By now, we don’t need soothsayers to remind us kogians of the teleguided emotions of the present administration of the most illegal status of Alhaji yahaya Bello in kogi state along the bad breath developed towards the top echelon of the civil service and core staff who serves as the drivers of the various ministry’s,agencies and parastatals of government having renewed their one month compulsory leave to infinitisema.
According to his dictum and approaches to governance with a paltry 12 years work experience in the civil service eased out for the phobia of wanton looting and aggrandisement of public treasury in connivance with some armed robbers chief executives of states, the Yahaya Bello led administration poise to terminate the life time human investment of our parents like technocrats who had distinguished their life time in the service of their dear state is unperturbed.
Ironically, without due processes and with complete ignominy to the civil service rules whom the governor was a beneficiary through ill gotten wealth, the governors popularly taunted “new direction” is to militantly and blissfully deny the top echelon of the civil service who doubles as policy makers and implementors the liberty they enjoy under the constitution of the Nigerian nation as a public servant in the public service, ease out without indictment but through straight jacket approach and military cum civilian fiat.
The implications of this decisions of the “new direction” directionless mode of operation has bestowed multiplier negative effects on the entire civil service with lack of checks and balances in all facets of government offices encouraging truancy, redundancy, sharp practices, nepotism, tribalism and all form of vices willy nilly in favour of half baked political office holders who supervise the current dispensation.
The burden of piecemeal or batch salary payment to the civil servants with pensioners relegated to the background by the governor of the whole roundabout in Kogi, Marabout, Yahaya Bello in line with his “new direction” vision less approach to governance is the non-priority stance of salaries of the civil populace is no longer news. Gone were the days when our civil servants in Kogi get alerts on the 25th of every month like bankers in the private sector, courtesy of the friendly administration of the previous dispensation of Capt Wada
The fear of the unknown is now glaringly staring on the faces of average Kogians with no clear cut direction by the current administration given credence to the “Angel you know, is more than the one you don’t know” and a clear departure of what the previous administration has been managing to augment through term loan in terms of salary payment and other services since May 2015 owing to dwindling federal allocations in sharp contrast to the spend thrift approach of the Agassa born new youthful governor.
The vogue in the present dispensation is, federally allocated revenue are now been diverted to recurrent expenditure leaving the civil service to wallow in abject poverty along with no policy direction. Thank God, Capt Wada had completed the process of Kogi bailout but stalled for political reasons and now readily available for the present masquarede like governor to squander assisted by the mindset screening and staff verification pervading both councils and state workforce. Though, it will sound funny and aberration if the funds were not utilised for the purpose intended, but for Yahaya Bello, anything can happen. Na change!
It is counterproductive to juxtapose variables of governance in Kogi state with those at the corridors of power paddling Prado jeeps not minding the nature of your engagement and statutory issues, given little or no attention. I am sure he is aware of his days in Lugard house after the court processes, so he is recovering or reaping were he did not sow. “Governor round about”.
My take, the handwriting is already on the wall that the technocrats are on their way out of the civil service if not pre-empted. Please don’t forget to invoke political equity in the selection of new permanent secretaries in line with your “new direction”. One from each of the 21 area councils and the rest from the politically disadvantaged area of the central senatorial district to balance the equation of long time marginalisation and power shift. Abeg na your time.
Come to think of the whole scenario, the affected technocrats are not also insulated from the whole melodrama in Kogi, having bitten the fingers that fed them. It was on good authority that these group of civil servants contributed immensely to the success of the present administration during election both materially and financially. Are they been paid back in their own coins? The answer is left for posterity.
Let me remind the Kogi stakeholders of the rules of engagement in the civil service and must strictly be adhered to so as not to put the state apparatus at the receiving end. May the will of the people be done in tandem with sane practices.
– Yusuf, a Media Consultant, writes from Abuja.
