(Personal Opinion)
By
Anas Sani Anka
_____________________
I will still take the pain to discuss this issue for the purposes of calling the attention of the Governor of Zamfara Dauda Lawal to revisit his recent decision of appointing a non carrier civil servant as Zamfara State Accountant General.
This mistake is corporate one because it borders around breeding illegality by the government.
The mandate mapping of the state Ministry of Finance provides that, the most senior director in the Finance Ministry shall be appointed by the Governor of the state as the State Accountant General.
The convention is settled because, the wisdom behind that provision is to allow finance staff to continue to have their carrier upgraded to the status of Accountant General.
Those senior directors have built their experiences working with various Accountant Generals and understand the working of the ministry very well, so if they are elevated to that ranks of the Accountant General, they may have easy-going tenures.
I understand that this precedent started since during the tenure of the first civilian governor of the state, Sen. Ahmad Rufai Sani when he picked Alh Inuwa Anka out of the state service and made him a permanent secretary in the ministry of finance and later made him State Auditor General.
During the tenure of Abdulaziz Yari he brought another outsider, Mr. Adamu Muhammad Gusau who had never been in the service of the state to work as Accountant General of the state.
Mr. Adamu was a former staff of the Central Bank of Nigeria before he left and joined the services of some commercial banks, Sterling Bank particularly and from there he was sent to work as Accountant General of Zamfara.
During the tenure of the immediate past administration, former Governor Bello Matawalle he appointed another outsider, Mr. Mansur Ladan as Deputy Accountant General of Zamfara state.
Mansur Ladan was picked by former Governor Matawalle from FIRS allegedly on grade level (12) and be made Deputy Accountant General for some political considerations.
Now Governor Dauda Lawal has picked another outsider, someone who has built his carrier for over twenty years at the First Bank Nigeria and made him an Accountant General of the state.
Ali Akilu Bungudu the new Accountant General has never had a record of working with the Zamfara Ministry of Finance, but now he has been put at the top of every one in the Zamfara finance ministry.
The question is: Does he have legal backing to work as an Accountant General of state like Zamfara? Can his decision be considered legitimate according to the law?.
The answer is absolutely no, and we have to rise to the occasion to challenge these types of illegality.
The most sad aspect of the recent developments, both Yarima and Abdulaziz Yari had to regularize their engagements by instructing the Civil Service Commission of Zamfara to offer them letter of appointment as civil servants on grade level (12) and later got their grade elevated to grade level (16).
In the case of Ali Akilu Bungudu it was a straight appointment with out engagement by the civil service of the state.
I am sure the Governor was not guided properly because if he was, he will not want to be associated with illegality as a banker and corporate person.
I will call on the attention of the state house of assembly to as a matter of urgency intervene and force the Governor to reverse that appointment in the interest of saving the system.
The Auditor General should have a cause to write a memoranda and call the attention of the Governor that whatever transactions Ali Akilu Bungudu initiated it may be illegal and attract serious financial crimes.
Public funds need to be well protected and I should be be misunderstood, I am not saying Ali Akilu is not competent to be an accountant general of Zamfara but clearly he is not qualified by virtue of the strength of the law and established convention.
We cannot allow someone who is not qualified to be appointed to continue to occupy a sensitive seat like that of Accountant General.
The Governor should not be deceived by the weak argument that it has been a traditional to appoint non carrier civil servants as Accountant or Deputy Accountant General but he shall bother himself about what is legal.
I have written this piece with a softer mind as part of my contributions to ensuring that appropriate thing is done in the interest of the state of Zamfara and in fulfillment of the call by Governor Dauda Lawal that whosoever sees what is wrong in his decision, he should not hesitate to call his attention.
I have done my bit as citizen of Zamfara and is left for the Governor to do what is right and the time to act is now.
