Tinubu’s ‘working vacation argument’ illiterate – Odinkalu

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Professor Chidi Odinkalu

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By Dickson Omobola

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Former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, Professor Chidi Odinkalu, has criticised the Presidency’s description of President Bola Tinubu’s absence from the country as a working vacation, saying the argument is being pushed by illiterates.

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Odinkalu also lamented that while the world was discussing education at the United Nations General Assembly, UNGA, the Tinubu administration had no education policy.

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Speaking on Politics Today, a Channels Television programme, he said the number of out-of-school children was skyrocketing in the country, while there was no visible education policy to present to the world.

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He said: “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. 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.

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“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. And 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. Do you see the credibility crisis we are facing by attending an education summit at the United Nations General Assembly?”

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On the absence of the President and his vice from the country, he said: “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. As a rule, as a convention, pretty much a binding convention of government, no president allowed himself to be out of the country with the vice president at the same time. It never happened.

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“It was not permitted. This is the first time that it has become a habit. Under the late Muhammadu Buhari, whenever Buhari was going out of the country, Osinbajo was required to be back in the country. Under Obasanjo, Obasanjo would never contemplate it. Yar’Adua did not contemplate it. Jonathan did not allow it.

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“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. Irrespective of whether the President transmits a transfer of authority enabling the Vice President to act, upon the onset of the 21st day, something should happen.

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“Now, the only thing is that, if you are being overly technical, and 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. If I were counsel to the Presidency, what I would do, to sound very overly legalistic about this, is to use the Interpretation Act and say that 21 days means 21 working days. At the moment, that is not yet the case.”

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