Subordinating civil service to partisan political events

The shutdown was announced through a circular signed by Mr Tope Ajakaiye, a permanent secretary in the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation.The use of the site for the party event at which President Goodluck Jonathan was in attendance, dictated that security arrangements had to be at optimal levels, severely […]

The shutdown was announced through a circular signed by Mr Tope Ajakaiye, a permanent secretary in the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation.
The use of the site for the party event at which President Goodluck Jonathan was in attendance, dictated that security arrangements had to be at optimal levels, severely constraining access even by those who have offices in the vicinity.
This consideration demanded the clearance of all structures around the Eagle Square, which is situated at the epicentre of the Federal Secretariat complex, the hub of the federal bureaucracy. Affected structures included all the phases of the secretariat complex as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building and far-flung establishments such as the National Assembly and the Supreme Court.
This naturally disrupted routine operations in easily the most strategic activity of government business.  The resulting traffic gridlock caused by the convention proper paralysed routine businesses in the rest of the Central Area, up to a radius of five kilometres.
This development is a most brazen display of abuse of office for political expediency without considering the impact on the general public that had no business being at the event but had legitimate business to conduct at the Federal Secretarial and, from all indications, have no remediation measures for the most adversely affected. The government is yet to issue an apology for the inappropriate holiday it forced on workers at the Federal Secretariat. It is incredible that the government would allow, even approve of, its civil service activities to be shut down for an entire 48 hours, and not feel any compunction to explain it to the nation.
The administration may be controlled by a political party; but federal civil servants are not the employees of the party. The activities of the party should by no means encroach on the conduct of the civil service.
At any point in time, there are visitors, ranging from the ordinary to very important, from all over the country and around the world who seek one public service or the other. For the foreign affairs ministry, for instance, a shutdown of this nature would ordinarily have been unthinkable, given the real time linkage that it needs to maintain contacts with the rest of the world.  It is not likely that Mr Ajakaiye and his colleagues, who ordered the shutdown of the Eagle Square and, by extension the federal government bureaucracy, subjected their action to rigorous debate before deciding on it.
According to the Abuja master plan, the location of the Eagle Square was intended for a train station within the light rail network for the city, for the purpose of servicing the offices located there. Even with the distortion of the master plan and the location of the Eagle Square on its site, its contiguity with the federal secretariat and the National Cenotaph indicate that it had never been intended to serve any purpose other than hosting highly exclusive public functions, not party conventions that normally attract multitudes.
The Eagle Square should not now be converted to hosting events that clearly fall outside its original purpose. There are other venues such as the sports arena located at Area 10 or the National Stadium that offer even more conducive environment for hosting such events as political party rallies. These should henceforth be considered in future.