Former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, has criticised the Presidency’s description of President Bola Tinubu’s absence from Nigeria as a “working vacation,” describing the argument as “illiterate.”
Odinkalu also criticised the administration’s handling of education, saying that while education was being discussed at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), the Federal Government had no clear education policy to present.
Speaking on Politics Today, a Channels Television programme, Odinkalu said the number of out-of-school children in Nigeria was rising, while the government had yet to demonstrate a clear policy direction on education.
“The world is discussing education. At the moment, as you probably know, there is a crisis with unity schools in Nigeria over the concessioning of King’s College. There is no policy on the concessioning of publicly owned schools, by the way, so this is just drawn out of the heart,” he said.
According to Odinkalu, the current administration had not developed a new education policy since coming into office.
“Actually, the current administration does not have an education policy. The last education policy was developed by Adamu Adamu as Minister of Education in 2017, and I don’t even think this administration has read it. They have not bothered to update it,” he said.
He expressed concern over the rising number of out-of-school children, arguing that Nigeria could not effectively engage in global discussions on education without a clear national policy.
“The number of out-of-school children is skyrocketing in the country, and we can’t even go to the United Nations and say, ‘This is our education policy.’ That’s how bad it is,” he said.
Odinkalu also questioned the President’s ability to speak authoritatively on education, saying, “Suddenly, the President does not have a calling card on this because he cannot name any teacher who taught him, and he cannot name the schools he attended.”
He asked whether the circumstances created a credibility challenge for the President’s participation in education-related discussions at the UN General Assembly.
President, VP absence
Commenting on the simultaneous absence of President Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima from the country, Odinkalu said the situation had become a recurring feature of the current administration.
“This is the first administration where the vice president and the president are making a habit of abandoning the country without leadership. It never happened before,” he said.
He argued that previous administrations had maintained a convention under which either the President or Vice President remained in the country when the other was abroad.
According to him, former President Muhammadu Buhari ensured that then-Vice President Yemi Osinbajo was in Nigeria whenever he travelled abroad, while former presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan also did not allow both offices to be vacant simultaneously.
Turning to the constitutional provisions governing presidential absence, Odinkalu said Section 145 of the Constitution did not recognise the concept of a “working vacation.”
“No matter how you read the text of Section 145, the idea of a working vacation does not exist in that text. What Section 145 addresses is absence from the country for a duration set at 21 days,” he said.
He added that, regardless of whether the President transmitted a transfer of authority to the Vice President, the constitutional provision relating to 21 days would eventually become relevant.
However, Odinkalu said that if he were advising the Presidency, he would avoid arguing over whether the President was on a working or non-working vacation.
“If I were counsel to the Presidency, I would not be talking about this idea of a working vacation or a non-working vacation. That sounds quite illiterate, with the greatest, most profound respect,” he said.
He suggested that the Presidency could instead rely on the Interpretation Act to argue that the 21-day period referred to in the Constitution means 21 working days.
“At the moment, that is not yet the case,” he added.
