Governor of Ondo State, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu has approved the appointment of Mr. Oluwadare Aragbaiye as the new Head of Service, HOS, of the Ondo State Public Service.
Aragbaiye’s appointment is coming amid the controversy surrounding the alleged “premature” sack of nine permanent secretaries from the state’s public service.
Some weeks back, the affected senior civil servants had cried out over what they described as their unjust sack from the civil service, with allegations that the move was an attempt to pave way for the anointed kinsman of the governor, Aragbaiye to become the next Head of Service of the state.
Aragbaiye is from the same Owo Local Government Area of the state with the governor and as well hailed from the same Owo town.
According to some of them, the action of the state governor, Olawarotimi Akeredolu, is unlawful as they are yet to attain the mandatory 35 years in service or the 60-year-old retirement, age. https://dailypost.ng/2019/06/06/akeredolu-sacked-us-prematurely-install-kinsman-hos-ondo-permanent-secretaries/
However, in its reaction against the allegations raised by the affected Permanent Secretaries, the state government had stated that the decision to retire the nine Permanent Secretaries from the state’s civil service was borne out of measures to pave way for young officers to rise to the peak of their careers.
According to the state’s Commissioner for Information, Yemi Olowolabi, their retirement had no political undertone, as he stressed that some of the nine Permanent Secretaries had spent 13 years in office, while the least among them is nine years.
Meanwhile, according to the statement issued on Friday by the Chief Press Secretary to Governor, Segun Ajiboye and obtained by DAILY POST, he stated that the appointment of Aragbaiye as the new HOS by the Akeredolu, “is in line with the provisions of Section 208, Sub-section 3 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended.”
He added that with the new Head of Service, “Governor Akeredolu is convinced that he (Aragbaiye) will provide the right leadership for the state public service to complement the efforts of the administration to reposition the public service.”
Prior to his appointment as Head of Service, Aragbaiye was the Permanent Secretary, Government House and Protocol.
He joined the state public service in 1985 as an Administrative Officer, Grade Level 08 in the Ministry of Finance.
He has also once served as Permanent Secretary in the Ministries of General Administration and Transport.
The new Head of Service will be sworn-in at on Monday at the International Events and Cultural Center (The Dome), Akure, the Ondo State capital.
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