[size=18pt]Zoning Tension As President Appoints New Head Of Service Tomorrow[/size]

Sunday, 14 November 2010 00:00 From Martins Oloja Abuja Bureau Chief News - National

3 Southerners, 3 Northerners Shortlisted



POLITICS of zoning, which has permeated the presidential system in the country, has effectively crept into the federal bureaucracy at the weekend, as President Goodluck has had to approve a new Head of Service of the Federation (HOS).

The tenure of incumbent HOS, Mr. Stephen Oronsaye, ends tomorrow when he turns 60 and the president will choose a replacement from a long list of candidates from the North and the South who are jostling for the top spot in Nigeria’s public service.

However, the president can extend Oronsaye’s tenure till December or May next year, to meet some political exigency in the presidency, as was done in the case of the Comptroller-General of Immigration recently before a replacement was named.

But that appeared unlikely in Oronsaye’s case last night. The chartered accountant-turned civil servant will tomorrow morning attend a morning mass in his church, receive a few friends and colleagues in his house in Abuja and return to the office to clear his table and say good bye to his staff and colleagues!

Meanwhile, the president that would have decided at the weekend is expected to announce a successor to Oronsaye from a list of six shortlisted permanent secretaries.
The Head of Service and some unofficial sources recommended some of the nominees.
The Guardian gathered from the presidency that politics of zoning would shape the choice of the new HOS.

The Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission, Alhaji Ahmed Al-Gazali is from Borno, Northeast while the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Alhaji Mahmud Yayale Ahmed hails from Bauchi, Northeast.

“This will determine where the new Head of Service will come from,” said a presidency source yesterday.


It has been confirmed that three candidates from the three geopolitical zones in the South are in contention for the HOS job.

They are Professor Oladapo Afolabi, permanent secretary, Education (Oyo, Southwest) who was reportedly in contention when Oronsaye was preferred 17 months ago; Mrs. Elizabeth B.P Emuren, permanent secretary, Mines and Steel (Akwa Ibom, South-South) and Dr. D.B Ibe, permanent secretary, Economic Affairs (Imo State, Southeast).

Similarly, three contenders have emerged from the three geopolitical zones in the North. The shortlist includes Dr. Tukur Bello Ngawa permanent secretary, Ministry of Works (Katsina, Northwest); Alhaji Isa Sali, permanent secretary, Ministry of Power (Adamawa, Northeast) and Mr. S.B Ozigis, permanent secretary, Ministry of Interior (Kogi, North Central).

The Guardian gathered from one of the president’s men that the standing of Yayale Ahmed will be tested by this presidential dilemma: whether to tilt the balance of federal bureaucracy power in favour of the North or South.

The source said: “If the president wakes up tomorrow afternoon and announces a new Head of Service of northern extraction, the SGF’s office will have to be affected.

“The SGF and the two top positions in the Human Resources Management (HRM) Office of the federal bureaucracy, the Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, created by the 1999 Constitution cannot come from a section of the country.”

In the same vein, the source said, “if the president decides to give the top job to a southerner, it means Alhaji Yayale Ahmed will survive till May 2010 or beyond.”

But another aide said the president was quite concerned about “credibility and courage of a successor to Oronsaye. He (the president) wants stability, too, as the mortality rate of federal officers has been so high since the Yar’Adua/ Jonathanadministration came on board.”

Meanwhile, the president is also said to have approved postings for permanent secretaries, which may be announced tomorrow as a new Head of Service is named.
The postings come as consequential vacancies that exist from the position where the new Head of Service emerges.

There are five vacancies to be filled through the normal examination system instituted by the Office of the Head of Service. The vacancies result from retirement of permanent secretaries from five states even as some have up to December this year to retire. The states affected are Enugu, Ondo, Jigawa, Kebbi and Gombe.

Dr. Goke Adegoroye (Ondo State) retired on 26 August this year as Permanent Secretary, Federal Capital Territory. Dr. Yahaya A. Abdullahi, permanent secretary, Niger Delta Ministry (Kebbi) is retiring in two weeks’ time. Alhaji S.D Kassim, permanent secretary, General Services Office (GSO) (Gombe) is retiring next month.

The president is reportedly troubled by instability in the polity, as a result of high turnover of permanent secretaries and Head of Service, the heart of the federal bureaucracy.
Said a top officer in the office of the president: “Since May 2007, when the Yar’Adua administration was sworn in, we have had too many Heads of Service and too many Permanent Secretaries. This week, we will be witnessing the swearing in of the fourth Head of Service after the retirement of Yayale Ahmed.

“They are Ebele Okeke, who was succeeded by Ms Ama Pepple, who spent exactly one year; Mr. Stephen Oronsaye will be leaving and a new one may emerge on Monday. That will be the fifth.

The presidential aide continued: “Even the political heads are unstable, as the Cabinet has witnessed too many disruptions in the last three and half years. The president is quite concerned about the absence of institutional memories in both the political and bureaucratic heads of the ministries, departments and agencies, (MDAs), the Finance Minister reportedly blamed last week for poor implementation of the 2010 budget.


http://www.guardiannewsngr.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=29166:zoning-tension-as-president-appoints-new-head-of-service-tomorrow&catid=1:national&Itemid=559

Give it to the best man. . . or woman!

EzeUche0:

Give it to the best man. . . or woman!

Thanks

may the most qualified get it