Don’t Give Approval to Appointment of New Permanent Secretaries, Group Urges Buhari

Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

The Northern Emancipation Network (NEN) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to withhold approval on the appointment of new permanent secretaries over what it described as non-compliance with the federal character principles in federal civil service.

It, therefore, called on the president to order the recall and comprehensive review of the entire exercise by an independent panel to ensure fairness for all.

The Convener of the group, Suleiman Abbah, stated this while addressing a press conference yesterday in Abuja.

The group recalled that the process was initiated by the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation via a circular number: HCSF/CMO/154/VOL1/5, dated November 24, 2021, and signed by Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan, the head of the Civil Service of the Federation.

It said the letter was meant to kick-start a chain of processes for the appointment of permanent secretaries to fill existing vacancies, adding that the specified states where the vacancies existed were Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Benue, Cross River, Jigawa, Sokoto and Taraba.

The group stressed that key among the specified requirements as stated in the circular was that interested persons must come from the states listed above and must be the rank of substantive directors on salary grade level 17 as at  January 1, 2020.

It further explained that the notice explicitly stated that the process would involve the three stages, including written examination, ICT proficiency test, and interactive session with a panel of experts and practitioners.

The group observed that consequent upon the said circular, about 74 candidates, including applicants for the post of Solicitor-General of the Federation, presented themselves and sat for the written examination conducted on February 21, 2022.

It noted: “A certified document from the office of the Head of Service showed the score grades for all the 74 candidates with the highest point at 74.00 scored by the officer with civil service number: FCS/PSE/02/2022/020.

“According to that result sheet, 37 of the 74 officers could not make it, while 37 officers that were successful were subsequently invited to the next level of the process being the ICT proficiency test on February 22, 2022.”

The group stressed that at the end of the ICT proficiency test, 11 people were listed as having qualified for the final stage, and were invited to an oral interview/interactive session, which was held on February 28, 2022.

It, however, expressed worry that the outcome of the interactive session appeared to be nothing short of a warped exercise and an insult to the federal civil service and the collective sensibilities of Nigerians generally.

According to the group, “We note that in the outcome, the officers with the highest grades in the written examination which is the most important segment and who also made it through the ICT proficiency test, the next most important level, were purported to have failed the oral interaction without specifying the standards adopted.”

Against this background, the group said: “Consequently, we call on the president to withhold the approval of the list of new appointments, order the recall and comprehensive review of the entire exercise by an independent panel to ensure fairness for all.”

The network said it was important to point out that merit ought to be the overriding consideration in the appointment of the new permanent secretaries rather than the connections of the candidates to those in power, as in the present case for the four  appointments announced so far in the exercise.