By Adekunle Eniola
IN ALMOST all the states of the federation, the Office of Service Matters is situated within the jurisdiction of the Head of Service (HOS) of each state.
Accordingly, the Service Matters Office duties primarily concern the management and administration of the state’s civil service workforce.
The office coordinates the affairs of all other Permanent Secretaries that are the administrative heads of state’s Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
And usually, a very senior civil servant in the rank of a Permanent Secretary is always the head of Service Matters Departments in all the states of the federation!
Until recently, Ondo State civil service has maintained the traditional status quo.
However, since the advent of the new Head of Service in Ondo State, things have taken a different and dangerous dimension.
The HOS has turned all acceptable rules, concepts and conventions on its heads.
Instead of having a Permanent Secretary as the administrative head of the Service Matters Department, the HOS in his “wisdom” posted a Director to an office that coordinates the activities of Permanent Secretaries.
What an absurdity!
The State Governor, Hon Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa who has been doing a yeoman’s work to deliver on the “OUR EASE” Seven (7) Points Developmental Agenda to the good people of Ondo State should pay some attention to what’s happening in the state’s civil service under the HOS.
If the Governor can interrogate what’s happening, he will find out what a “Pandora’s Box” situation the civil service has become under the present helmsman.
Furthermore, the Governor will also get to know that the Director who is heading the Service Matters Department is a kinsman of the HOS.
Of course, there is no extant law that prohibit an HOS from having his “town man” who is a Director in the civil service from working directly with him, but when such a Director proceeded on a one year study leave to the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) Kuru, Jos, thereby creating an administrative vacuum that the HOS refused to fill until his kinsman returned again, then that is nepotism.
Information has it that throughout the Director’s one year absence for his full time program in Kuru, Jos, the HOS did not deem it appropriate to post a Permanent Secretary to the Service Matters Office, instead, he merely arranged for an Assistant Director to fill in the gap while the actual Director was away in school.
How can a state like Ondo, known for it’s vibrant, progressive and dedicated civil service workforce be under such a Nebuchadnezzar – like authority?
For Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa to successfully deliver on his campaign promises, he must pray and hope for a civil service workforce that is well managed, properly coordinated and appropriately motivated.
