The Haman Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has warned the newly inaugurated ministers to work in line with the Constitution of the country.

The rights group specifically warned the Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr. Nyesom Wike, a lawyer, “to be law-abiding and administer the FCT with absolute respect to the constitution, the principle of rule of law and to act in with civility, decorum and orderliness.”

“The Minister must desist from thinking that he is a dictator of Abuja, the way some of them acted in their previous offices as Governors,” HURIWA said Monday in a statement signed by the national Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko.

It warned that the office of a Minister was unlike that of the Governor whereby some lawless office holders behaved like emperors who were above the law.

The rights group noted the statement by Minister, shortly after his inauguration, that he would demolish all illegal structures, shows that he was overzealous and clearly warned him against political vendetta and abuse of office which contravenes section 15(5) of the Nigerian constitution.

“Nyesom Wike should be told that he is not the Governor of Federal Capital Territory but a servant of the people, in his capacity as the caretaker of the FCT whereas the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is the lawful landlord of FCT,” the group stated.

HURIWA’s caution on Wike is encompassed in a media statement it issued titled “Agenda for Ministers”, in which it stated as follows:

“First, we need to admit that the number of Ministers just sworn in is huge and Nigeria, as at today, is not in the right frame of mind economically and otherwise to fund such a very large government that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has decided to set up. What on earth is Nigeria doing with over 40 ministers which will cost the nation humongous taxpayers money to maintain their offices and those of their numerous Special Assistants.

“The best thing for a nation with over 130 million multidimensionally poor Nigerians is for the nation to run a very lean government that wouldn’t cost the national treasury so much to run so the country can conserve the funds to invest in human capital/capacity development of Nigerians for greater national productivity and sustainable development.

“Be that as it may, what we would itemise to the ministers as collective national agenda for sustainable development, enhanced security, enhanced national productivity, agricultural growth, and protection of the fundamental human rights of the citizens, is to tell each of them to pay greater attention towards achieving the goal and objectives of the current government which are clearly highlighted in the manifesto of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the developmental Blueprint of the All Progressives Congress that sponsored the President in the election in which INEC declared him as winner.

“The Minister of Justice and the Attorney-General of the Federation must ensure that the judiciary is not encumbered by the atrocious acts of disobedience of court orders by security chiefs, the IGP, the DG of DSS and all other persons wielding authority bestowed on them via their appointments by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

“The AGF must ensure that the judges are not attacked by the DSS as they did under the previous government of Muhammadu Buhari who used the DSS to force the justices of Supreme Court of Nigeria and other divisions of the court system to do their executive bidding.

“As the head of the public bar, the AGF who is a well-respected litigation lawyer must ensure that the Constitution is respected by all, including the President; and the AGF must never use his office to truncate the prosecution of top government officials involved in corrupt practices who were already caught and are undergoing prosecution by the EFCC and the ICPC.

“The AGF must sanitize the detention facilities of DSS, Police EFCC, and make sure that extrajudicial execution of suspects by all security agencies is stopped and all Police operatives indicted in extrajudicial execution of suspects must be arrested, prosecuted and sanctioned in compliance with the rule of law.

“The AGF must be concerned about security forces who aren’t respecting the rules of engagement in internal security operations which are outlawed by chapter 4 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“By and large, all officials of government and agencies must comply with the provisions of chapter 4 of the Constitution which are the human rights provisions, as well as all binding legislations that are made to promote good governance, open government, transparency and accountability of all officials of government.

“The ministers must be made to sign on to Performance Assessment Contract whereby the President, through the SGF, will monitor the performance of the cabinet level members of government and also the National Assembly must play their oversight responsibility on all government officials as well as the SGF. The principle of checks and balances is critical to achieving the goal of rapid development of the country within the shortest possible period.

“The ministries of Petroleum, Gas and Environment must be ready to enforce all regulations and legislative templates on Green energy and the eradication of the abuses and degradation of the environment by crude oil producing companies so there is the urgency if the now for the Niger Delta oil producing communities to be cleaned up of the most serious environmental factors that degrade the environment and have rendered the community residents unproductive particularly because their farms and fish ponds are polluted.

“There is the need for these key environmental-related and crude oil ministers, including that of Gas and solid mineral, to pay close attention to Climate Change and enforce new methods of mineral mining that wouldn’t compound the already severe cases of consequences of climate change.

“The Minister of Water Resources must know that 50 percent of Nigerian communities have no clean sources of water for drinking and hygiene, just as open defecation is still prevalent which must be eradicated.

“The FCT Minister must clean up Abuja, avoid land racketeering and work assiduously to make the capital Territory clean, green and functional in all facets because, for now, Abuja has zero transportation system and there is no affordable housing for even the civil servants.

The Minister of Women Affairs must promote child welfare and work on a template to defend vulnerable children from sexual exploitation, while the Minister also need to reach out to NAPTIP to ensure that Nigerian children are not exploited and trafficked for sex as we have been seeing. This trend must be halted but this requires multidimensional approaches by the Ministers of Women Affairs and Justice, to be able to achieve this.

“The Minister of Works must fix the collapsed federal roads infrastructures all over and give the South East a sense of belonging by delivering quality federal roads and fixing those dead and collapsed roads in the entire South East and South South regions of Nigeria.

“Importantly, the ministers must never be caught getting involved in contracts scam and procurement corruption. The Ministers of Defence and his Minister of State do not give us any hope that they can resolve the security situation because they are bereft of any idea on national security and the worst thing is that the Minister of State for Defence, as Governor, had unholy communion with terrorists killing his people through some kinds of illegal amnesty programmes which is against the constitution. So it is doubtful what those ones can bring to the table.”

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