By
Anas Sani Anka
My Personal Take:
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The choice of Mal. Yakubu Sani Haidara as the new Head of Service of Zamfara is indeed one of the best moments in the history of public service in the state. The reactions coming from the civil servants from the mainstream service is really a one that will better the hope of Zamfara people for the long anticipated reform in the state service.
I did not know much about Mal. Yakubu because I was not closer to him, but I used to understand little about his capacity from public interactions I used to have with the main stream civil servants in the state and I believed, that rear hope and confidence people used to have on him will transform into positive action now that he has been vested with the requisite powers to do what is right in the interest of the state service unless if he has misused it for a joke.
As if the Governor has captured what was in the minds of many of us, I have the intention of writing an article to draw the attention of his Excellency on the need to restrain himself from appointing “anyhow person” as Head of Service of the state considering the experience we had in Zamfara in the past.
Suddenly, after Iftar on Wednesday, the story of the appointment of Mal. Yakubu Haidara was broken, and I said to myself that I guess some people who shared similar feelings with me might have reach out to the Governor on the need to appoint the most appropriate peeson to head the office of the civil service simply to compliment the ongoing effort of Governor Dauda Lawal in transforming the state.
Though I heard that the forum of retired Permanent Secretaries in the state had written to the Governor advising him to respect seniority and also appoint someone from the mainstream administration as Head of Service of the state if it is true, that is the wisest decision because the state service as of now requires someone with bigger experience of administration not really a specialist or technocrat who built his carrier through an isolated profession.
In my opinion, the two immediate past Heads of Service Kabiru Gayari and Ahmad Liman are technocratic and professionals in their choice of carrier only that destiny brought them to become Permanent Secretaries and later got elevated to the ranks of Head of Service of Zamfara not because they are the best administrators on ground to do the job as at the time of their appointments.
In my opinion, they have done their best especially looking at their individual limitations, but their best wasn’t enough and that is why the shift toward greater expectations in the service of the state was not as fulfilled as people anticipated.
We commended them as citizens of Zamfara but going forward the new dynamics as identified by the Governor shall be sustain for a while so that certain tests can be done to warrant continuity or abortion.
The New Head of Service Yakubu from the reading of his (resume) has a vast of experience managing administrative matters and what he required now is to avail him with the right people among the permanent Secretaries and even the directors in the state service to aide him in pursuing the new reforms in the service.
It is critical to call the attention of the new Head of Service to try as much as possible to fix anomalies identified to be part of the impediments to the state service and also work hand in hand with the civil service commission of the state to promote workers wellbeing through promotion and grant of all entitlements.
It is sad based on the information available to me that the office of the head of service of Zamfara state for two years now had not sat to facilitate the promotion of senior civil servants in the state and that despite several reminders sent by the state civil service commission for the head of service to do what is necessary the calls and reminders hits the hard wall. Reasons for not heeding to calls for promotion by the Office of the Head of Service is not made public to the best or my knowledge.
It is essential for the new Head of Service to remove that barrier for whatever reason it was mounted and facilitate for the promotion and proper placement of senior civil servants to fill in the vacancies that existed as a result of the retirement of many state civil servants.
The new Head of Service should also work in hand with the labor union to sanitize the state payrol and block all chances that may warrant other un patriotic civil servants from bringing in another manipulation into the already sanitize payroll.
Issue of monthly nominal roll shall also be prioritized so that there should be a good synergy between the payroll, nominal roll and pension payroll as that will help the Governor to be able to track when and at what point a state civil servant exited out of service and when to allow for his replacement through valid recruitment exercise.
Issue of constant training and retraining must be prioritized by the new Head of Service so that civil servants in the state can be acquainted with the up-to-date knowledge of what is going on elsewhere and also help add value to the strength of the state service.
If these suggestions are implemented, I am sure there would be complete new dynamics into the service of the state as long anticipated.
Wishing the new Head of Service all the best.
