A group of undisclosed persons has urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to stop the tenure policy mandated for directors.
A press statement by the group said: “President Tinubu has vowed to run a government of national competence. He should not allow some cabals to deprive him of the best brains in the civil service under any guise. It is my humble submission that Mr President, like his predecessor in office, should suspend the tenure policy for directors, so as to subject it to immediate review to determine its merits and demerits.
“The directives that all directors in the Federal Public Service who have spent eight years and above should proceed on compulsory retirement with effect from July 27, 2023, issued by the Head of the Civil Service (HOS) of Nigeria, Mrs Folasade Yemi Esan, has continued to generate very interesting debates.
“This directive, which is part of the implementation of the Revised Public Service Rules (PSR) 2021 is one of the recommendations of Stephen Oronsaye’s Committee Report on the Civil Service Reforms. In making this recommendation, the committee opined that for a civil servant to rise to the post of director, he must have been 52- year- old or spent a minimum of 27 years in service as a fresh graduate on Grade Level 08, the approved starting point for university graduates.
“It is argued that the implementation of this policy will create vacancies for deputy directors who have stagnated for years. This is laughable because it is like asking the king to die because the crown prince, the heir apparent, is getting old. The post of a director is not by inheritance. It is earned based on competence, capacity combined with requisite moral standing and personal integrity. Officers are promoted to directors based on competitive examinations and the evaluation of their commitment, morality, diligence and dedication through the APER form. You don’t ask people to go so that others can become directors. There are officers who have never repeated promotion because they are gifted with extra-ordinary intelligence and innate capacities. To exit such officers is counter-product and amounts to killing efficiency and excellence in the service.”
