Tenure elongation: An open letter to President Tinubu

Since independence, the Federal Public Service has produced the finest and worldwide acclaimed professionals and technocrats who have…

Since independence, the Federal Public Service has produced the finest and worldwide acclaimed professionals and technocrats who have in unquantifiable ways contributed to the development of this country. 

In spite of its imperfection as a human organisation, the inevitability of the existence of public service is such that it is guaranteed by Section 169 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) and consequentially, no government can function without the Public Service, which is the main machinery of executing government policies, programmes or law and order.

Over the years under both the military and civilian dispensations, the Public Service had faced existential threats namely, the 1975 purges under Murtala/Obasanjo military government, the General Ibrahim Babangida’s Decree No 43 of 1988 otherwise known as the   Dotun Philips Reforms that abolished the post of Permanent Secretary and the President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s 2009 reforms against stagnation that imposes compulsory retirement from service after putting a maximum of eight years on the post as permanent secretary or on a substantive post of a director! Arising from its resilience, the Public Service has withered through the storm and come out stronger.

However, the most profound negative signature achievement of the Buhari administration on the Federal Public Service is the practice of tenure elongation.  

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The term tenure elongation is unheard of until the advent of the current 4th Republic in May 1999. It is a very vague concept as it connotes different meanings to different groups of people.

To politicians, it refers to the prolongation of tenure beyond the legitimate two-term limit (of eight years) stipulated in our constitution for the president or a governor. 

To a career public servant, it is a dreaded term which refers to the extension of the period of service (at the pleasure of the president or a governor of a permanent secretary of a ministry or the chief executive of a parastatal or head of extra ministerial department beyond his or her mandatory retirement from the public service. 

Until the advent of the Buhari government, tenure elongation for career officers was unheard of in the parlance of public service. It is therefore pertinent to highlight some grey areas. That all career appointments from junior cadres to directorate cadres (GL 01 – 17) into the public service are in accordance with the Public Service Rules (PSR), regulations and other extant rules as approved by the authority of the Federal Civil Service Commission or exercised on its behalf.

Consequently, any career appointment must terminate on reaching the maximum of 35 years of service or on reaching 60 years of age, whichever comes first. In accordance with item Rule No. 020810 (i) and (ii) of the Public Service Rules (PSR) (2008), “The compulsory retirement age for all grades in the service shall be 60 years or 35 years in pensionable service, whichever is earlier. No officer shall be allowed to remain in service after attaining the retirement age of 60 years or 35 years of pensionable service, whichever is earlier.”

However, on the other hand, the power to appoint career officers into the top leadership positions in ministries, extra-ministerial departments, parastatals is vested in the president in consultation with the Federal Public Service Commission as per the provisions of Section 171, Subsection 2(d) of the 1999 Federal Constitution of Nigeria (as amended).

The rationale behind this provision is to prevent the politicisation of the public service and guarantee its neutrality and at the same time engendering its loyalty and commitment to the policies of the government of the day.  It is also pertinent to further highlight that as part of the ethics of the public service that strives to maintain its neutrality and its esprit de corps, is its insistence on a tradition of avoiding the creation of an unjustified or unmerited precedence that could spur tensions and petitions from aggrieved officers.

The foregoing being highlighted, it is very apparent that there was no justification in 2016 for the government to flagrantly compromise the laid down rules by resorting to elongating the period of some retiring permanent secretaries or chief executives on reaching 35 years of service or 60 years of age, other than for self-serving interests and sentiments!

Two controversial beneficiaries of tenure elongation came to the fore! The then suspended Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), Alhaji Ahmed Idris, and Mr. Boboye Oyeyemi, the Corps Marshal of the Federal Roads Safety Corps (FRSC). The tenure of the Comptroller General of Nigeria Immigration Service, one Isa Idris Jere, was also elongated for the second time against the backdrop of cries and petitions.

Even the military and the police were not spared of the tenure elongation syndrome.

Any concerned citizen could not easily fail to observe the adverse effects generated by tenure elongation on the public service, which are not far-fetched! It is an injustice to the public service as it jettisoned the hierarchical seniority principle; thereby compromising the enforcement of discipline in the service.

It creates stagnation and stifles career progression of the rank and file in the public service; It kills morale of career officers and by implications dampens initiative, generation of positive ideas and productivity;

It entrenches politicisation of the public service, as the beneficiaries would be too willing to compromise the ethical code of conduct of the public service and thus dance to the tune of their godfathers. 

It entrenches corruption or corrupt tendencies as it gives a licence to the beneficiaries to outrightly engage in criminal activities such as budget padding or fake virement of funds to guarantee himself/herself a ‘safe landing’;

The debasement of the ethics and the ethos of public service built over the years.

Mr President needs a reinvigorated, reinvented vibrant machinery of government that would fast-track the attainment of his objectives bereft of the usual red tape and all the self-serving tendencies.

Consequently, I recommend the following policy actions/solutions:

The president should announce a discontinuation and total ban of the tenure elongation policy in the public service;

All those permanent secretaries and other chief executives who have had their tenure elongated must resign forthwith and go home;

Any officer or chief executive who enjoyed tenure elongation beyond the compulsory  retirement period, must be surcharged or directed to refund all salaries, allowances and other retirement benefits;

The Office of the Head of Service of the Federation and the Federal Public/Civil Service Commission should be overhauled and reinvigorated with men of proven records of positive accomplishments and unassailable integrity, who could tell the truth to power.

The Presidency could serve the national interest by adopting a deliberate policy of non-interference in the day-to-day operations of the regulatory organs of the public service;

Whistleblowers in the public service must be protected against victimisation and be honoured publicly;

Capacity building, training and retraining of all public servants including commitment to professionalisation must be accorded top priority. Accordingly, permanent secretaries of ministries and chief executives of all agencies should be barred from diverting budgets earmarked for promotions and training of deserving officers;

The federal government must henceforth insist that all recruitment into the Federal Civil Service, the military, paramilitary and other agencies of government must be conducted in the most professional and transparent manner to prevent undue marginalisation of any section of the country.

All states must be informed on a timely basis to present applicants for such exercises. Pursuant to the foregoing, all ministries, agencies and other state organs must cooperate with the Federal Civil Commission and the Federal Character Commission in the discharge of their mandates.

 

Musa A. Kazaure, is a certified management trainer/consultant and pioneer Director General, Manpower Development Institute, Jigawa State