A Civil Society Organisation under the aegis of Transparency and Accountability in Public Service, has again called on the FCT Minister, Barr. Nyesom Wike, to guide against elements who are bent in misleading him to achieve their selfish interest.
Recall that the group had earlier admonished the Minister to be wary of public servants who are doing everything humanly possible to remain in service.
As a follow up, the National Coordinator of the group, Barrister Chidi Ejifor, in a press statement has called on the FCT Minister to beware of the antics of the Most Senior Director and Ag Permanent Secretary, Prince Samuel U Atang’s, obvious attempt to remain relevant in the system even after his retirement from service.
According to him, “the minister had in a live television programme at the flag off of Gwagwalada rural road project instructed that Mr. Samuel Attang should not be addressed as the Ag. Permanent Secretary, but the Most Senior Director having fought for the abolition of the Permanent Secretary’s office.
“However, the Minister’s directive runs contrary to a circular issued by the Director of Finance and Administration (DAF) in the Minister’s office, Mrs. Nancy Nathan, who informed heads of SDAs that they should address all correspondence to the Ag Permanent Secretary”.
The statement also alleged that Mr. Atang is boasting that the Minister cannot function well administratively without his inputs, adding that he has been tipped to head the proposed FCT Commission.
“The Ag Permanent Secretary with few of his ‘boys’ are overheating the system. They are allegedly compiling list of directors particularly from certain section of the country for retirement.
“The Ag. Permanent Secretary is claiming that the directive to come up with the list of Directors within two years to their retirement is from the Minister, and it is one of the measures to be adopted by the Administration to save money.
“The point here is not whether the Hon. Minister gave the directive or not, but the manner in which the Ag PS and his ‘boys’ are flaunting this around with the slogan; “it is our time” is worrisome.
“The Minister should be very careful with such characters because it is on record that he has issues with telling the truth. He always parade himself as the only man with institutional memories that can guide the Minister on all administrative issues.
“This same man who claims not to have benefited from the past administrations, but record shows that he has plots of land and gardens through proxies”, the statement stressed.
Ejifor, reiterated that the Minister should critically examine those who parade themselves as “institutional memories” with a view to rebuilding trust and maintaining the credibility of the public sector.