POWERS OF THE
BUREAU
The bureau shall be subject to the
overall supervision of the Council to have power to:
(a)
Acquire,
hold and manage moveable and immovable properties.
(b)
Enter
into contract or partnership with any company, firm or person which in its
opinion will facilitate the discharge of its functions.
(c)
Request
for and obtain from any Public Enterprise statistics and other information
including reports memoranda and audited accounts and other information relevant
to its functions under the Act and
(d)
Liaise
with relevant bodies or institutions locally or overseas for effective
performance of its functions under the Act.
STAFF OF THE
BUREAU
According to S.17 (1) of the Act, there shall be appointed for the bureau, a
Director General who shall
(a)
Be
appointed by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
(b)
Not
to be below the rank of a permanent secretary in the Civil Service of the Federation.
The Director General shall be the chief
executive of the Bureau and the secretary to the Council[1]
and shall hold office for a period of four years in the first instance and may
be re-appointed for a further period of four years and on such terms and
conditions as may be specified in his letter of appointment[2].
There shall be established for the Bureau
a management committee comprising the Director General and departmental head
who shall be responsible for implementation of the policies of the Council and
the day to day administration of the Bureau[3].
The Bureau may appoint such member of
other persons to be employee of the Bureau in the performance of its functions
under this Act[4]
but this notwithstanding employees of the Bureau may be appointed by way of
transfer or secondment from any of the public services of the Federation[5].
The Bureau being a mere implementation
agency of the Council should not perform functions that conflict with or usurp
that of the Council.
But I discover that the function of the
Bureau under S. 13 (10) (e), that is issuing and selling shares and assets of
an enterprise to be privatized is just the same as, and then, in direct
conflict with that of the Council under S. 11(h). It may be argued that if
there is such actual conflict, the functions, powers of the Council shall
prevail, but I think that such inconsistencies will lead to uncertainty of
roles or overlap or abandonment.
For this reason therefore, I submit that
the Act be amended and functions be allotted to the Council and the Bureau in
such a way there will be no doubt as to who is to do what and how.
The establishment of these bodies and
their functions has gone to show how the objectives of Privatization and Commercialization
are to be achieved. But this is not all. The Act has made some other provision
that will see to the realization of these objectives.
LEGAL
PROCEEDINGS
The draftsman of the Act rightly
observed that in the process of divesting and resting of shares and ownerships,
disputes may arise. So provisions are made on how to go about legal proceedings
arising therefrom.
S.23(1) of the Act provides that
subject to the provisions of this Act, the provisions of the Public officers Protection Act shall apply
in relation to any suit instituted against any officer or employee of the
Bureau. The whole essence of this Act is to shield Public Officers from actions
which their acts or omissions would normally have brought about. This is no
doubt a violation of the Rule of Law as enunciated by Prof. A. C. Dicey that everybody should be treated equally under
the law. That all who goes contrary to the law should be tried in the ordinary
court of law. The big question we need to answer is what is so peculiar about
officers and employees of the Bureau that warrants their exclusion from legal
proceedings.