16 perm secs due for retirement from federal civil service

THE Federal Government has commenced succession plans for about sixteen Federal Permanent Secretaries who are due for retirement from the public service before the end of 2017.

Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs Winifred Oyo-Ita, who made this known in Abuja said there was need to commence selection process at the right time.

She spoke at the send-off ceremony for the Permanent Secretary Common Services Office, Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF), Dr Saheed Yemi Adelakun, who retired after attaining the mandatory retirement age of 60.

Oyo-Ita, however, did not make public the affected Permanent Secretaries but Adelakun’s retirement brings the number of the retired Permanent Secretaries to four in recent time.

The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Information and Culture Mrs Ayotunde Adesugba, also retired on Monday.

Hajiya Jamila Shu’ara, who served in the Federal Ministry of Education and also petroleum resources, finally bow out the service following the controversy that greeted extension of her service years twice after retirement.

Mrs Rabi Jimeta also retired in April as the Permanent Secretary Federal Ministry of Water Resources.

The Head of Service said: “They have to retire in line with public service rule. Either they have spent 35 years in service or have reached the mandatory age of 6o, whichever comes first.

“This 16 federal permanent secretaries, some of them have started retiring this year, others by the end of the year. Then there is the succession plan so the selection process of the permanent secretaries is ongoing,” she said.

While eulogising the virtues of Adelakun, she urged workers to emulate his track rocord of performance in terms of dedication to duty and unsual skills he possess.

He was honoured by Oyo-Ita, other staff in the OHCSF and senior civil servants, especially for the successes recorded under his watch as chairman of the Federal Integrated Staff Housing (FISH) scheme for federal workers.

Adelakun thanked President Muhammadu Buhari, the Head of Service and other staff for working with him to succeed and urged workers to be dedicated to reap the benefits of hard work.

Adelakun who is a chartered accountant joined the federal workforce in 1982 as Higher Executive Officer before he was appointed PS by the immediate past president, Goodluck Jonathan in November 2013.