Appointment of five new Perm. Secs: How Buhari, HoSF ensured transparent selection process

But for President Muhammadu Buhari who sent out a warning signal to the Head of Service of the Federation, HoSF, Dr Folasade Yemi-Esan, to eschew extraneous considerations, the recent selection process that elevated five directors into the elite cadre of permanent secretaries in the Federal Civil Service would have been heavily compromised, massively tainted with bias, favoritism and nepotism.

The Conclave learnt on Tuesday that at the outset of the process, President Buhari had made it clear to the HoSF that he had no favoured candidate for the five positions to be filled since the successful candidates were all going to work for the success of the administration.

It was learnt that the HoSF got her cue from the President’s position and had to fall behind him to approach the selection process from a position of neutrality with her eyes sharply focused on merit.

The three stages- examination on general civil service rules and operations; the Information Communication Technology, ICT, test; and the oral interview- were structured to produce the best of the candidates.

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Twenty five had passed the first stage while twenty-one had crashed out. The ICT stage saw more than a half of the 25 who scaled the first stage fail the test.

Five candidates, namely:
Adebiyi Olusesan Olufunso (Ekiti), Onwundiwe Maryam Ngozi (Enugu), Yusuf Ibrahim Idris (Katsina), Ogunbiyi Marcus Olaniyi (Lagos) and Ibrahim Abubakar Kana (Nasarawa), emerged successful in the selection process.

It was learnt that when the list of successful candidates was sent to President Buhari, he subjected it to scrutiny and raised some queries to be sure the process was not manipulated.

For the five states whose slots were to be filled, a list of two candidates for each state was sent to the President, excepting Nasarawa which had only one successful candidate. The other candidate that would have been on the list with Dr Ibrahim Kana, reportedly crashed out in the ICT test.

The President, as learnt, had initially suspected that Dr Ibrahim Kana and Dr Folasade Yemi-Esan (HoSF) being both medical doctors could have played a quiet influence in the selection process.

The President was said to have returned the list to the HoSF with his queries and observations.

The HoSF was said to have satisfactorily answered the queries and addressed the President’s observations, attaching the scripts and results of the successful candidates and, of course, retaining the only successful candidate from Nasarawa instead of two since no other person passed.

The Conclave learnt that President Buhari, on receipt of the HoSF’s reply, approved the appointment of the five successful candidates.

It was learnt that some candidates had tried unsuccessfully to pull some strings.

A wife of one of the state governors who wrote the examination was said to have deployed the husband’s influence to no avail.

Other influence-peddling and corrupting moves were said to have failed abysmally.

Hitherto, as learnt, the selection process was largely subjected to extraneous considerations, a development that has always put those appointed under pressure to recoup money spent on bribing their way into the elite cadre.

Sources close to some of the new permanent secretaries told our reporter that the latest selection process has been the best so far in recent appointments of permanent secretaries.

One of them was said to have declared that it was not a do-or-die affair for him, stressing that he put in for the examination to fulfil all righteousness.

He was quoted to have said: “I never expected this kind of outcome that did not place any pecuniary demand on me. I could not believe it that I got it on merit. What this has done is that it has confirmed the neutrality of Mr President and HoSF in the selection process.

“They have built a legacy of credibility in the selection process and I hope the institution will continue to consolidate on this legacy. The outcome has now imposed on me the burden to pay back by putting in my best to patriotically discharge my responsibilities in any office to which I am posted.”