Sends Director On Pre-Retirement Leave In Line With Circular By Head Of Service
With that development, Mr Adedeji was appointed in acting capacity for a 90-day period before his subsequent confirmation as the substantive Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) for a term of four years in the first instance.
Adedeji is a first-class graduate in accounting from the Obafemi Awolowo University. He most recently served the nation as the Special Adviser to the President on Revenue, following meritorious service terms as the Oyo State Commissioner of Finance and as the executive secretary and CEO of the National Sugar Development Council (NSDC). By these directives of the president, the new appointment takes immediate effect, said Ajuri Ngelale, special adviser to the president, Media, and Publicity.
It would be recalled that this will send warning signal to hundreds of other MDAs that disregarded the circular from the Head of Service, which directed all directors that have spent up to eight years in service to proceed on compulsory retirement leave. The media reports that heads of most MDAs still think it is business as usual by ignoring a directive from the Head of Service.
Zacch Adedeji, the newly appointed FIRS Acting Chairman
Speaking recently at a lecture held at the state house, Abuja, to mark the 2023 Civil Service Week, Yemi-Esan said the implementation of the revised PSR took effect from July 27, 2023. By implication, any agency or director in the MDAs that have refused to comply with the circular is daring both the Head of Service and the Federal Executive Council chaired by the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
This is because the Head of Service was clear in the circular, which was addressed to Permanent Secretaries, the Accountant-General of the Federation, the Auditor-General for the Federation, and Heads of the extra-ministerial department, informing them of the revised PSR, which a good numb er of MDAs have disregarded.
NewsBits further gathered that “Following the approval of the revised Public Service Rules (PSR) by the federal executive council (FEC) on the 27th of September 2021, and its subsequent unveiling during the public service lecture in commemoration of the 2023 Civil Service Week, the PSR become operational with effective from 27th July 2023,” the circular reads. What that implies is that any director that remained in service after that date must be willing to refund any entitlements they have enjoyed since then to the government.
According to section 020009 of the revised PSR, the tenure limit for permanent secretaries is four years and another renewable term based only on satisfactory performance.
The rules also provide that a director (GL 17) or its equivalent as may be prescribed by other MDAs shall compulsorily retire upon the attainment of eight years in that position. The federal ministry of finance is one of the MDAs that has commenced the implementation of the policy.
In the circular dated July 27, Mariya Rufa’i, Director of Administration at the ministry, directed that all affected “are advised to commence the process of documentation with the administration department for compulsory retirement by virtue of the section under reference”.
It was understood that the reform was introduced by the administration of the late former President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua when Stephen Oronsaye was the head of service of the federation. The reform proposed eight years as the maximum period that a director or permanent secretary can stay in the service. The inability of deputy directors to progress to the next stage of their career necessitated the introduction of the policy during the tenure of the late president.
NewsBits gathered that the policy, which the President Tinubu has brought back to life is not a new one meaning that any head of MDA whose agency has not complied might incur the wrath of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration that is seeking to rebuild Nigeria and the rot in MDAs.
