It is not unusual to see certain people asking the Vice President what he is doing, or insinuating that his constitutional roles have been given to another. It becomes important for “awareness” sake to educate these people, so that maybe by a stroke of luck, they will learn.

The constitution shall be the sole guide in this conversation, not Whatsapp, not Facebook, not your favorite rumor peddler.

It is important to point out that I am doing this thread, not as a lawyer (I trained as an engineer), but as someone who is a level 3 (advanced and fluent) English Language speaker who understands that one does not need to have attended a law class to understand the grundnorm

It only took the opening, searching, and studying of a copy of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999.
Funfact: the term “Vice President” was mentioned 53 times in the constitution. 52 times as “Vice-President” and once as “Vice President”

Section 130 states clearly that Nigeria shall have a president who will have executive powers. This gives an idea of how extensive the powers of a President are and what his role will be.

Section 138 says “There shall be for the Federation a Vice President”. Nothing more.

The constitution does not say a Vice President has any executive roles, not even a deputy executive role. All executive powers belong only to the President which he can delegate as he wishes to any member of his cabinet, including the Vice President, according to section 148

This means that if the President does not delegate a role or roles, outside those specifically mentioned in the constitution in the third schedule of the constitution in B, E, F, G, which are
1. Deputy Chair of the Council of States
2. Chair of National Boundaries Commission

3. Deputy Chair of the National Defence Council

And

4. Chair of National Economic Council
the Vice President basically has nothing to do. He or she just chills and is protected from harm because in the event of the President not being able to continue to carry out its...

... executive roles, he or she takes over, either automatically or by virtue of transmission of a written notice to the National Assembly, depending on the circumstance.

Some will bring in the issue of the Chief of Staff to the President, and ask why the president delegates assignments to the holder of the office considering he is not the Vice President or a Minister. Here are a few clarifications:

1. Section 151 allows the president to appoint special advisers, verbatim it says “The President may appoint any person as special adviser to assist him in the performance of his functions”. The Chief of Staff is also special adviser, and he assists the president.

2. The functions of the president does not mean the same thing as “the business of government” that is referred to in section 148 which the president can only delegate to the VP or Ministers.

When the VP was handling the National Social Investments Program, it was because it was delegated to him by the president, not because it is his constitutional responsibility. It could have been delegated to a Minister (as it is now)ab initio as specified by section 148.

So when next you start trending a hashtag asking the Vice President what he is doing, better make sure you have it on authority that he is not leading the National Economic Council, or the National Boundaries Commission, else you will be deemed an ignorant gnat.

Also, when next you author tweets that say the Vice President’s roles have been given to the Chief of Staff, you better have proof that the Chief of Staff is heading a government initiative,agency, department, or ministry. This is what amounts to “government business”.

Or that the Chief of Staff is occupying the roles specified in the The Third Schedule of the constitution that are specifically reserved for the Vice President.

If there are grammatical errors or typos, do have mercy.

If there are any factual errors, I take full responsibility for them, and kindly view them as unintentional. I am glad to be corrected with counter facts supported with verifiable proof.

I hope that with these few tweets of mine I have convinced and not confused about what you need to know.
Selah.