By Eziokwu B. Ndu
Concerns are beginning to be raised about the delays in appointment of persons to various critical positions in government. For a nation of over 140 million Nigerians at home and in the Diaspora, it cannot be that difficult to identify deserving Nigerians to be appointed to fill these vacancies.

The explanation from some quarters has been that Mr. President has been busy with the reconstitution of the Federal Executive Council and therefore these issues take second place.  Though I find this reason unacceptable however, the Ministers were appointed early in April and now we are in June. In fact some of these appointments can be rated as even more urgent than the ministerial appointments.

Another reason being touted by some people for the delay is that the government is compiling a list of all such vacant positions so they can be sorted out at the same time. This is also untenable.  Just as in law they say that justice delayed is justice denied, we will be denying this country of urgently required progress in these critical sectors of the economy if these appointments are delayed further.

By Eziokwu B. Ndu
National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC)For over a year this commission has been without a board and is run by a sole administrator.  If the President is really serious about improving electric power supply in the country, why is there no commission in place?

A commission is only a commission if there are commissioners in place.  The staff of the commission can only carry out their functions under the delegated authority of the commissioners.  The person covering duty today is not even a Commissioner and even if he is you cannot have a Commission with only one Commissioner.

If we want the same kind of superlative performance that was achieved in the telecom sector to be achieved in the power sector, a strong regulatory body must be in place to champion the liberalization of the sector, promote competition and establish proper consumer protection mechanisms.  If we are looking for professionals in the engineering and regulatory field they abound all over.  I believe Mr. President, it is now time to act decisively and reconstitute the board of NERC with professional people to move this sector to the next level. If the court cases that is currently being prosecuted on the matter are the problem, Mr. President should direct the withdrawal of the court cases and settle out of court administratively.
The Nigerian Communications Commission
The tenure of the Chairman, the Executive Vice Chairman/CEO and a Commissioner of the NCC expired by the end of March 2010.  It is now June, and appointments have not been made to fill the vacancies.  Though someone has been asked to oversee the place as acting EVC, the board remains without a chairman as required by law. The law setting up the NCC requires that there are nine members of the board with a Chairman and five others as non-executive and the CEO and two others as executive commissioners.

Today that requirement is not being met.  The telecom industry has been acknowledged locally and internationally as very successful in the past decade. This success is traceable to the calibre of people appointed to the board as the Chairman and the Chief Executive.

It is an industry that is very sensitive to whom the regulator is. We cannot afford to toy with this appointment and delay can be dangerous.  It is actually being suspected that the companies are slowing down their expansion because of the uncertainty in the atmosphere.

A wrong choice as CEO or Chairman will affect investment in the sector negatively. Mr. President will do well to fill the vacancies at the NCC without further delay.  Care must however be taken to ensure that a strong professional is appointed to the position of EVC as well as a mature and seasoned person as non executive chairman.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
The INEC Chairman has proceeded on terminal leave while a number of commissioner positions remain vacant.  INEC has therefore been operating rather illegally for several months if not years.

This has been subject of court cases in the past challenging the legality of elections conducted by INEC. As stated earlier, a commission can only be legally constituted with a minimum number of commissioners as required by the enabling law. Nigerians have therefore been asking what is so difficult in identifying suitable people to be appointed as INEC Commissioners.  Why will the Federal Government be promoting illegality?  Could it be a ploy by the powers that be at the time to give the former INEC boss, Professor Maurice Iwu the vast powers that he wielded during his tenure only to blame him afterwards?

Like in NCC the law recognizes the need for continuity and does not envisage a time when all commissioners will retire at the same time.

So to wait and appoint so many at the same time will run contrary to the spirit of the law setting up INEC. It is also important to determine whose job is it to point out these legal requirements to the President.  We cannot be selective in our adherence to the rule of law in government.

Once again, Mr. President, it is time to appoint a substantive Chairman of INEC and fill all the vacancies in the position of commissioners with credible Nigerians that can deliver a credible election for Nigeria.  With only a few months to various party primaries that will lead to elections in the first quarter of 2011, the time to make the appointments at INEC is now.

Need to minimize Acting Appointments
Finally, I wish to advise that this new wave of “handing over to most senior person in the organization” to act for sensitive positions in government must be discouraged.  Acting appointments in the public service are usually for people going on leave, death, sudden dismissal etc.  It is not usual for an established position to be filled by someone to act when a substantive appointment can easily be made.  However, it now seems the order of the day with present government.

It suggests weakness and indecisiveness. Mr President is well aware of the limitations that someone has in an acting capacity.

Therefore acting appointments for filling vacancies for top and sensitive jobs should be discouraged as much as possible.  If it happens at all, it must not be allowed to drag for more than two to three weeks.

Any time longer will start having negative effects on the organization and in some cases, as with NERC and the NCC, on the industry and in fact the nation.lEziokwu Ndu, a company executive, lives in Lagos.