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SINCE May when the Federal Government slammed an indefinite suspension on the former Accountant-General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, following his arrest by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over an alleged diversion of N80billion public fund, the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation has been embroiled in a seemingly unending drama.
Idris was suspended to make room for unhindered investigation into the allegations against him in line with Public Service Rules while Mr Chukwuyere Anamekwe was immediately appointed as Acting AGF. But less than two months after his assumption of office, Anamekwe was removed. Although officially his removal was said to be “due to an in-house reshuffle exercise”, it was gathered that he was removed because the government did not take kindly to a statement he made about the Federal Government borrowing to pay salaries. Mr Sylva Okolieaboh, a director in the Treasury Single Account (TSA) department of the Office of the AGF, was subsequently announced as Anamekwe’s replacement.
However, before Anamekwe’s removal, the President, through a memo from the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, directed the Head of Service of the Federation, Dr (Mrs) Folasade Yemi-Esan, to commence the process of appointing a substantive Accountant-General of the Federation. This spurred the HoS to, in a memo dated June 21, 2022, announce the commencement of the process for the appointment of a substantive AGF.
The memo reads: “Following the approval of Mr. President, the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation is commencing the process of the appointment of a substantive Accountant-General of the Federation from eligible Directors (Accountants) in the pool of Accountant-General of the Federation.
“Consequently, all accountants in the mainstream Federal Civil Service in the pool of Accountant General of the Federation who have attained the position of Substantive Director (Salary Grade 17) on or before 1 January 2020 and are not retiring from the ser- vice earlier than 31 December, 2024 are eligible to participate in the exercise.
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“Officers undergoing disciplinary proceedings are however excluded from the exercise.
“Permanent Secretaries are requested to forward the list of eligible directors on SGL 17, confidential and personal files of all eligible directors, five copies of Curriculum Vital of each of the eligible directors, brief on each of the eligible directors in the attached format to be produced in Microsoft Word and in both hard (5 copies) and soft copies.”
Following this, qualified accountants in the pool signified their interest and were subjected to security checks with about eight of the applicants cleared to proceed to the next stage. But rather
than continuing with the process, the Head of Service stalled the appointment process on the excuse that the number of cleared applicants was too negligible.
The Head of Service, in a memo to the President dated October 13, 2022, stated that “I write to respectfully refer to Your Excellency’s directive to commence the process of appointing a substantive Accountant-General of the Federation. The directive was conveyed via the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation’s letter dated 16th June, 2022.
“In line with the directive, a service-wide circular was issued inviting eligible director on Grade Level 17 (accountants) in the pool of Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation to apply.
“Among others, one of the criteria is that any director aspiring to be appointed must have held the position of director for not less than two years and must have not less than two years left in service. At the close of submission of applications and security clearance by appropriate security agencies, very negligible number of directors met the criteria. The number will not provide a large pool to engender competitive process at the end of which a substantive Accountant-General of the Federation could be appointed.
“Consequently, it is proposed that the process be extended to the first quarter of 2023 by which time, many directors who were recently promoted could have matured. It is also planned that the eligible directors will be required to undergo specific training sim- ilar to that given to directors aspiring to be appointed permanent secretaries.
“Going by the proposed plan, this process may not be completed earlier than first quarter of 2023. The implication of this is that Mr Okolieaboh Sylva, the director currently overseeing the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, may need to continue in that capacity. There is therefore, the need for the officer to assume acting position.
“It is important to inform Your Excellency that Mr Okolieaboh Sylva is not eligible to be considered for appointment as Accountant-General of the Federation as he will be retiring from service on 28th May, 2023 and that he has been previously cleared by security agencies.”
The Head of Service then requested the approval of President Buhari for Okolieaboh to be appointed as Acting Accountant-General of the Federation pending the completion of the process of appointing a substantive AGF.
The position of the HoS stands logic on its head. If the process of appointing a substantive AGF allowed all eligible people to apply after which some were screened out, how could that “not provide a large pool to engender a competitive process”?
It is queer that the Head of Service, who is the custodian of the Civil Service Rules, would call for the perversion of the rules to allow the perpetuation of an “ineligible” person to act as the AGF. It is even strange that she would put her name to a memo asking for the stalling of a process approved by the President probably to allow her preferred candidate to mature so that she could gift him or her the office of AGF. What happens to fairness? What happens to equity? What happens to professionalism?
If the President grants the HoS’s request and the process is re- commenced and again “very negligible number of directors meet the criteria” would the HoS call for the cancellation of the process again?
Corruption is not just about fund mismanagement, it is also the mismanagement of processes. Tilting a process in favour of a person is corruption. For the civil service and even the nation as a whole to get better, we must rise against favouritism. Therefore, President Buhari needs to stop this brazen affront to his authority and ensure that the process that had been commenced is not extended at the whims and caprices of the Head of Service. Let the process of appointing a substantive AGF continue with those that have been cleared.
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