The investigations carried out by agencies may include interviewing relevant witnesses and reviewing documents. Some investigation may include scientific testing.
In Nigeria, some regulatory agencies are usually partisan while conducting their investigations, thus such anomaly requires an urgent cross-examination by the apt authority.
Furthermore, after the investigation, the agency would make a decision, demand any corrective action if necessary as well as impose any appropriate penalty on the offender as authorized by the law.
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It’s noteworthy that a firm or an individual possesses a right to appeal any decision made by an agency. Most times, an agency’s decision is appealed through the agency that rendered the decision, which is known as an administrative appeal. Sometimes, such appeals can be handled by the effort of a special court.
It was the late great philosopher Socrates that said “An unexamined life isn’t worth living”. Taking a painstaking study of the federal and state governments’ agencies in Nigeria, particularly the former, it’s needless to reiterate that most of these agencies or commissions, especially those established to exercise regulatory functions, are seriously crying for a compelling review or reexamination towards achieving a more effective and efficient productivity. This is where the prime essence of the above topic lies.
To this end, it’s high time the concerned authorities domiciled in Nigeria reviewed most of the laws guiding these agencies so they could make amends if need be.
Aside the conventional agencies, the regulatory ones such as, but not limited to, the National Drug law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), and the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) were set up to assist the government in the enforcement of severe laws that otherwise could not be properly enforced.
However, it’s appalling and pathetic to note that most of these agencies, rather than doing the needful, end up doing otherwise in the long run owing to corruption.
Nigeria could boast of an agency like the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC), still, plagiarism prevails in the country and is currently on the rampage. This sounds not unlike a paradox, but it’s real.
It’s not anymore news that most of these agencies have been characterized by several uncalled-for factors including partisanship, favouritism, mediocrity, and what have you.
These constituted bodies are meant to be independent in the discharge of their lawful duties, but on the contrary, in most cases you would observe they dance to the tune of most influential Nigerians or corporate organizations, thereby abusing the laws or principles on which they were founded.
Inter alia, some similar federal agencies like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related crimes Commission (ICPC) alongside the Consumer Protection Council (CPC) and the Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON) are meant to be merged headlong, respectively.
On the other hand, a few others currently incapacitated or no longer in vogue ought to be scrapped or better still, embedded in other related agencies, towards enabling space for creation of new ones presently needed by the country to function effectively.
Currently, Nigeria is arguably yearning for establishment of bodies to include commission as well as tribunal for electoral violence that would tremendously assist the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in fighting crimes occasioned by political unrest.
In the same vein, agencies like the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) ought to be strengthened or even scrapped. For instance, the Skill Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development (SAED) programme currently taking place in the scheme should be made compulsory by the management, especially at this point the country is deeply concerned about uplifting entrepreneurship among her young ones or the citizenry at large.
It’s worthy to note that most of the corps members dodge the said programme in the process, thus the management of the agency needs to deploy a device toward ensuring every corps member participates actively in the programme.
Above all, there’s a need for the leaders of all the existing federal agencies in Nigeria to regularly read the riot act to their entire staff or personnel, so they would be conscious of the rules at all costs. The state owned ones should also follow suit.
More so, in their oversight functions, the legislatures of both the federal and state governments, as the case may be, are expected to from time to time, summon the leadership of any agency to their chambers whenever skepticism arises or if they sensed any foul play.
The time is conspicuously ripe to holistically review these existing agencies in Nigeria toward greater nationhood.