15 perm secs quit in Kano

Malam Ibrahim Shekarau

Ten days before Alhaji Rabiu Kwankwaso resumes as governor of Kano State, fifteen permanent secretaries in the state civil service including Alhaji Dahiru Shekarau of the Science and Technology Ministry, elder brother of the outgoing governor Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, have tendered their letters to the state Head of Service to retire from service, Daily Trust learnt in Kano yesterday. Also quitting at month’s end is Alhaji Sabo Abdurrahman of the all important Water Resources Ministry, under whose watch the Shekarau administration spent billions of naira to execute gigantic water contracts. Dahiru Shekarau and Sabo Abdurrahman are among the most powerful government figures in Kano civil service during the Shekarau era.

Of the 15 permanent secretaries reported to have signified their intension to quit, 12 have already forwarded their resignation letters to the Head of Service, Daily Trust learnt.

Competent government sources told Daily Trust that the decision of the top civil servants to resign followed the victory of Engineer Rabiu Kwankwaso in the April 16 governorship election in Kano. Their fear, according to the source, was that they might either be demoted or sacked out rightly because of their open political partisanship.

Governor Ibrahim Shekarau’s media aide Sule Ya’u Sule confirmed the exodus of the senior public servants but was not sure of the total number who are resigning from service.  Most of the permanent secretaries were appointed by the outgoing governor. PDP members allege that some of the appointments were on the basis of patronage or personal closeness to the Shekarau government.

It was gathered that since the civil service rules allow for either three months in lieu of notice before resignation or payment of three months’ salary to proceed instantly for those who served pensionable years, those top government officials have mostly opted to choose the latter by giving three months’ salary which is not less than N1 million per person.

Daily Trust also learnt that another dilemma for the permanent secretaries is whether or not the state ministry of finance can pay up their severance gratuity and service gratuity amounting to close to N15 million for each one of them.

However, the governor-elect Rabiu Kwankwaso has been allaying the fears since his victory, saying his administration would not witch-hunt public servants because of their perceived partisanship in last elections. He said his government will carry everybody along in the discharge of its responsibilities.

It will be recalled that in 2003 when Kwankwaso lost to Shekarau, a similar fate engulfed six permanent secretaries whose loyalty to the Shekarau administration was in doubt. They were therefore given the option of either to remain in service but revert to the rank of directors or proceed on premature retirement.

Three of them, it was gathered, accepted demotion to directors while the other three proceeded on premature retirement.

Even though efforts to get the state Head of Service to confirm the development proved abortive, a highly credible source in the office of the head of service confirmed that permanent secretaries in the state have been forwarding their resignation letters since the announcement of April governorship election results in the state. The source also said their request had been graciously granted.

Government spokesperson Sule Ya’u Sule said even though he was not certain about the number of the permanent secretaries resigning, a lot of civil servants in the state would rather resign during the present administration given Shekarau’s good pension policy in Kano.

“I know a lot of senior civil servants will resign even prematurely for fear that they may not be paid their service gratuity in good time if they leave service during the incoming administration,” Sule said.

Tension is high between the outgoing and the incoming governments in Kano because Kwankwaso was defeated by Shekarau in the 2003 elections. In the years that followed, Kwankwaso was probed by the Shekarau regime and indicted by a judicial commission of inquiry, which he rejected and fought all the way through the courts.

Why I can’t reduce ‘large’ cabinet, by Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday said it would be impossible for his government to prune down federal cabinet to a sizeable one because the constitution stipulates that each state of the country must produce a minister. Jonathan said this in Abuja at a valedictory session with members of the T.Y. Danjuma-led Presidential Advisory Committee who wound up their assignment yesterday.

The 26-member Danjuma committee, set up March last year by Jonathan when he was acting president, had urged the president to reduce federal ministries to 18 at most and to rationalise all non-ministerial agencies to eliminate overlap, duplication and redundancies.

It frowned at a situation where there are 30 federal ministries and a plethora of extra-ministerial departments, 42 ministers and special advisers and assistants.

Jonathan said his personal preferences tilt towards a leaner and highly efficient cabinet but noted that it was virtually impossible due to extant constitutional provisions.

He said: “Your suggestion for a smaller cabinet is excellent and I agree with you, but this cannot be achieved without constitutional amendment.”

The President, however, said suggestions and advice which PAC offered to the government played a key role in stabilizing the administration, and that its final report would form part of the policy direction of the incoming administration.

He thanked them for accepting to serve the nation in spite of their individual schedules, and informed them that the Federal Government would continue to tap from their wealth of experience in the years ahead.

Earlier, Danjuma, said they were privileged to have been selected to proffer advice to the new administration, adding that all members had contributed immensely to the committee’s work.

The committee recommended that recurrent expenditure should not exceed 40% of the national budget and this should determine the size of the government. The committee also recommended a pruning of the budget deficit to no more than 3% of GDP; limiting borrowing by federal and state governments to only productive projects; stopping the legislature from hiking budget proposals; strict adherence to a policy of zero tolerance for corruption, among others.

The committee had lawyer Ben Nwabueze, as the deputy chairman and Permanent Secretary (Special Duties) in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation as Secretary.

Other members were Fola Adeola; Abubakar Gimba; Basil Omiyi; M. D. Yusuf; Emeka Anyaoku; G. B. Preware; Bartholomew Nnaji; Kase Lawal; Muhammed Hayatuddeen; Alfa Belgore; Chibudom Nwuche; Mobola Johnson; Halita Aliyu; Magaji Dambatta; B. G. Bajoga; Sally Bolujoko; Mariam Uwais, and Kanu Agabi.

Presidency, PDP plot to defeat anti-zoning MPs

The presidency and National Working Committee of the People’s Democratic Party are angry that anti-zoning members of the House of Representatives are inching closer to embarrassing the party by acting contrary to its decision to zone the position of speaker to the South West. The presidency has therefore planned a counter move to unsettle the anti zoning group that is fronting for the election of Deputy House Leader Aminu Tambuwal as Speaker, Daily Trust has learnt. 

A presidency source said Vice President Mohammed Namadi Sambo has been saddled with the responsibility of backing the acting na-tional chairman of the party Dr. Bello Haliru to ensure that the interest of the PDP in the new leadership of the National Assembly is achieved to the latter.

“They are worried that Tambuwal has allowed himself to be used by the opposition to embarrass the party during the inauguration and the presidency is saying it is not acceptable,” the source said yesterday.

As part of the plot, the Vice President met last week with newly elected House members under the aegis of the Seventh Assembly Group in Abuja to persuade them to respect the zoning formula. At the meeting which was attended by some top party leaders including the National Vice Chairman, South-West, Alhaji Tajudeen Oladipo, the Vice President harped on party discipline and stressed the need to respect the zoning formula agreed on by the party’s caucus of PDP.

But according to the source, attempts to sit with Rep Tambuwal whose electioneering so far has unsettled the presidency has proved very difficult as he has made himself ‘incommunicado’. Rep Tambuwal could not be reached at press time but a close ally who preferred to speak off record confirmed that the lawmaker has not met with the party’s leadership so far.

He described the Tambuwal project as a popular movement that emerged from among members in view of his sterling leadership qualities.

Meanwhile, the presidency source said three lawmakers being touted to replace the current House leadership last week had an interactive session with some top officials in the villa. Though the party had earlier endorsed Rep Ajibola Muraina, who is believed to be sponsored by former president Olusegun Obasanjo, the leaders who engaged the aspirants last week were said to have expressed some reservation about his candidacy after the interaction.

The source said the leaders may have started looking the way of Rep Mulikat Adeola, also from Oyo State as Muraina to stick to the zoning arrangement even though Obasanjo has stamped his feet on the godson of his late political ally, Lamidi Adedibu. Adeola was also said to have met with the leaders at the villa.

The leaders are said to have approved Rep Yakubu Dogara from Bauchi State to team up with the speaker as Deputy Speaker believing that he would serve as a stabilising force for the leadership.

                                              

Senate changes rules, rigs Mark in

The Senate yesterday amended sections of its standing rules pertaining to the election of new presiding and principal officers and paved the way for Senator David Mark to stand almost unopposed for the Senate President’s job when the Seventh Senate convenes early next month. At least 80 percent of the current senators are not returning to the chamber next month. Mark was expected to be challenged for the top job by incoming senators Muhammadu Danjuma Goje and Abubakar Bukola Saraki, currently governors of Gombe and Kwara States respectively, who are now shut out by the amended rules.

At yesterday’s session, the Senate deleted its rule 97 (1)(f) that deals with consideration of seniority in election of Presiding and Principal Officers and replaced it with a new section (3)(2) that provides strict guidelines for the emergence of Senate leaders based on sharply spelt out ranking procedures.

The old rules, which did not clearly spell out the ranking procedure, were set aside in 2007 to allow then brand new Senator George Akume of Benue to contest for the office of Senate President against Mark, who was then entering his third term in the Senate.

Mark won that contest with the heavy support of former president Olusegun Obasanjo, but this time around, despite his being endorsed by the PDP national leadership to reoccupy the position, Mark yesterday led his colleagues to amend the rules and thereby scuttle the ambitions of any fresh senators that may be eyeing his seat or those of any other ranking members of the Senate.

Adopting a motion moved by outgoing Senate Leader Teslim Folarin, the Senate passed the new rule that provides “nomination of senators to serve as presiding officers and appointments of principal officers and other officers of the senate or on any parliamentary delegations shall be in accordance with the ranking of senators; “(b) In determining ranking the following order shall apply: (i) senators returning based on number of times re-elected (ii) senators who had been members of the House of Representatives (iii) senators who have been members of a State House of Assembly or any other Legislative House (iv) Senators elected as senators for the first time.”

Speaking while ruling on the motion for the amendment, Mark said there is nothing new in the amendment as it already exists. He said the Senate “cannot be intimidated by some outsiders into dumping an amendment that aims at strengthening the institution of Senate.”

He said, “This is not a rule that is new. It exists. We want to move it from 97(1) (f) to 3(2). Any new senator who is not ranking today would be ranking tomorrow. It is for the strengthening of the senate as an institution. This has nothing to do with David Mark but the institution of Senate. Commentators outside are ignorant of the rules and they were trying to blackmail us.

“There is nothing wrong with what we are doing now. If we chicken out because a few people are not comfortable with, I think it is not the right thing to do.”

The practical import of yesterday’s rule changes are that when the new Senate is inaugurated on June 6 or 7, the race for Senate President will be open only to the two fourth-term senators, namely  Senator David Mark of Benue and Senator Bello Hayatu Gwarzo of Kano, unless both of them decline to show interest.

Gwarzo has so far not shown any interest in the job, but Mark is already campaigning to retain the job he held in the last four years, as evidenced by his speech at the senators’ induction course in Kano three days ago.

Under the new rule, if the two most senior senators decline the job, then third and second term senators could vie for it, followed by former members of the House of Representatives, then former members of state assemblies, followed by fresh senators who were not members of any legislative house. While Bukola Saraki has no legislative experience, Goje was a member of the House of Representatives in the Second Republic, but it is not clear whether the rules recognise that as seniority.

a source in the Senate told Daily Trust yesterday that the desperation by Mark and his supporters to amend the rules was because 80 percent of the new Senate’s members will be fresh termers and there is the fear that they could team up to defeat the older senators, as nearly happened in 2007. In particular, there is much fear of the two former governors Goje and Saraki, who are thought to be working through other governors to lock up the support of many freshmen senators, hence the changes to shut them out.

The Senate also amended rule 111 of its standing order to provide for continuity of legislative process in respect of bills and other activities of the chamber.

The new rule now provides that “the legislative business of the senate which remains undetermined at the close of a session of the Senate shall be resumed and proceeded with in same manner as if no adjournment of the senate had taken place and all papers referred to committees and not reported upon at the close of session of the Senate shall be returned to the office of the Clerk of the Senate and retained until the next session of the Senate when they shall be returned to the several committees to which they had previously been referred.”

The new rule may however be at variance with provisions of the 1999 Constitution which provides that the life of every session of the National Assembly terminates at the end of the session. Matters pending at the end of the session were in the past adjudged to have terminated with the session.