Revised public service rules for directors and permanent secretaries

The public service, comprising civil servants and non-civil servants, constitutes the bureaucracy of every country. They (civil servants and non-civil servants) are the people who implement government programmes, policies and projects. They work in government ministries, departments and agencies better known as MDAs. Not every public servant is a civil servant, but every civil servant is a public servant. The public service is established by section 169 of the 1999 Constitution. The civil service consists of several ministries, being a subsidiary of the public service. The public service contains the civil service, Armed Forces, judiciary, statutory corporations, etc. which are owned and financed by the government both at the state and federal levels. Most public service organisations are service-oriented, rather than profit-oriented (See Part 1 of the Fifth Schedule to the 1999 Constitution, paragraph 19).

The bureaucracy known as public service has been subjected to reforms over the decades. This is done in order to improve service delivery. One of such reforms took place last week. This newspaper in its last Friday, August 4 edition, reported that: “About 512 directors in the civil service who have spent eight years on the directorate cadre may be forced out of the service sequel to the implementation of the newly revised Public Service Rules, 2021, by the Federal Government. The PSR, which takes effect from July 27, 2023, was launched by the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation on July 28, 2023, in Abuja.”

The report went further that the new rules also introduced a tenure policy for permanent secretaries who are now required to spend four years in office which is renewable subject to performance. The Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Dr Folashade Yemi-Esan, while unveiling the revised public service rules noted that the rules were revised under the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari but the launch was delayed until President Bola Tinubu took over in line with the ‘renewed hope’ agenda.

A memo by the OHCSF had been sent to ministries, departments and agencies to ensure compliance with the newly revised rules. Yemi-Esan, in the memo dated July 27, addressed to all permanent secretaries, Accountant-General of the Federation, Auditor-General of the Federation and heads of extra-ministerial departments, ordered strict compliance with the revised rules. It read, “Following the approval of the revised Public Service Rules by the Federal Executive Council on September 27, 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 July 27, 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 bone of contention now is that those against the revised policy say it is in conflict with the mandatory 60 years’ retirement age for civil servants, citing relevant sections of the rules. According to PSR 020908, the mandatory retirement age remains 60 years or 35 years in service as the case may be with the exemption of judicial officers, and members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, among others. But 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.”

It is noteworthy that this policy was first introduced by the former President Umaru Yar’Adua administration in 2009 but was suspended by Buhari on assumption of office in 2015. According to the circular which was said to have been issued by the office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation on August 26, 2009, permanent secretaries shall henceforth hold office for a term of four years, renewable for a further term of four years, subject to satisfactory performance, and no more; while directors shall compulsorily retire upon serving eight years on the post. The approval is said to be without prejudice to the relevant provisions of the public service rules which prescribes 60 years of age and/or 35 years of service for mandatory retirement. Though I am not a civil or public servant, I fully endorse this new policy.

The many benefits of this reform could be seen from the press statement issued by the then spokesperson of Yar’Adua, Olusegun Adeniyi. He said inter alia, “Ordinarily, the Public Service Rule prescribes three years as the maturity period for officers to earn their promotion to the next grade level, between GL.08 and GL.14, while the maturity period to move between GL.14 and GL.17 is four years. It follows simple logic, therefore, that an officer entering the civil service with a first degree would require a minimum of 27 years to attain the post of director (GL.17), leaving only eight years as the maximum number of years that an officer could possibly spend on the two grades of director and permanent secretary.

“Unfortunately, available facts reveal that the records of some officers are not in sync with this model; and the real situation is that there are directors who have spent 10 to 12 years on post and still have more than five years to retirement; there are permanent secretaries who have been on the post for more than eight years and still have several years to retire, meaning a large number of hard-working and effective officers who could not be promoted due to lack of vacancies.”

The tenure system, according to the presidency, is primarily meant “to institute due process in the appointment of directors and permanent secretaries, arrest the succession crisis in the service, create vacancies, reinvigorate the system and boost the morale of qualified and deserving officers.” This reform, if followed to the letter, will render useless the notorious practice of falsification of age and records of service by some of the civil servants…..”

It is therefore heart-warming for me that the suspension order placed on the implementation of this reform by Buhari has been lifted. It is also commendable that labour unions were consulted in coming up with this reform. According to the National President of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, Tommy Etim, the association was involved in the draft of the revised PSR. He also noted that the newly introduced clause was a welcome development as it would stimulate career growth in the public service. The Chairman of Joint Union Congress, Police Service Commission, Adoyi Adoyi, was also said to have described the new service rule as a welcome development that would eliminate bureaucracy and fast-track the career growth of competent junior staff members.

I look forward to the faithful implementation of this new policy and hope that the replacement of the about 512 directors, who will have to retire because of this new policy, will be done on merit and professionally. It is disheartening that appointments and promotion in Nigeria’s public service are rife with allegations of bribery. The House of Representatives is at present investigating allegations of sales of appointments into the civil service.  A similar allegation has been made in the past about the wider public service. The image of the Nigerian public service has been tarnished by bribery and corruption. Imagine the N109bn fraud allegedly committed by former Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, as well as the one leveled against two civil servants by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission in October 2021 when the agency recovered 301 houses from two public officers in Abuja. Undesirable elements in Nigeria’s public service need to be weeded out.