UPDATED: Buhari appoints 12 new permanent secretaries

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the appointment of 12 new permanent secretaries in the federal civil service.

A statement issued by the spokesperson of the Federal Civil Service Commission, Olawunmi Ogunmosule, said the new permanent secretaries are from the six geo-political zones.

She said swearing-in and deployment of the new permanent secretaries will be announced in due course.

The appointees are Akinlade Oluwatoyin (North Central), Alkali Nura (North West), Anyanwutaku Ifeoma (South East), Ardo Kumo (North East), Belgore Muhammad Lamido (North Central), Ekpa Akpabio (South South), and Hussaini Babangida (North West).

Others are Mahmuda Mamman (North East), Meribole Emmanuel Chukwuemeka (South East), Mohammed Aliyu Ganda (North West), Tarfa Yerima Peter (North East) and Udoh Monilola Omokunmi (South West).

Their states of origin are Kogi, Kano, Anambra, Gombe, Kwara, Cross River, Jigawa, Yobe, Abia, Sokoto, Adamawa and Oyo.

The Journey

The 12 newly appointed officials were part of the 41 federal directors shortlisted for oral interview on June 8 to fill the 16 vacant federal permanent secretary positions.

The director overseeing the office of the Permanent Secretary, I. A. Mairiga, in an earlier memo dated June 3, 2020, announced the shortlisting of 91 directors for the written round of examination towards becoming permanent secretaries in the civil service. However, 50 of the 91 shortlisted federal directors failed to qualify for the oral interview.

The federal government then shortlisted 41, who passed the test, for an oral interview

The Head of Service, Yemi-Esan, also in a May 6, 2020 circular, said that President Muhammadu Buhari approved the commencement of the processes for the appointment of 16 new permanent secretaries to replace outgoing ones in 14 states and to fill two existing vacancies in two other states.

Examination

The first stage of the examination, which is on relevant public service and policy issues, held on June 1.

The second stage, an Information and Communication Technology assessment test, held on June 4 and was only open to candidates shortlisted from the first stage.

The May 6 circular also showed that those shortlisted from the second stage would take part in the final oral interview/interactive session with a broad-based panel of experts and practitioners on June 8 and 9.

The HOS also said that to be eligible, such officials must be from Abia, Adamawa, Anambra, Cross River, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Oyo, Rivers, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara states and should not be retiring from service earlier than on December 31, 2021.

The last time permanent secretaries were appointed was in December 2019 when the federal government approved the appointment of nine new permanent secretaries.

Those appointed then were Musa Hassan from Borno State; Ahmed Aliyu, Niger State; Olushola Idowu, Ogun State; Andrew Adejoh representing the North-Central zone; Umar Tijjani representing the North-East zone; Nasir Gwarzo representing the North-West zone; Nebeolisa Anako representing the South-East zone; Fashedemi Peter representing the South-West zone; and Evelyn Ngige representing the South-South zone.