Absence of permanent secretaries and chief executive officers in key ministries and agencies is slowing activities in at least 13 ministries and five agencies in Sokoto state.
Investigations by 21st CENTURY CHRONICLE have shown that most of these ministries have been without substantive permanent secretaries for more than two years even though the majority of them are strategic.
Also, some agencies of the states are also operating without chief executives since Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal secured re-election in May 2019.
It was not clear why the governor left 13 of the 24 ministries in the state without substantive permanent secretaries. Perm secs are the chief accounting officers of their ministries and agencies.
The positions of the 13 permanent secretaries remain vacant after the retirement of the majority of them, leaving behind middle-cadre officers holding forth in acting capacities.
This development is grossly affecting service delivery and implementation of government policies and programmes in the state, according to insiders who spoke to this newspaper.
Ministries on auto-pilot
Though Sokoto is among the states plagued by raging banditry, where villages are being attacked, razed and civilians kidnapped or killed, the state’s ministry of security affairs, mandated with the coordination of anti-banditry measures, has no permanent secretary.
Security is not the only one operating on apparent auto-pilot. Despite being an agrarian state, Sokoto’s agriculture ministry has been wallowing without a permanent secretary for so long. This is slowing the various implementation of agricultural policies which is the mainstay of the state’s economy.
The ministry of works and transport which is the central coordinator of all capital and infrastructural projects in the state is also without a substantive permanent secretary.
Though the state is suffering from a persistent water crisis, the ministry in charge of water resources has been without a permanent secretary as well.
Not enough is being done in terms of attracting investors into the state as the commerce and industry ministry is also operating without a substantive perm sec to drive its policies.
Despite the economic downturn and cash crunch bedeviling the state, Sokoto’s political leaders do not deem it important to appoint a substantive permanent secretary in its budget and economic planning ministry.
This is the same story in the health sector, where the ministry is operating without a permanent secretary despite the COVID-19 pandemic devastating the world.
Other ministries operating on auto-pilot without substantive permanent secretaries include ministries of fishery and animal health, religious affairs, establishment and pension matters, social welfare, culture and tourism, as well as energy.
On the other hand, some of the agencies operating without substantive chief executives include the Teachers Service Board, Sokoto State Contributory Health Management Agency (SOCHEMA), Agency for NGOs, human rights and donor organisations and Sokoto Liaison Office, Abuja.
Some of the ministries and agencies have been without substantive perm secs or heads for more than two years due to retirement or death.
For instance, the immediate past permanent secretary in the religious affairs ministry, Bello Mailato, retired in 2019, and no one was appointed to replace him more than two years after.
The budget and economic planning ministry has been operating without a permanent secretary since July, 20, 2020 Abubakar Shekara retired.
Also, the permanent secretary in the security and carriers’ ministry, Dr. Attahiru Kware, who died about two years ago was not replaced.
The heath ministry has been without a permanent secretary since the redeployment of Alhaji Abubakar Muhammad as head of service in the state.
This applies to works and transport which has been without a perm sec since the Alhaji Sani Garba Shuni left. He was later appointed as head of service, before he was removed.
Ministries, agencies grounded
A senior management staff in one of the ministries confided in our reporter that the absence of these top civil servants is crippling the system in the state.
“It is true that there are acting permanent secretaries but they have limitations. They cannot perform optimally,” he said.
“Before now, the most senior civil servant in the ministry is appointed acting permanent secretary and he will be officially informed.
“He will enjoy all the allowances of the permanent secretary and perform all his duties without any restriction,” the civil servant said.
He, however, explained that, “But today, the reverse is the case. This is because here in Sokoto, it is like a norm that only directors of administrations can act as permanent secretaries and some of them are below Grade Level 15.”
“So, how do you expect his seniors to support, cooperate and guide him to succeed? That is why there is sabotage everywhere,” he said.
Another retired civil servant in the state lamented that the position of permanent secretary has been bastardized in the state as appointment is not based on merit but political affiliations.
“This is why you will see a perm sec cannot see a governor unlike before when a permanent secretary was a chief adviser and chief accounting officer in his ministry and had direct access to the governor,” he said.
However, a retired permanent secretary in the state, who sought for anonymity said there was nothing wrong with that because an acting permanent secretary performs all the functions of a substantive perm sec.
“I don’t believe civil service will suffer because there is no permanent secretary because there are others who are acting in that capacity. And there is nothing wrong with that,” he said
Tambuwal is a calamity to civil servants – APC
The opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) in Sokoto state has described the Tambuwal- led government as a calamity to civil service in the state.
Speaking on the non-appointment of permanent secretaries in some ministries in the state, the state chairman of the party, Isa Sadiq Achida, said civil service in the state has not been getting its deserved attention from the government.
“This government has neglected civil service in the state. The governor is only after his presidential ambition and has nothing to do with Sokoto state,” he said.
Tambuwal’s “body language has shown that he has finished with Sokoto state and what is in his mind now is how to clinch the presidential ticket of his party.”
“Go to the local government areas and see how they are neglected. No ochairman boost of a single borehole to members of his community.
“So as per as we are concerned, Tambuwal is a calamity that befalls Sokoto state,” the APC chief said.
No cause for alarm – Head of Service
In his reaction, the Sokoto State Head of Service, Alhaji Abubakar Muhammad, said there was nothing wrong with the ministries being run by acting permanent secretaries pending the appointment of substantive ones.
He told the 21st CENTURY CHRONICLE in his office in Sokoto that “there are some things which need to be considered in appointing permanent secretaries and we are currently trying to fulfill all these obligations. And very soon those vacant places would be filled up.”
He said the absence doesn’t affect the day-to-day schedules of the ministries because “registers are kept in all the ministries to checkmate absenteeism.”
