The 15 new permanent secretaries approved by President Umaru Yar’Adua on October 26 last year, will now be sworn in by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Aloysius Katsina-Alu.

The new appointees will replace the 10 who were retired earlier in accordance with the new service tenure policy which stipulates that a permanent secretary and director in a federal ministry can only hold the office for a maximum of eight years – two terms of four years each.

New policy kicks off

Following the new policy, the tenure of those retired expired on December 31, last year and new ones were supposed to be sworn in and assigned offices with effect from January 1, this year. However, neither the swearing-in nor the postings were done, leading to speculations that the absence of President Umaru Yar’Adua might have been responsible.

But the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Stephen Oronsaye, said the absence of the president is not the reason the swearing-in and subsequent posting of the newly appointed permanent secretaries had not taken place. In a statement yesterday, Mr. Oronsaye rather blamed the delay on bureaucracy.

The head of service confirmed that the appointment of the new permanent secretaries took effect from January 1, in line with the date for the take-off of the new policy on tenure for permanent secretaries and directors in the Federal Civil Service, but he said “arrangements are being made to swear-in the newly appointed Permanent Secretaries in accordance with the Provision of the Oaths Act.”

Bureaucratic delays

Tope Ajakaiye, the spokesperson of the office of the head of service, in a statement, said the delay in the swearing-in of the officers was caused by the usual civil service bureaucratic problems which has more to do with the absence of the head of service than that of the president.

He said arrangements are being made for the chief justice to swear in the permanent secretaries. He told NEXT in an interview that, “If the Chief Justice of Nigeria can be sworn in (in the absence of President Yar’Adua), who is a permanent Secretary?” When asked who will do the posting of the officials after they have been sworn in by the chief justice, he said that has nothing to do with the president and that the head of service can do it. “The Head of Service is their boss,” Mr. Ajakaiye said.

According to the Oaths Act 2004, permanent secretaries can be sworn-in by either the president or the Chief Justice.

However, the power to assign them to ministries rests squarely with the President. A senior government source said Vice President Goodluck Jonathan is not willing to approve such a sensitive matter without Yar’Adua’s approval.

Something will give

But a former permanent secretary, John Odigie Oyegun has picked holes in the decision to ask the chief justice to swear them in, in the absence of the president. He asked, “Why can’t they wait for the president? The rumour is that he may be back this week, so they might as well wait.”

Mr. Oyegun who is a former governor of Edo State, linked the whole matter to the lack of direction in the country due to the absence of the president, saying, “This is a season of very strange happenings; lots of unusual things are happening. It is clear that times are totally out of joint and my prediction is that sooner than later something is bound to give; things cannot continue like this.”

He added that in the interim, the permanent secretaries could be posted in an acting capacities pending the return of the president, “or is he (head of service) becoming the president or acting for the president? This is an unusual time in an unusual country; we hope things will settle down soon.”

He said the head of service cannot do any postings without consultation with the president, “In normal times, it is the president that is going to use them to achieve his objectives but of course he will ask for the advice of the head of service. But like I said, these are unusual times in this country.”

A former director in the Ministry of Defence and retired ambassador, Pius Omotayo, however said there was nothing wrong if the permanent secretaries were sworn in by the Chief Justice of the Federation.

“I think the Chief Justice of the federation is the chief law officer and when you are talking about swearing in, it is not just an argumentative matter it is also a legal matter,” he said. “So, it is proper for the chief justice to swear them in.”

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