SOS to PMB on selection examination for permanent secretaries

By Kawu Rufai Ahmed

 

 

The Office of the Head of Service of the Federation (OHCSF) has again set in motion its plan to conduct selection examination for all eligible directors from states of the federation where vacancies have occurred consequent upon the retirement or imminent retirement of the Permanent Secretaries representing those states regardless of the seniority of the concerned directors. This planned assessment examination which disregards the seniority and experience of serving directors is in violation of the extant Public Service Rules, and a contradiction of what your administration did in 2015 when you selected the most senior directors from the states to fill the vacant positions of Permanent Secretaries.

The main problem of this examination process instated by the OHCSF is the lumping of all directors in the selection field for the appointment of Perm. Secs with no regard for seniority in the service. Why should Directors who attained their position in 2013 for instance be subjected to the ridiculous process of sitting for Perm. Sec examination with Directors of 2019?  This is unjust, and this kind of system only exists in our country’s Federal Civil Service, which painfully has been resistant to change and innovation. No other systems in our country’s Public Service disregards seniority like the Federal Civil Service.

The history of this so-called selection examination for Permanent Secretaries is replete with fraud and all sorts of malpractices. There were reports of candidates contracting loans from banks to induce the examiners and relevant officials to the tune of several millions.  In a particular year before the emergence of your administration, the “highest bidders” among the candidates paid between N50m and N100m to be shortlisted for appointment. The commercialization of the appointment became the norm rather than an exception.

When you appointed Perm. Secs in 2015, which was based on seniority, experience and competence among other criteria, it was a great relief to the system because that approach prevented the use of illicit inducement. The 2015 selection approach brought order and sanity for the first time in several years because those appointed were competent and also the most senior directors from their states of origin in the service. With that well-thought-out approach, seniority became an important factor in the appointment of Perm. Secs.  That approach which was to originate a reformatory order that could percolate to other levels in the service, was unfortunately, short-lived because during the period of the president’s medical leave abroad in 2017, the OHCSF obtained approval from the then Acting President Yemi Osinbajo for the restoration of the selection examination. And since that time, subsequent appointment had been based on some bogus selection examination. In actual fact, the conduct of examination is a hoax meant to legitimize a corrupt system of selection. Those who became Perm Secs through that devious system were those who succeeded in getting the support of prominent political figures, businessmen who bankrolled their appointment, or were themselves able to raise huge funds to pay for their own appointment.

The 2015 approach, which emphasizes seniority, experience, and competence as qualifying factors for the appointment is neater and preferable. The 2015 approach made the most senior director from a given state with proven good record of performance the most probable occupant of that state’s slot for Perm. Sec in the Federal Civil Service while other junior directors from that state would wait for their time. The president’s pro-seniority approach promoted institutional credibility and integrity because the chain of command was not corrupted; seniority was respected and the morale of serving officers was boosted as serving officers had renewed confidence that their attainment of the highest position in the country’s Civil Service would not require illicit influence from extra–service forces. The use of money and influence peddling had no place in that approach and corruption began to lose its grip on the service.

If Perm. Secs are appointed on the basis of being the most senior serving directors from the states represented in the federal service without paying a farthing as bribes, or seeking godfathers’ assistance, they would not be under any pressure to recoup benefactors’ funding support since they don’t have anybody to pay back any sums to.

Why directors who had acquired relevant experiences on the job are considered unsuitable for appointment as Perm. Secs until they are subjected to written and oral tests which do not have any bearing on the job description of a permanent secretary is unclear. The current selection system is not for any possible prospects of selecting the best candidates for appointment but to influence the appointment of some favoured junior directors. In any case, the best can never emerge from a terribly compromised process like the subsisting system.

By your decision of November 2015 when you appointed the most senior directors as permanent secretaries, you clearly demonstrated good understanding of the problems of the Federal Civil Service. You stopped the examination process in order to put an end to the falsehood masquerading as competitive selection examination.  As the number one public servant in our country, stopping this planned spooky and corruption-prone selection examination will have tremendous positive impact on the morale of officers in the Federal Civil Service. The erosion of seniority which has become an instrument of oppression of the highly experienced officers by the OHCSF has been creating incipient structures for the entrenchment of corruption.

Let the most senior directors be assessed for appointment as permanent secretaries to fill the vacant slots of their states in the Federal Civil Service as you did in 2015.  If any senior director has issues, the next senior director from that state could be considered as was done in 2015. Using that approach, change would be evident and there will be several beneficial consequences including the creation of the right atmospherics for repositioning the service for improved productivity.

We want an end to the reckless imposition of juniors on their seniors through some kangaroo selection examination that has been leading to the appointment of junior directors as permanent secretaries, thereby dampening the enthusiasms and morale of senior directors. We want the president to stop this charade of a process which is killing the service and making the Nigerian Civil Service look like one governed by money, corrupt influences, and not by rules.

• Ahmed writes on behalf of concerned officers in the Federal Civil Service.