CONSTITUTIONAL PREREQUISITES FOR THE COMPOSITION OF THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL OF THE FEDERATION BY THE PRESIDENT- A CRITICAL LEGAL ANALYSIS

Abstract

One of the many measures provided in the Nigerian constitution to ensure good governance is the requirement that the President has the exclusive responsibility to appoint qualified Ministers into the federal executive council who will advise him on national affairs. To fastrack this leadership recruitment process, a recent constitutional requirement was added requiring the President to appoint the Ministers within a given time frame although it did not state what should happen when this is breached? This paper deployed the doctrinal research method to examine the constitutional parameters for the composition of the executive council of the federation and the mandatory timeline allowed the President to compose the Federal Executive Council among other things. The paper found that there is a lacuna in the law as the constitution did not expressly prescribe any penalty should the President not submit a comprehensive list of Ministerial appointees from at least one State of the Federation and or within the approved time limit to the Senate for confirmation. Hence, it was recommended among other things that since the breach of any constitutional provision is a gross misconduct, failure, refusal or neglect by the President to comply should form a ground for removal of the President from office by the legislature because a President who is unable to obey the constitution is unfit to hold office and liable to be removed from office.