Many of the directors affected by the revised Public Service Rule (PSR) 2021 are refusing to exit the civil service in contravention of a directive by the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Folashade Yemi-Esan, THE WHISTLER can report.
The revised PSR 020909 stipulates that, “A Director or its equivalent by whatever nomenclature it is described in MDAs shall compulsorily retire upon serving eight years on Tenure Policy on the post; and a Permanent Secretary shall hold office for a term of four years and renewable for a further term of four years, subject to satisfactory performance and no more.”
Although the rules were revised in 2021 during the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari, it was unveiled by Yemi-Esan last month and is expected to affect not less than 500 Directors in different Ministries, Departments and Agencies.
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In a circular addressed to Permanent Secretaries, Accountant-General of the Federation, Auditor-General for the Federation and Heads of Extra Ministerial Department, entitled: The Revised Public Service Rules (PSR), Yemi-Esan directed that the rule has become operation from July 27.
The memo from the OHCSF reads: ‘’Following the approval of the revised Public Service Rules by the Federal Executive Council on the 27th of September, 2021 and its subsequent unveiling during the public service lecture during the commemoration of the 2023 Civil Service Week, the PSR has become operational with effect from 27 July, 2023.
“You are, therefore, to ensure full compliance with all provisions of the Public Service Rules, 2021. Please, ensure strict compliance with the contents of this circular.”
The implication of the directive is that the directors affected must proceed on mandatory retirement leave as stipulated in the PSR.
But investigations by THE WHISTLER indicate that many of the Directors affected are yet to retire or be retired by their MDAs.
A Director who had been retired in compliance with the new PSR told THE WHISTLER that some directors are deliberately delaying their retirement with the connivance of their Permanent Secretaries or Director-Generals.
For instance, documents obtained by this newspaper from the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture show that some agencies under it have given contrary directives to that of the OHCSF.
At the National Gallery for Arts, at least four directors are expected to immediately retire because they have stayed more than 8 years on the directorate cadre. But they have been given the grace to remain in their positions till October as they have not been issued any retirement letter as at the time of filing this report.
Instead, a letters of appointment were issued to some senior officials as Acting Directors (names withheld) dated 10th August, 2023 signed for the Director General by Bayo A. Kazeem( a director of human resources) requesting them to resume on 30th October, 2023 instead of July 27 as mandated.
Part of the letter reads: “I am directed to inform you that the Director General has approved your appointment as the Acting Director in charge of the Department of Curatorial Services; this is in view of the retirement of the substantive Director of the Department, which takes effect from 30th October, 2023.”
This is in contrast to what has been done at the National Council for Arts and Culture, another agency under the ministry where the OHCSF directive has been fully implemented.
Directors affected by the new PSR have been issued mandatory retirement letters by the Director General which took effect from 27th July, 2023—the date designated by the OHCSF.
Part of the letter reads, “The Director General /CEO has approved for you to proceed on mandatory retirement in compliance with the above stated regulations which takes effect from 27th July, 2023…”
But there are MDAs that had complied with the directive on the new service rule, such as the Federal Ministry of Finance. Directors who have spent up to 8 years on the directorate cadre have already been retired.
A letter of “Implementation of Tenure Policy” dated August 3, obtained by THE WHISTLER said “all affected Directors are advised to commence the process of documentation with the Administration Department for compulsory retirement by virtue of section under reference.”
In the letter signed by Mariya A.D. Rufai, Director (Administration), the Directors were also asked to immediately “hand over to the most senior officers in their respective departments and surrender all official documents including Identification Cards as well as official vehicles (if any) before exiting.
However, THE WHISTLER gathered that selective implementation of the new service rule is taking place in many MDAs, including the office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation where some directors were affected but are still in service.
Sources who confided in this newspaper also accused Yemi-Esan of complicity, claiming that she is aware of the reluctance of many agencies, including her office, to fully implement her directive.
The same sources have claimed that the affected directors and their CEOs may be delaying because many of the agencies are still expecting payments of accumulated overheads.
“In our agency, the last time overheads were paid was in April so many of them are waiting for the money before they go,” revealed an assistant director in one of the agencies.
Mohammed Ahmed, the Director of Press in the OHCSF, did not agree to speak on telephone when THE WHISTLER called him, insisting the reporter had to come to his office.
He however told our correspondent in his office that it is not the responsibility of the OHCSF to monitor implementation of the new service rule, stressing that it’s the role of the media.
“It’s your job to monitor compliance not our job. Although we have an inspectorate department. But it’s a directive that was issued on July 27. We will do our own inspection after sometime to see whether they have complied,” Ahmed said.