By The National Patriots
«“The era of manual inefficiency must give way to a culture of speed, transparency, data-driven decision-making and citizen-centred service.”
“Today, with 38 Ministries and Extra-Ministerial Departments operating on a secure, paperless and end-to-end electronic workflow system, we are sending a clear message: Nigeria is building a public service that enables progress.”
— President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, International Civil Service Conference, May 2026»
The controversy over President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s extended working vacation raises a legitimate constitutional question. But it also raises a fundamental issue about modern government: does being physically outside Nigeria necessarily mean that a President is incapable of governing Nigeria?
The National Patriots believes this distinction remains important. Physical absence should not automatically be equated with constitutional incapacity. But neither should technological capacity be used to set aside an express constitutional requirement.
Section 145(1) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, is explicit. Whenever the President is “proceeding on vacation or is otherwise unable to discharge the functions of his Office,” he “shall transmit a written declaration” to the President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives. Upon that transmission, the Vice-President performs the functions of President as Acting President until the President formally declares his return.
On a strict reading of the provision, Section 145(1) stands on its own. The obligation to transmit the declaration arises when the President proceeds on vacation. Subsection (1) does not say that the vacation must first last 21 days.
Section 145(2) addresses a different situation. It provides a constitutional remedy where the President is unable or fails to make the declaration required under subsection (1). If that failure continues for 21 days, the National Assembly shall, by resolutions passed by a simple majority in each chamber, mandate the Vice-President to perform the functions of President as Acting President.
The 21-day provision should therefore not be interpreted as postponing or qualifying the obligation created by Section 145(1). Rather, it establishes the point at which the National Assembly is constitutionally required to intervene where the declaration has not been transmitted.
This distinction is important. The constitutional wording concerning vacation is express and should not be diluted.
There remains, however, a separate question worth examining in an age of digital governance: does being outside Nigeria, in itself, render a President incapable of performing presidential functions?
THE NATIONAL PATRIOTS POSITION
The National Patriots believes the Constitution must remain paramount. Where Section 145(1) expressly prescribes a procedure for a President proceeding on vacation, technological advancement cannot substitute for constitutional compliance.
At the same time, Nigeria’s digital transformation has fundamentally changed the practical meaning of physical absence from the seat of government.
Before her retirement in August 2026, former Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Didi Esther Walson-Jack, confirmed the completion of the Federal Civil Service’s transition from paper-based administration to digital operations.
As Walson-Jack stated at the International Civil Service Conference in May 2026:
«“All 38 Federal Ministries and Extra-Ministerial Departments have now achieved fully digital and paperless operations.”
— Didi Esther Walson-Jack, former Head of the Civil Service of the Federation»
She explained that the transformation included the Enterprise Content Management system and other digital platforms enabling official communications, documents and workflows to be processed electronically across government.
By June 2026, Walson-Jack reported that the public service had more than 115,000 active GovMail accounts, providing secure and traceable official government communications.
The significance is considerable. Nigeria is no longer operating a Federal Government in which files must physically travel from desk to desk before decisions can be taken.
A President thousands of kilometres from Abuja can therefore remain in secure communication with the Vice-President, ministers, service chiefs and senior officials; receive intelligence and policy briefings; examine documents; participate in virtual meetings; issue lawful directives and supervise government business.
This technological reality does not nullify Section 145(1). It establishes something different: physical absence and functional incapacity are no longer necessarily the same thing.
Modern heads of government routinely travel internationally while continuing to exercise executive authority. Nigeria must follow its own Constitution, but international experience reinforces the distinction between a leader’s geographical location and his practical ability to govern.
The National Patriots therefore believes that two propositions can comfortably coexist: the express requirements of Section 145 should be respected, and Nigeria should recognise that modern digital governance has substantially weakened the old assumption that effective presidential authority depends upon physical presence in Abuja.
The Constitution remains supreme. Technology cannot override it. But technology has transformed the circumstances in which constitutional government now operates.
Constitutional compliance and digital governance are not competing principles. Nigeria should insist upon the first while embracing the possibilities created by the second.
Princess Gloria Adebajo-Fraser MFR
The National Patriots
