16 Permanent Secretaries Retire; FG Looking For Replacement

Sixteen Federal Permanent Secretaries are due for retirement this year, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HoCSF) Mrs Winifred Oyo-Ita told Daily Trust yesterday in Abuja.

She was speaking at the send-off ceremony for the Permanent Secretary Common Services Office, Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF), Dr Saheed Yemi Adelakun, who retired after attaining the mandatory retirement age of 60.

While the details of the affected PS were not available as at the time of going to the press, Daily Trust reports that Adelakun’s retirement brings the number of the retired PS to four as, the PS Federal Ministry of Information and Culture Mrs Ayotunde Adesugba, also retired yesterday.

Her retirement was coming on the heels of that of Mrs Rabi Jimeta who retired in April as the PS Federal Ministry of Water Resources and that of Hajiya Jamila Shu’ara, who served in the Federal Ministry of Education and also petroleum resources.

“They have to retire in line with public service rule. Either they have spent 35 years in service or have reached the mandatory age of 6o, whichever comes first,” Oyo-Ita said.

“This 16 federal permanent secretaries, some of them have started retiring this year, others by the end of the year. Then there is the succession plan so the selection process of the permanent secretaries is ongoing.”

She urged workers to emulate the retired Adelakun, who was honoured by the HoCSF and other staff in the OHCSF and other senior civil servants, especially for the successes recorded under his watch as chairman of the Federal Integrated Staff Housing (FISH) scheme for federal workers.

Adelakun thanked President Muhammadu Buhari, the HoCSF and other staff for working with him to succeed and urged workers to be dedicated to reap the benefits of hard work.

Adelakun who is a chartered accountant joined the federal workforce in 1982 as Higher Executive Officer before he was appointed PS by the immediate past president, Goodluck Jonathan in November 2013.

Born in Lagos on 15th May 1957, Adelakun started his career as a civil servant in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in January 1983 as an accounts officer and served as Finance Attaché to Nigeria High Commissions in Port of Spain, Pretoria, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.