THE RECENT posting and redeployment of 24 permanent secretaries (perm secs) across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) at the federal government level, though an apparently simple and routine governmental exercise, has attracted some clearly disingenuous interpretations from a number of quarters, most sadly from a so-called civil society organisation who, in obvious giveaway, exposed that its intervention was a sponsored call.
The redeployment of the old hands and the posting of the new permanent secretaries, the government had said in its announcement, is part of the process of ‘rebooting government activities’. In other words, the exercise is meant to reposition the bureaucracy that will drive the governance ideals of the government. Those mounting these pressures ought to therefore know, if they had bothered to reason, that the entire exercise is a reorganisation that is in tune with the philosophy and policy dynamics as may have been envisioned and plotted by the intellectuals of the Tinubu presidency, who must have assessed the permanent secretaries according to their competences, experience, intellectual acuity and emotional intelligence.
While some of the calls alleged manipulation of the redeployment of the permanent secretaries by the Head of Civil Service of the Federation (HCSF) and therefore demanded for a review by President Tinubu, the civil society organisation, National Civil Society Council of Nigeria (NCSCN), had, at a press conference, specifically called on the HCSF and the Presidency to reverse the posting of Ambassador Nicholas Agbo Ella as the new Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Petroleum Resource (MPR) and bring back Mr Gabriel Tanimu Aduda who had been redeployed from MPR to the Ministry of Women Affairs and Humanitarian Services.
Speaking on the redeployment of Mr Aduda out of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and calling for his return, the Executive Director of NCSCN, one Amb. Blessing Akinlosotu, canvassed for Aduda’s return to the ministry ‘for positive continuity.’
“Aduda obviously has acquired remarkable experiences and built enough capacity to handle affairs of a mainstream and sensitive Ministry that is of great importance to the National Economy, which is clearly shown in his impressive performances in just one year.” Amb. Akinlosotu said.
Akinlosotu further stated, amongst other things, that the “Staff of the ministry have testified that they have never had such dynamic and results-driven leadership as his”; but he failed in the course of the entire press conference to mention even one of Aduda’s “impressive performances” or product of his “dynamic and results-driven leadership” that he (Akinlosotu) glowingly painted.
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“The National Civil Society Council of Nigeria has resolved to occupy the Office of the Head of Service and National Assembly indefinitely if our appeals fall on deaf ears,” Amb. Akinlosotu concluded.
These sentiments, cloaked in very primitive and illogical verbiage, in the context of civil service ethics and philosophy, inevitably exposed NCSCN and its sponsor as not only shallow, narcissistic, and greedy but also intellectually lazy.
Being a routine exercise in civil service, a number of incumbent permanent secretaries were reshuffled between ministries and MDAs, while fresh ones were injected into the system with the deployment of five out of those appointed in November last year.
The redeployment of the old hands and the posting of the new permanent secretaries, the government had said in its announcement, is part of the process of ‘rebooting government activities’. In other words, the exercise is meant to reposition the bureaucracy that will drive the governance ideals of the government. Those mounting these pressures ought to therefore know, if they had bothered to reason, that the entire exercise is a reorganisation that is in tune with the philosophy and policy dynamics as may have been envisioned and plotted by the intellectuals of the Tinubu presidency, who must have assessed the permanent secretaries according to their competences, experience, intellectual acuity and emotional intelligence.
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The exercise saw Dr Evelyn Ngige moved from the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment to manage two ministries – the newly created Federal Ministry of Arts and Culture and Creative Economy, and Federal Ministry of Tourism, while Dr Magdalene Ajani was redeployed from the Ministry of Transportation to the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) to replace Olusade Adesola, who was proceeding on retirement.
Redeployed to Transportation Ministry is Oloruntola Olufemi, from the Service Policies and Strategies Office (SPSO) under the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF), while Jafiya Lydia Shehu, was redeployed from Common Services Office (CSO), OHCSF to the Federal Ministry of Finance, Mr Gabriel Aduda from Ministry of Petroleum Resources to Ministry of Women Affairs and Humanitarian Services, and so on, amongst the old permanent secretaries.
The new permanent secretaries posted include Watti Tinuke who replaced Alhaji Ismaila Abubakar at the Federal Ministry of Sports and Development, while Mr Ahmed Dunoma Umar went to the Federal Ministry of Youth; with Ndayako Aishetu Gogo taking over at the Federal Ministry of Interior.
Amb. Rimi Nura Abba, was posted to the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, while Amb. Nicholas Agbo Ella, took over from Mr Aduda at the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, and so on.
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Some people are of the opinion that in the posting of the perm secs, the ones with significant consideration for specific experience, are those of Ambassadors Abba and Ella. The insight to the deployment of these two, apart from scaling the tedious appointment processes, amongst other prerequisites, include the merits of their diplomatic skills that will be brought to bear in the management of those ministries which require a high level of robust understanding of international modus operandi.
In Amb. Ella’s case, he has an additional advantage of being a lawyer who had practiced in Lagos before joining foreign service; a versatility that will be useful in a strategic ministry as that of Petroleum Resources which is directly overseen by the President himself.
While in the imagination of the emergent conspiracy theorists, Amb. Ella lacks the experience to be posted to the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, they however failed to understand the strong connection or nexus between international diplomacy and the political economy of oil diplomacy, oil being a major determinant in international relations dynamics.
In addition to this, Amb. Ella had, in the course of his diplomatic career, served in key foreign missions – Geneva, India, China, USA, amongst others – in addition to administering the office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs before being posted to Cameroon and Senegal prior to his elevation as permanent Secretary, and as such needs little or no guidance on basic international protocols of engagement.
As noted earlier, while appointments and redeployment of perm secs are routine exercises, they are driven by a leader’s policy trajectory or ideology of governance that he and his intellectuals may have conceptualised. If they have limited power over who to appoint as ministers, they certainly have dominant control in assembling the models of bureaucrats with fitting credentials to implement their governance agenda.
Given his background, in terms upbringing or historical background, working experience and other nuances of life generally, Amb. Ella is perhaps better placed to understand the “Renewed-Hope-Agenda” slogan of President Tinubu in all its ramifications taking into account prevailing economic realities.
One of the stories that emerged in the wake of his appointment as permanent secretary hold that his enlistment into public service as a career foreign service officer was purely providential as he had preferred legal practice, and that when convinced to enlist, he never thought he was going to endure and rise to the peak as permanent secretary because of his often blunt and frank characteristics. Today, he had not only risen through the ranks to become an ambassador, he also seemed to have ‘effortlessly’ become a permanent secretary, the peak in civil service.
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Secondly, though not a conventional civil servant in the context of his being a career foreign service officer, Amb Ella’s deployment to the petroleum Ministry is a fitting but tasking assignment. Being there certainly requires a degree of grit, intellect, common-sense and diplomatic wisdom, all of which Foreign Service grooming may have prepared Amb Ella in his service to fatherland.
The final point to make is that Amb. Ella’s appointment, for many in Benue, particularly Benue South where he hails from, is seen as President Tinubu’s political masterstroke to assuage political sensibilities in the state. The dominant view is that the appointment is a testimony the President’s political artistry in the management of diversity or his concept and values of inclusivity that enabled him to hold Lagos firmly in his grip despite the complexities of the state. In that regard, Amb. Ella has become an object of varied interpretations and symbolisms.
While in the imagination of the emergent conspiracy theorists, Amb. Ella lacks the experience to be posted to the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, they however failed to understand the strong connection or nexus between international diplomacy and the political economy of oil diplomacy, oil being a major determinant in international relations dynamics.
Diplomatic experience is a relevant and critical balancing dynamic that ought to be brought to bear in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources that has been constrained by the forces of greed and patriotic deficits all of which combine to holdback a major oil producer as Nigeria and making her to depend on importation for its petroleum needs for over three decades.
Besides the inherent politics of deployment to ‘juicy’ or ‘barren’ ministries, Amb Ella’s elevation to the position of permanent secretary is a stuff in the class of the classics, which can only be fully appreciated when his life’s story is told in a memoir or biography; a narrative likely to hold readers spellbound like every African folklore.
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The final point to make is that Amb. Ella’s appointment, for many in Benue, particularly Benue South where he hails from, is seen as President Tinubu’s political masterstroke to assuage political sensibilities in the state. The dominant view is that the appointment is a testimony the President’s political artistry in the management of diversity or his concept and values of inclusivity that enabled him to hold Lagos firmly in his grip despite the complexities of the state. In that regard, Amb. Ella has become an object of varied interpretations and symbolisms.
Ali, a retired civil servant, writes from Army Post Housing Estate, Kurudu, Abuja, FCT.
