipulate things and put your people there while other people are wallowing in joblessness and all that, that is what is encouraging crime, educated people not finding anything to do, some people having it at their beck and call, so before you talk of prosecution and other action, first and foremost there are administrative ways of addressing it, let us have all the facts, let us have the break down, rather than go into an acrimonious approach to the settlement of that issue I will prefer that they resolve it administratively.

Lets look at the issue of immunity presently because the debate is actually on, will you support that immunity as, it is should be retained or reviewed in the constitution?

My personal opinion is that the immunity clause as in section 308 of the constitution has not serve our purpose, the objective was to protect those in government, the governors or deputies, president, vice-president, to protect them from distractions so that they can concentrate on the acts of governance. But in most cases, you see that has not been the case and because you have no way to act against them, that is why agencies like EFCC will now have to coerce members of the house of assembly of a state to act against the governor to force him out of office so that when he loses immunity they can arrest him, I will prefer a situation where we have immunity in civil cases not in criminal cases.

If we relate this to the issue of impeachment, whereby the House of Assembly will hold their governors to ransome based on certain issues, how will you react to that? Don’t you think that issued too should be addressed?

I think the framework is been laid out for the amendment of the 1999 constitution and I think this is one of the areas that should be looked into, area of impeachment because the governors too have used it, mobilizing the members of the House of Assembly to impeach their speakers, presiding officials and all that, so in some places too the members of the House have also found it necessary to rise against their government and things like that. But we should come out with something that makes the process very objective and not subject to this kind of selfish manipulation.

As a legal practitioner, you have been in practice for a very long time, what would you suggest in respect of the impeachment clause.

The review of the constitution is a serious business, it is not a thing you just sit down and say like this but what I am talking about is that impeachment is a serious offence and what I will suggest is a situation that it dis-countenances what I call the frivolity of the exercise, lets not resort to impeachment, because the governor did not agree to certain demand so he should be impeach and things like that. When you say you want to impeach a governor, the impeachment have to be for a good cause, the governor must be seen derailing from his oath of office or from the tract of good governance, then you are now doing that on behalf of the people to protect the interest of the people but not to protect some selective interest of a few people.

So I will want a process that is objective, that is people oriented, that is anchored on the overall interest of the people.

Presently, there is this ongoing probe on the power sector under former president Obasanjo and many things came up, how will you react to the situation as it is presently?

It shows that we have not engaged the proper gear in the fight against corruption, because that was the anchor point of that administration. The fight against corruption, and if these things as they are alleged actually happened, then it is a very frustrating development. I would suggest that we should take a look basically at government and do a thorough probe of certain key areas, the energy sector also because in most of this places, you will find that even with facilities, huge budget and all that, they translate to nothing, road construction, NEMA, whatever, there should be agencies to look at whatever everybody is doing and when you know you are being watched, you are going to be careful, personally what I feel is that too much money is going from the national purse into private hands to the detriment of the majority of the people and that is not good for development.

Recently two ministers, some people said, they are sacked and some said they retired voluntarily base on certain allegation, how do you see the situation?

It is too early in the day, in my opinion to access the government, and I believe they were sacked even though the report is that they resigned, I believed that the sack did not follow due process, you don’t punish a man for an offence before you hear his defence and that is what had happened the sack itself is a punishment, before you investigate and you now start trying them, that is double jeopardy, I think whatever the situation is while they were there, they should have been investigated, at best they should have been suspended, then investigation is done. What if at the end of the day we find that they are innocent, what do you do, you restore them. So I think that decision to sack them was hasty and was not in due process. It’s not in consonance with due process.  

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