On Tuesday, the federal government of Nigeria announced that the Boards of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration & Control (NAFDAC) are exempted from the dissolution of Boards of its Parastatals, Agencies, Institutions, and Government-owned Companies, as directed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Monday.
The clarification was issued by the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation through a terse statement from the Director of Information, Willie Bassey. The statement explained that the exemption of the NDLEA and NAFDAC boards from the dissolution was made in accordance with the constitutional powers of the President and in the public interest.
The dissolution of the Governing Boards of all federal government Parastatals, Agencies, Institutions, and Government-Owned Companies was approved by the President on Monday. However, the exemption applies to the Boards, Commissions, and Councils listed in the Third Schedule, Part 1, Section 153 (i) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended.
The statement further listed 14 agencies, including the Code of Conduct Bureau, Council of State, Federal Character Commission, Federal Civil Service Commission, Federal Judicial Service Commission, Independent National Electoral Commission, National Defense Council, National Economic Council, National Judicial Commission, National Population Commission, National Security Council, National Police Council, Police Service Commission, and Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission, as also exempted from the dissolution.
The exemption of the NDLEA and NAFDAC boards from the dissolution of boards was done in the exercise of the President’s executive power and was clarified by the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.