• How
stability, integrity factors may shape decision
• The
four front runners, their chances
• How
religion, ethnicity may affect selection
PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan who
is apparently still smarting from global scathing criticisms of a recent
presidential pardon for some yesteryears’ men will face another litmus test
this week when he has to appoint a new head of the federal bureaucracy as the
office will be vacant this weekend.
The Office of the Head of the
Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF) will be vacant on March 23 when Alhaji
Isa Bello Sali, the current holder of the office, will retire from service as
he clocks 60 that day. So, a successor has to emerge before or on Friday this
week.
Abuja State House insiders
confided in us at the weekend that two critical factors – stability of the
service and integrity of the candidates - will feature prominently in the mix
of the issues that will shape the presidential decision this week.
In fact, there are indications
that the President will at the Federal Executive Council (FEC) Wednesday bid
the outgoing Head of Service farewell. By permission of the President, the Head
of Service, the Chief of Staff, Principal Secretary to the President, and
Permanent Secretary, State House, will attend the weekly cabinet meeting.
Although four front-runners, all
from the North-East zone, have emerged from the rank of permanent secretaries,
ethnicity and religion too are said to be critical factors that will definitely
play some parts in the selection that has seen two candidates from Yobe-Borno
axis as strong contenders. The two others are from Taraba and Bauchi states.
The candidates are Bukar Goni Aji from Yobe State, Sheikh Goni Musa from Borno State,
Umar Faruk Baba from Bauchi State and Danladi Kifasi from Taraba State.
Again, like a recurrent decimal,
the issue of instability in the polity and the bureaucracy is said to be at the
core of what may ultimately sway the President in the choice of the successor
to Alhaji Sali. The ‘mortality rate’ of the head of service has been too high
and it is said to be fuelling succession crisis of its own in the
bureaucracy. The same goes for the permanent secretary’s cadre where they
(permanent secretaries) too are moved so regularly at the whims and caprices of
the unstable Head of Service.
The President himself lamented
about the spate of instability in the polity on May 28, 2011 at his
pre-inauguration lecture addressed by Prof. Ladipo Adamolekun who coined the
word “transformation agenda” for the administration. The title of the lecture
was “a transformation agenda for accelerated national development.”
Jonathan had in his remarks in
response to Adamolekun’s lecture noted that a four-year tenure was too short
for a President and governors to make significant impact just as he contended
that for Nigeria to transform rapidly within the next four years, there was the
need for a well-developed national planning. Besides, he stated that there was
the need to stabilise the polity and reduce the frequent reshuffling of the
cabinet.
His words: “I will not talk about
the tenure of the government, the constitution has said four years, though some
believe that four years is too short to make any change, which I also believe.
I believe because if you are a new person and you are elected as a governor
today, it will take one to one and half years for you to really stabilise. And
you also know that some members of your cabinet are not good and that is why in
most cases, after one year or two, Mr. President reshuffles the cabinet and by
the time you want to go for another two and half years, it is another election
and you are all busy about winning election. That is a constitutional problem.”
Available records with The Guardian
have shown that the spectre of instability is again staring the office of the
Head of the Civil Service of the Federation in the face as one of the top
candidates, Bukar Goni Aji, if endorsed, may retire on January 18, 2014 after
just nine months when he will clock 35 years in service.
According to his service records
earlier encrypted, he enlisted in the service on January 18, 1979, although
there were some other records being peddled that he was employed on August 18,
1979. The encrypted record of service in the possession of The Guardian shows
January 18, 1979. If that (August 18, 1979) is the acceptable date, he will
retire in August 2014 after 17 months.
Discrepancies in the records of
service have been so common in the service, especially at the directorate
cadre. At a time under Ama Pepple as Head of Service, one permanent secretary
who had been director-general/permanent secretary for about 15 years (names
withheld) had to be advised to just retire when the Office of the then Head of
Service was tired of the confusion in his records as 1973 and 1977 claimed as
dates of first appointment became too complicated. Alhaji Goni Aji is, however,
quite senior as he was appointed permanent secretary on October 15, 2008.
Insiders told The Guardian at the weekend that the Yobe-born Goni is the
‘anointed’ candidate. He is the outgoing Head of Service’s choice and he is
number one on the list of nominees. The other candidate is Sheikh Goni Musa, a
mining engineer from Borno State. If he is preferred, he will serve for about
two years and four months as he is expected to retire on July 14, 2015 when he
will clock 35 years in service. He is in the Ecological Fund Office at the
moment.
The third candidate is Baba Umar
Faruk from Bauchi who will stay longer in service if he is the preferred
candidate. He will serve for about four years. He will retire on May 25, 2017
as he was born on May 25, 1957. He was appointed permanent secretary the same
day with Goni Musa but will be 60 years old in 2017. He will be 60 before clocking
35 years in service in August of the same year. Faruk’s first appointment was
August 31, 1982 and he became director on October 1, 1995. He holds B.A. and
M.A. In Nigeria’s public service, you retire either when you clock 35 years in
service or you are 60 years old; whichever one comes first is applicable.
Mr. Danladi Kifasi is another
strong contender from Taraba State. But the ‘trouble’ with his candidature is
his Christianity. He is a ‘minority’ within a minority in the North-East
as Christians are often called, although Christians are not minority in
Taraba-Adamawa axis where he hails from. The ‘majority’ within the minority
candidates are already crying ‘foul’ about the entry of Kifasi who is a
chartered accountant and a lawyer. The ‘power brokers’ in the
North (East) are already saying that since the Secretary to the Government, the
Chief of Staff and the Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission are
Christians, they feel that the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation
should be a Muslim from the North. But coincidentally, the President had
reportedly questioned why Christians from the North hardly feature in federal
nominations and appointments. In 2010 when the issue of pegged tenure for
permanent secretaries and directors came into effect, of the nine permanent
secretaries that were affected from the North, only one is a Christian: Solomon
Matankari from Sokoto State. In his early days in the service even as sole
administrator of the then NITEL, he was Suleiman Matankari (for political
correctness to beat the minority syndrome then). Kifasi was born on January 1,
1956. He enlisted in the service on October 17, 1990. By this development, if
he is preferred, he will have up to three years as Head of Service.
However, inquiries revealed at
the weekend that the idea of having the Secretary to the Government of the
Federation, Head of Service, and the Chairman Federal Civil Service Commission
and even the Principal Secretary, State House Permanent Secretary from one
region and one religion is not new to the current dispensation. In fact,
President Jonathan’s predecessor in office, the late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua
appointed Alhaji Babagana Kingibe (Borno) as Secretary to the Government when
Alhaji Mahmud Yayale Ahmed (Bauchi) was still Head of Service. At that time
too, Alhaji Ahmed Al-Gazali (Borno) was the Chairman Federal Civil Service
Commission. All the three officers then were from the North-East Zone and they
are all Muslims. Besides, at that time, Dr. Baba Kaigama (Borno) was Permanent
Secretary, State House. He replaced Mr. Steve Oronsaye who was moved then to
the Finance Ministry as Permanent Secretary. That was the structure under
Yar’Adua.
The Guardian was told last night
that “the issue of instability that has also eaten deep into the fabric of the
polity” is an issue that may determine how the President will choose the new
head of the federal bureaucracy this week. This is the way a top insider
rationalises the issue of instability and integrity of the process within the
context of what he said at his pre-inauguration lecture: “Look, the issue of
instability is a critical factor now. There has always been pressure on the
President to change his cabinet. But look at the federal bureaucracy. There has
been so much instability too. The way the permanent secretaries are posted at
will is worrisome.
“Take the Federal Capital
Territory (FCT) for instance, the current minister, Senator Bala Mohammed,
joined the cabinet in April 2010, a third permanent secretary just retired
under him. Senator Bala inherited one Dr. Goke Adegoroye who was succeeded by
another Dr. Biodun Olorunfemi, who was succeeded recently by Mr. Anthony
Ozodinobi who retired early this month (March 6, 2013.) This is less than three
years as a minister. The Interior Ministry is worse. It is the same
everywhere…This development is now fingered as part of corruption issue that is
worrisome to the Presidency and the ruling party…So, the stability factor will
feature prominently in the politics that will shape the President’s decision
this week unless other factors override this…”
This is a breakdown of the tenure
of recent Head of Service:
• Alhaji Mahmud Yayale Ahmed -
December 2000 - July 2007 (six years seven months)
• Ebele Okeke – July 2007 – June
2008 (11 months)
• Ama Pepple – June 2008 -
June 2009 (on her birthday (16) 12 months)
• Steve Oronsaye - June 2009 –
November 2010 (17 months)
• Prof. Oladapo Afolabi –
November 2010 – September 2011 (10 months)
• Alhaji Isa Bello Sali –
November 2011 – March 2013 (16 months.
As another concerned elder that
retired from the federal service who is close to the presidents’ men put it
last night: “It is now clear that the issue of the pensions scam that has
tainted government would have been averted but for instability in the office of
the Head of Service. This is the origin: As Head of Service Steve Oronsaye was
concerned about the pensions scam and his successors’ inability to solve the
problem, he invited Maina from another agency managing pensions to assist in
re-organising the Pensions Office in the Head of Service Office.
“As a chartered accountant, Steve
saw the ancient loopholes and called in Maina from Customs, Immigration and
Prisons Pensions Office (CIPPO) where Maina now declared wanted, had done so
well. And quickly, the place was normalised and Steve had publicly declared
that he had burst the criminality and corruption in the place and reduced the
amount needed for the old pensions scheme…
“In other words, the pensions
scam that has now engulfed the nation was perpetrated after Steve retired. If
Steve had stayed longer, the mess would have been either averted or limited. He
knew why he set up the task force, named Presidential Task Force after he
(Steve) left office. These evil deeds in pensions fund escalated after Steve
retired and others took over from him. What is happening in the federal
pensions office is a direct result of instability in the office of the Head of
Service…”
The Guardian was told by another
insider that indeed after Oronsaye retired, he had to call his successor and
angrily drew his (successor’s) attention to some of the reverses that the
reform of the pensions process had suffered after he left and the development
was said to have caused some friction that was later settled. A number of
former permanent secretaries who were sufficiently knowledgeable about this
development then confirmed it to The Guardian at the weekend.
Despite the concern raised here
by the presidents’ men, another operative and insider confided in The Guardian
last night: “Please, do not be too optimistic about the nature of concerns
raised about instability in the federal bureaucracy. Considering the
intricacies of what goes into lobbying process in Nigeria, including big money,
the highest bidder may still clinch the top job. This did not begin yesterday.
But you people in the media have not been vigilant in your due diligence and
intelligence gathering…It does not matter how many months. After all in Lagos
State, some judges have retired after only one month in office. The important
thing is to assist somebody to become former this and former that. Public
interest here and integrity may be the first casualty, after all. This is
Nigeria, a land of anything-is-possible…”
Source: Guardian
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