Search begins for new Head of Service

[TGD]

TWO critical vacancies - Head of the Service of the Federation (HoSF) and Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC) - have emerged in the top echelon of the public sector. And President Goodluck Jonathan may use his time in New York, United States (U.S.) this week to take a decision on at least one of them.

The incumbent HoSF, Prof. Oladapo Afolabi, will retire from the public service next week Tuesday, when he will clock 35 years in the pubic service.

Also, the current chairman, Alhaji Ahmed Al-Gazali, will bow out of office in November after 10 years of two terms in the position. Afolabi hails from the South-West geo-political zone while Al-Gazali is from the North-East enclave.

The Guardian learnt at the weekend that Jonathan, who had taken a decision that favoured the politicians when he appointed the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator Anyim Pius Anyim and the Chief of Staff (CoS), Chief Mike Oghiadomhe, is poised to name two top bureaucrats to fill the impending vacancies.

There is still a raging debate on the appointment of the SGF within the context of the constitution and the norm. Sections 169 -171 of the 1999 Constitution deal with intricacies of top appointments into the public service of the federation, including the offices of the SGF and HoSF, which fall within that ambit. The current debate has been on the expediency of the appointment of a top politician as SGF.              .

Part of the debate has been the implications of appointing two politicians who did not retire as top bureaucrats as SGF and CoS.      But the case of the HoS is slightly different as section 171 (3) of the Constitution specifies qualifications for that office:                .

An appointment to the office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation shall not be made except from among permanent secretaries or equivalent rank in the civil service of the federation or of a state.            .

It was learnt that "President Jonathan is quite conscious of the deficit in the earlier appointments and the two vacancies have produced an opportunity for him to get two top bureaucrats, one retired and one serving to be appointed as HoS and Chairman of the FCSC."                 .

A Presidency source, who responded to inquiries on the issue, said: "The retiring HoS and even the SGF can make their recommendations but the decision to appoint lies solely with the President, who is not bound by any recommendations from any quarters. But because of our delicate balancing that has to be done for equity in the system, two geo-political zones, the North East and South West are likely to produce the new occupants of the affected offices.

"The President is aware that the public service needs a solid bureaucratic platform to drive his transformation agenda...what is more, the President Jonathan is sufficiently aware that in recent years, the two offices, HoS and the FCSC - have attracted criticisms bordering on integrity challenges from public servants and public sector analysts..."

Stephen Oronsaye's tenure as Head of Service was marked by war of attrition between his office and that of the Chairman of the FCSC on so many issues that affect the career of the civil servants and integrity in the promotion examinations, among others.

The late President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua had to intervene in the feud between the two officers by setting up the Asiodu Committee to look into the root of the fight and make recommendations on the way forward.             .

The panel had recommended, among others, the pre-civil service commission examination training by the Office of the Head of Service to present eligible candidates for the directorate cadres in the service.

There have been widespread allegations that money often changes hands in the examinations, a development that Al-Gazali had vehemently denied.

Besides, The Guardian also confirmed that the President got insight into the rot in the public service echelon recently when the Adamu Fika Committee on Public Service Reforms that is still sitting, submitted an interim report.

About six weeks ago when it submitted the interim report to Jonathan in the presence of the Afolabi and Al-Gazali, the Chairman of the Committee, Fika, a retired Head of Service and SGF, was said to have told the President that the challenge in the offices of the Head of Service and the FCSC "bordered on integrity in the two offices..."                .

It was learnt that the President, who was impressed with the Fika report, extended its tenure by six months to enable it conclude the task, a decision Afolabi and Al-Gazali faulted.

It was learnt that Afolabi has selected two permanent secretaries from each of the six geo-political zones and one extra to compete for the HoSF job to enable him do a shortlist for presentation to the President.



The Guardian