In a typical Nigerian State, whatever the Governor says is law. “His Excellency has said” is sufficient to get everyone from Deputy Governor to the lowest paid civil servant in the State to perform a particular act no matter how irrational the act may be. The same is true of the President at the national level. This aspect of sycophancy used to occur more among public officers who are anxious to either retain their positions or to attract more favours.

In November 2009, the Nigerian Senate, speaking through Senator Ayogu Eze, suggested that most of the projects earmarked in the budget were not implemented “because Civil Servants in Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) lack the capacity to implement the budgets and appropriations they ask for every year”.

One of the reasons why so much goes wrong in our public offices is because a public officer can hardly disagree with a person in authority let alone to challenge the ‘high-ups’ on any wrong doing. As a result, Nigerian authorities are often told not what is on ground but what they want to hear or what would please them.

Section 147(1) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria provides for the appointment of Federal Ministers while Section 192(1) does same for the appointment of State Commissioners. The objective is to enable the Head of the Executive branch of government to appoint some citizens to assist him in the onerous task of governance.

In December 2011, the Kaduna State Commissioner for Information and Home Affairs, Saidu Adamu, allegedly disclosed to the National Daily in Kaduna that more than 18,000 teachers in the State who possessed fake certificates had been sacked.