Presidency Outlines Roles of Chief of Staff, SGF
- Ministers, permanent secretaries to sign performance bond
The
presidency at the weekend defended the directive by President Muhammadu
Buhari during the recent ministerial retreat that all requests by
ministers for his attention should be routed through the Chief of Staff,
Mallam Abba Kyari.
Senior
Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba
Shehu, said in a statement that contrary to reactions trailing the
president’s remark, the roles of the chief of staff hitherto, which
included arranging the schedule of the president’s appointments,
remained the same as nothing has been added to or taken away from them.
According
to the statement, the roles of the chief of staff in the administration
of Buhari are not different from what is obtainable in the United
States where Nigeria copied its presidential system from.
The
statement said it was the responsibility of the chief of staff to
maintain presidential relationship with the other two arms of
government, serve as the link between cabinet members and the president
and simultaneously supervise State House staff.
He said:
“It is worth stressing that the role and responsibilities of the Chief
of Staff and the method of communication and arranging scheduling
between cabinet members and the president are, in Nigeria, based on the
US model, where the same system operates – and has been done for decades
– in precisely the same way.
“That
role is to act as the head of the presidential administration at Aso
Rock; to be an adviser to the president on any and all matters; to be
the line manager for all staff at Aso Rock; and to manage appointments
and scheduling for the president.”
Garba
said in the traditional presidential system, it was a primary function
of a chief of staff, which may vary according to the needs and desires
of each president, to supervise key State House staff, control access to
the office and the person of the president and manage communications
and information flow, which might include that which binds the
relationship with the two other arms of government.
He added
that the roles attributed to the chief of staff by the president were
not new as they were the same roles he played during the first term
administration of the president.
Besides,
in contrast to the assumptions by the public that the president was
denying his ministers access to him, he said Buhari was rather getting
them acquainted with knowledge about easy access to him.
The
presidential aide explained that the roles of the chief of staff
differed from those of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation
(SGF), Mr. Boss Mustapha, which included efficiency in the coordination
and monitoring of the implementation of government policies and
programmes.
He said
whereas all ministers, in the course of discharging their
responsibilities, must go through the SGF, who had the responsibilities
to among others, evaluate the performance of both ministers and
permanent secretaries.
Garba
said in line with the duties of the SGF, Mustapha would ensure that all
ministers sign mandate acceptance document within two weeks of assuming
office, calling for an end to what he described as an unending
controversy over the roles of the chief of staff and the president’s
remarks.
According
to him, “Under this dispensation, a performance evaluation of ministers
and permanent secretaries will be maintained by the SGF. Two weeks
after assuming office, they are expected to sign mandate acceptance
documents.”
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